Isopak announces spiral jet mill results
revealed promising results of its spiral jet mill which is set to
give laboratories and R&D departments significant cost savings
by decreasing the amount of product lost during the milling
process.
The LaboMill is designed for dealing with the first stages of development and can handle batches of powder starting from only 0.2 grams up to 100 grams. The internal milling chamber has been designed to eliminate turbulence and optimise the jet streams.
The latest trials, which were conducted at the manufacturers test centre in Fiorenzuola d'Arda, revealed that a run, which consisted of 0.2g of lactose, produced a yield of 0.176g, an 88 per cent return.
The second batch, a 2.0g trial, produced a yield of 1.970g - 98.5 per cent return, and the third, a 20g batch, produced a massive 19.972g, equalling a yield of 99.86 per cent. The fourth and final test used 100g of lactose and produced 99.739g, a return of 99.74 per cent.
"The LaboMill has been designed with a non-tangential Venturi-entry, which allows the mill to use 100 per cent of the available energy, both at the Venturi-entry and at the grinding nozzles," said Robin Davies, managing director of Isopak.
"The internal milling chamber has been designed to eliminate turbulence and optimise the jet streams. It is these features that have created such yields," he added.
The LaboMill differs from current spiral jet mills as its continuous shape and the addition of grinding nozzles, maintain a non-turbulent motion of particles. This elimination of turbulence stops powder sticking against the chamber walls to form crusts and prevents particles from being prematurely classified in the centre of the mill.
The LaboMill reduced dimensions (LxDxH: 300x350x475mm) allows it to be used on standard laboratory benches. The Labomill integrates into laminar flow cabinets or isolator systems, when high operator protection is required.
The ability to micronise smaller quantities can lead to cost savings for laboratories as less raw material needs to be used. Experimenting with smaller batches of powder will allow more experimentation in the pharmaceutical laboratories of the UK and Ireland than has been the case in the past.
In pharmaceutical products, the particle size of drugs and components may affect processing and bioavailability. An increasing number of compounds that are investigated in industrial drug discovery have low aqueous solubility. For class II compounds (according to the biopharmaceutical classification), dissolution rate is the limiting factor for bioavailability.
Drugs such as amphotericin, fluocinolone acetonide, medroxyprogesterone acetate, bishydroxycoumarin, nitrofurantoin, tolbutamide, and spironolactone have shown increased clinical efficacy following particle size reduction.
