Malvern goes mobile with particle sizer
industry-specific version of its Insitec Voyager particle sizing
system at the Interphex show later this month.
The Insitec Voyager is a mobile, on-line particle size analyser that can be attached to fixed sampling ports at a variety of points in a production line. It can also be used to sample from different production lines within the same manufacturing plant. The new version for the pharmaceutical industry is based on the standard platform, but has been adapted to answer the validation needs of the drug industry.
The system is the first ever standard mobile unit for real-time on-line particle sizing in the pharma sector, and can be used on-line to provide real-time data and at-line. And because it is mobile, modular and cleanable, Malvern believes the Pharma Voyager is of particular use for plants with multiple unit operations such as mills, spray driers and classifiers.
The company will also target the product at first-time buyers who would like to evaluate the use of on-line particle sizing for their application.
On-line particle sizing facilitates real-time optimisation of process parameters and configurations, a function that sits well with ongoing efforts by regulators to encourage the use of process analytical technology (PAT) to improve product yields and quality and reduce wastage.
As a laser diffraction-based system, the system requires no calibration nor does it need the long data acquisition intervals that can mask true process behaviour, according to Malvern.
With laser diffraction techniques, laser light is scattered by particles in the sample and the angular intensity is measured by a series of photodetectors. Smaller particles scatter light at greater angles than larger ones and the resulting diffraction pattern is used to measure particle size.
