Pharmaceutical Quality Powder Handling and Processing Equipment Ajax produces a wide range of equipment to handle and process powders, including active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and excipients, for the pharmaceutical industry around the world. Equipment is manufactured in either stainless steel or high alloy metals with mirror or electro polished surface finishes. Containment is achieved through constructional design and sophisticated seal arrangements. While hygiene is maintained using hygienic design principles and clean-in-place (CIP) and steam-in-place (SIP) systems. Ajax specialises in producing equipment that is easy to dismantle, clean or sterilise. Through thoughtful design Ajax ensures that equipment is simple to operate and maintain and can be produced to provide easy access or for strip down and re-assembly. Ajax frequently produces ATEX and PED compliant equipment for pharmaceutical producers including Category IV Module G pressure equipment and equipment suitable for even Zone 20 internally designated atmospheres. |
Agitated Screw Feeder Delivers Reliable Feed for Milling Ajax Equipment has supplied Hosokawa Micron with an agitated screw feeder, ATEX Zones 1 & 21 internally and Zones 2 & 22 externally, and integral hopper, to handle and control the feed of pharmaceutical powder into a milling machine. Designed for clean-in-place, all parts of the agitated screw feeder are constructed of 316L stainless steel, with internal surfaces mechanically polished to provide a crack and crevice free finish. The feeder’s internal geometry prevents dead zones, ensuring hygienic processing of the pharmaceutical powder. The agitator and screw feeder drives are controlled by separate invertors to maximise co-ordination between agitation and screw feed for optimum powder discharge with special screw geometry used to ensure the most stable short term feed characteristics, an important aspect for short residence time in the mill. The supplementary hopper features two stages of plane flow geometry to avoid arching or rat holing of the poor flow powder to ensured reliable flow. |
Safe & Efficient Size Reduction of Caked Powder Leading chemical manufacturer, Vickers Laboratories is using an Ajax mobile lump breaker with combined sack-tip to safely open and efficiently reduce sacks of caked pharmaceutical powders to a consistent particle size. Ajax’s sack-tip and lump breaker system design provides its operators with an ergonomic way of handling sacks as well as a contained method of opening them. While the pharmaceutical grade, stainless steel finish and mobile frame allows the station to be removed from the production line and fully washed down. |
Twin Screw Mixer for Pharmaceutical Powder Processing in Puerto Rico A Puerto Rican pharmaceutical plant, operated by a leading pharmaceuticals producer, has used an Ajax twin screw mixer to produce a homogeneous mix of dry and relatively cohesive pharmaceutical powders for almost two decades. The mixer was fabricated entirely in stainless steel with a high mechanically polished internal finish and all flanges fitted with FDA flat face gaskets. Overlapping screws with a special form of LynFlow™ paddle blades bring the powder together producing a high degree of mixing, dispersing the constituent powders in a progressive and increasingly random fashion. The augers also feature ‘quick release’ drive end shafts, allowing them to be easily removed for cleaning or exchanged for a different screw design for another product. |
Adjustable Mobile Pharmaceutical Powder Feed System Ajax Equipment has supplied a leading pharmaceuticals producer with a stainless steel mobile feeder comprising hopper and cantilevered screw feeder. The ATEX Zone 1/21 compliant feeder receives pharmaceutical powder from tipped drums and then discharges to a central outlet under gravity flow. Ajax conducted powder testing onsite in Ireland to examine how flow could be improved from the existing solids handling system. When taken with the site’s space restraints the tests indicated that flow could be best improved by a steep vee-shaped long slot hopper with a screw feeder assisting extraction over the length of the outlet. The powder flow is then focused by the auger’s left- and right-handed flights towards the central outlet. The feeder sits on an adjustable mobile frame allowing the handling system’s height to be set onsite and moved for ease of maintenance. |
Passivated Mobile Loading Hopper for Pharmaceutical Powder A leading pharmaceutical company is using a fully passivated mobile loading hopper with hinged lid and transition chute from Ajax. The equipment is designed to handle and transfer pharmaceutical powder from a drum under gravity flow in an ATEX Zone 21 area. Assessment of the material by Ajax onsite in Ireland enabled the production of a hopper and transition chute that works with the poorly flowing powder as well as effectively interface with the site’s existing mill. The loading hopper was fabricated in grade 316 stainless steel with all contact surfaces mirror polished and contact welds made crack and crevice free; the finish promotes flow and discourages any possible build-up of powder. In addition, the hopper is mounted on a mobile frame including hygienic, anti-static wheels allowing for flexibility in plant configuration as well as enabling the hopper to be moved for cleaning when required. The loading hopper is designed for ease of operation while in a protective suit and includes features such as a counterbalanced lid. |
Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers Ajax Equipment organised a seminar in collaboration with International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE) on ‘Powder Handling for Agile Pharmaceutical Manufacture’. The seminar presented three perspectives on powder handling against a background of decreasing time-to-market for pharmaceutical products and increasingly high value, potent APIs and their containment, with speakers from leading pharmaceutic company AstraZeneca, containment and milling specialist Hosokawa Micron as well as Ajax providing their expertise. |
