Romaco launches wax and fat coating hot melt machine
Hot melt coatings of fats and wax are common within the food industry – for example as a moisture barrier for salts, spices or seeds – but uptake by drugmakers has been slower, said German processing and packaging firm Romaco.
However, according to Kai Koch, technical director for Romaco Innojet, its Innojet IHD series product coating machine can make such technology appealing to pharmaceutical manufacturers due to time and energy savings.
“This technology does not require the use of any solvents to apply the coating on the product particles. Therefore, no solvent has to be evaporated during the process,” he told in-Pharmatechnologist.
“This results in 85% shorter processing times with hot melt coating compared to coating with a polymer solution.”
He added the IHD Innojet hot melt coating devices – being showcased ahead of the Achema tradeshow scheduled for later this year – are CIP-capable and meet all GMP requirements for pharmaceutical production, while cross-contamination is avoided due to the hygienic design of the system.
“Hot melt coatings are by nature not suited for deionised water conductivity tests which are common standard in the pharmaceutical industry. This is why accessibility and the elimination of dead spaces are absolutely crucial for a system that is designed to process pharmaceutical hot melt coatings.”
