College prof’’s patent for new particle fractionator bags industry partner

Dr Amit Kumar Goyal receives the award

Spray drying is an important step in the pharma production process; yet poor yield rates, low thermal efficacy and a collection process which is both tedious and non-continuous remain major drawbacks of most spray drying set ups.

A recipient of the Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award -2009, Dr Amit Kumar Goyal, Associate Professor, ISF College of Pharmacy, Moga, Punjab used his project funding to develop a more efficient spray drying technology. In May last year, he and fellow investor Gaoutam Rath were awarded a patent (No. 1489/DEL/2013 date on 20/05/2013) for their design for a particle fractionator. The technology was later transferred/licensed to Labultima, Mumbai for further development. Labultima is a manufacturer and supplier of precision laboratory spray driers and accessories in allied R&D fields.

According to Goyal, the spray drying process is used to produce a particulate of desired analytical and physical properties from a liquid recipe in a single operation. This is a unique drying process having where the particulate is subjected to drying temperature for less than 0.21 seconds resulting into the only method for production of heat sensitive particulates/ molecules.

The dried produce can be in crystalline/amorphous form, in uniformly spherical, needle shaped microscopic structure; desired particle size distribution from nano particles to granules; crushable/non crushable agglomerates as desired based on the selected composition of the liquid feed.

Spray drying is widely used in all disciplines of pharmaceuticals for API, Generics, Formulations; neutraceuticals, probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes, steroids, hormones, milk products; allied food products; flavours and fragrances and speciality ceramics; dyes and pigments etc.

Irrespective of its wide commercial application, conventional spray drier suffer from some inherent drawbacks such as poor yield ranging from 10-15 per cent, low thermal efficacy as a large volume of heated air is passed through the chamber without coming into contact with the particles. Further, the closed cycle drier and multiple cyclone makes the collection process tedious and non-continuous.

Recently, there have been many attempts to improve product yield and generate nanoparticles using spray drying technology. A few of them were successful in achieving higher product yield and nanoparticles generation using advanced sophisticated devices. However, the induction of the above technology makes the spray dryer expensive and difficulty to handle and maintain.

Goyal’s major areas of interest are novel controlled and targeted drug delivery systems, vaccines delivery systems and nano-technology. His new technology attempted to address these critical impediments related to conventional spray driers. According to him, the present innovation provides a dynamic solution and opens a new avenue in spray drying technology especially in terms of product yield and particle separation efficacy.

The new innovation discloses a spray drying device with the following benefits:

• Improved collection efficiency of desired particles including nanoparticles
• In-situ collection process
• Improved product yield making the process more economical
• Greater energy efficiency and much shorter drying time
• High reliability, low maintenance
• Compact size, easy to clean assembly
• Easy installation with any type of spray dryer

Based on latest global trends and client feedback, the current licensee of the technology, Mumbai-based Labultima, is an ISO 9000:2001 certified company involved in similar product development activities at their inhouse R & D facility with pilot plant spray driers.

They are engaged in development of particulate of desired analytical/physical properties with yields and scale up from lab to pilot to plant level spray driers. Besides being engaged in research on spray driers to cater to tomorrow’s needs, they have developed their own sophisticated data logging software compatible with US FDA 21 CFR PART 11 as well ultrasonic spray systems for generation of nano particles.

EP News Bureau – Mumbai