Malvern buys rheology firm

Particle characterisation specialist Malvern Instruments has acquired Bohlin Instruments, a UK-based company focussing on the development and manufacture of rheology and viscometry measurement systems.

Bohlin​ manufactures instruments used in a range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, food and petrochemicals, as well as contract testing of samples. The acquisition was completed on 31 October and, under the terms of the deal, Bohlin's managing director Richard Hall has joined the Malvern board and will lead the company's rheology team.

Paul Walker, managing director of Malvern​, noted that, given the additional investment potential, customer support capabilities and global reach that Malvern can bring to bear, "we look forward to expanding and developing Bohlin's position in the rheology market world-wide."​

Hall said that rheology is a growth market and is critical to the development of new products. "A clear overlap is emerging between our applications and those of Malvern's particle characterisation technologies,"​ he added, noting that this is especially the case in the areas of dispersion technology and colloid science.

System sale to Altana​

Meanwhile, Malvern recently reported the sale of one of its PharmaVision 830 particle shape system to Germany's Altana. The latter will use the machine in its development department for solid drugs and pharmaceutical technology.

The PharmaVision 830 was originally introduced in 2001 for the determination of particle shape and particle size and was acquired by Malvern from Sweden's Pharma Vision Systems in May 2003. Using automatic image analysis technology, it gives accurate size and shape data for particles in dry powders, without the need for a wet dispersion.

The system was developed specifically for the pharmaceutical industry where particle shape and size are key parameters for manufacturing process understanding and optimisation.