Roller Compaction – a universal process: Fields of Application

This article gives an overview of the dry granulation process by Gerteis and its fields of application.

Abstract 
Starting as a technology historically reserved for moisture or heat sensitive products, roller compaction has evolved to become a widely used granulation technology with broad applications. The dry granulate is either an intermediate product to be further processed into tablets, or it already represents the final bulk product to be packed in sachets, pouches, blister packs, plastic bottles, canisters, or used in the production of tablets and capsules.

Main reasons for granulation
The main purpose for dry granulation is to increase the bulk density of powders and increase the particle size to ensure a better flow of distributed material, in turn resulting in better processability. In pharma, the goal is often to achieve a more uniform tablet. Granulated powder blends become more homogeneous, segregation is avoided, and the content uniformity increases. Further, granulation also reduces dusts and fines, especially for bulk products, resulting in little or no material wastage and low dust exposure.

Industries using roller compaction 
Whenever granules of consistent and high product quality are required, variable gap roller compactors using sophisticated process controls are needed. While the pharmaceutical industry is still the key market with 95% of all compactors, Gerteis roller compactors can also be found manufacturing a wide range of products in the Food and Chemical industries (see figure below). 

Summary
The examples above show that roller compaction with Gerteis technology is used for a wide range of products and technologies and is not limited to moisture or heat sensitive products. Various industries rely on consistent product quality and sophisticated process control. In the pharmaceutical industry, a large variety of formulations can be processed using roller compaction: batch or continuous, high-containment, proprietary or generic, blockbuster or orphan drug, high or low drug load, immediate or sustained release, API combinations, and many more. Roller compaction is a versatile, efficient, and time- and money saving method.

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