Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 30/01/2019 |
---|---|
<mark>Journal</mark> | Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research |
Issue number | 4 |
Volume | 58 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Pages (from-to) | 1635-1649 |
Publication Status | Published |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
In response to the current trend in the pharmaceutical industry, a new concept for the freeze-drying of pharmaceuticals in unit-doses is presented: the continuous freeze-drying/lyophilization of suspended vials. This configuration makes it possible to set up a continuous freeze-drying process that produces a final product with similar characteristics to those traditionally obtained by means of the batch process but which avoids the drawbacks of conventional, batch freeze-drying. The feasibility and advantages of this new concept are presented in this work. Continuous freeze-drying has been found to improve heat transfer uniformity and reduce the primary drying duration by 2-4 times. As far as the structure of lyophilized products is concerned, SEM micrographs of the lyophilized samples showed that this technology improves vial-to-vial and intravial homogeneity.