If we talk about the pill pressing process, it actually means you can turn powdered ingredients into a solid tablet. You can achieve everything with the help of a machine. This method is generally used by the pharmaceutical companies & health and wellness industry.
In this guide today, we will tell you in easy wording how you can press your pills correctly and finally get high quality tablets.
Simple Steps To Press Pills
Pharmaceutical companies and supplement manufacturers these days use a very simple step process to press pills. So, if you are planning to make your own pills or for your business, you need to learn / implement the same basic process. There are seven necessary stages that we explained below.
1. Prepare the Powder
Identify the Ingredients
Active Ingredient: First, you have to know what your active ingredient is. Then you can collect the remaining ingredients to make a pill. The active ingredient is the main pharmaceutical agent in any medicine. Actually, this is something which actively acts on our body system.
Excipients:
So we can say other than the active ingredient, you also arrange other agents and we call them excipients. With their help, you can easily formulate a sustainable product and finalize the performance of your pills. Their main examples for your reference are binders, fillers, diluents, disintegrants & also glidants as well.
Then Weigh Your Ingredients
Now we suggest you should weigh each ingredient carefully on your digital scale. There should be accuracy & precision when you actually weigh these ingredients.
Sieve the Powder
Then you must sieve the powder through a 60-80 mesh. This is necessary to get a uniform particle size. But keep in mind the powder should be clog-free with also a good flow.
Dry the Powder
A very important step. Your powder should be free from any wetness and moisture. You can use air drying or an oven for this purpose.
Mix Thoroughly
At this stage, with the help of a twin shell blender (or v-mixer), you should mix the powder. It will ultimately give you a homogeneous powder mixture.
Lubrication
At the end, you can finally add lubricants. And our suggestion will be to add magnesium stearate and then do a good mixing for 1-3 minutes.
Check Flowability
Your powder should also have a very nice flowability. If there is any problem, you can use glidants such as silica and talc.
2. Feed the Powder into the Hopper
Make Sure the Hopper is Clean
Your hopper must be clean and dry before you add powder. There should be a cleaning with a lint-free dry cloth. In this way, you can clean any residual material from previous batches.
Use Funnel for Precision
Be very careful here, you should not pour powder directly into the hopper. Hence, you can use a funnel or a wide-mouth scoop to prevent spillage.
Add Powder Slowly
If you want to avoid overfilling and dust issues, then please add powder slowly. You should also tap the container with your hand. It can actually prevent powder to stick inside.
Do Not Overflow
Now, you have to take care of the hopper limit as well. Because overflow can cause machine jamming, inconsistent tablet weight & poor flow.
Check the Flow
We recommend that the powder flow from the hopper to the die should be consistent. If you see any clumps, you must add colloidal silica.
Monitor
You should monitor the whole process and refill the hopper. For better results, you can also observe any clogging and powder flow. This thing will definitely increase your experience in this field.
3. Adjust Moisture Content
Test Moisture Content
You should test the moisture content now. And users can do this with the help of a moisture analyzer.
Add Controlled Humidity
In case your powder is too dry to make good pills, you can add distilled water. A binder solution like PVP is also a perfect option to do this. You can add this through spray and mix it with a blender. But our advice is to give 30-60 minutes to powder. This approx. 1 hour duration is ideal for the total absorption of moisture.
Dry The Powder
Finally see if the moisture content is very high. If extra high, then you should dry your powder. First of all you can spread the whole powder over a tray. And then you can dry the powder with the help of a convection oven. A vacuum oven (for sensitive material). Lastly, you can easily stir the powder after every 10-15 minutes. As a result, the drying will be achieved.
Avoid Overcorrection
But, if the powder is also very very dry, then in small amounts (1-2%) add moisture also. In case of a moisturized powder, you must dry it slowly to prevent alteration of active ingredients.
4. Die Cavities Filling
Die cavities are the spaces in which powder is deposited before compression. The cavities are filled through a feeding system. You can fill the die by gravity feed, force feeders and vibratory feeders. From the hopper, the powder is transferred to the feeding system.
The Feeding system
The powder is distributed to all the dies when the turret rotates. When the turret rotates, the die cavities pass beneath the feed frame and they are filled through gravity feed or sometimes through force feed.
Volume Control
You can control the fill depth through the lower punch. Fill depth defines the actual volume and weight of the tablet.
Scrapping and Leveling
The powder inside the die cavity is leveled and extra powder is removed.
5. Powder Compressing
Pre Compression
Before the final compression, a pre-compression phase is sometimes beneficial to get high-quality tablets. In pre-compression, you can remove the air and apply a light compression to form a loose compact.
Main Compression
Finally, you apply pressure through the upper punch and compress the powder to form a solid tablet. You should control the compression force carefully for a better composition.
Decompression
You must release the pressure gradually to prevent any cracking. Sudden release of pressure can cause the tablet breakage.
6. Eject The Tablet
Upper Punch Withdrawal
In this step, you retract the upper punch and hence the pathway is cleared for the lower punch to push the tablet.
Lower Punch Elevation
The lower punch is then elevated to push the tablet upward to the level of the die table. You must control the speed and movement of the punch to prevent edge damage.
Tablet Discharge
A take-off blade removes the tablet from the die table. The tablet is then collected.
7. Tablet Collection and Inspection
Slide into the Chute
In the last step, the tablet is collected in a stainless steel collection chute.
Initial Debris Removal
Some industries follow strict guidelines to remove any metal particles(through a magnet), loose powder(through vibrating trays), or separate broken tablets.
Tablet Dedusting
A tablet dedusting machine is also used to remove any extra particles or debris. Before packaging or coating, you must pass your batch through this phase.
Final Collection
You must collect your refined tablets in a stainless steel bin. You can also protect your tablets from air or any other contaminant by covering the bin.
Inspection
You must visually inspect the final tablets to confirm the quality and detect any physical abnormalities on the spot.
Conclusion
To sum up, we can say that pressing pills involves several precise steps. At every step, you must ensure the quality and safety of your pills. By following the correct process, you can create effective tablets according to your needs.
However, if you want to source pharmaceutical machinery from China for your business, contact us now. Our team is available 24/7 to customize products for your factory requirements.
