V-Shell Blender - twin-shell blender; solid-solid blending; alternately combines and draws apart materials
Fixed Shell Mixers
Ribbon Blender
Sigma Blade Mixer
Planetary Mixer
Vertical Impeller Mixer
Continuous Mixer - for high volume products; materials travel from charging port to discharge nozzle
Granulation
Powder size enlargement to granules
Objective of granulation
Better flowability and compressibility
Granule types
Good Granules - pass through sieve #20 but not through sieve #40
Fine Granules - pass through sieve #40
Granulation methods
Wet Granulation - addition of liquid binder to powders; most common method
Fluid Bed Granulation - can accomplish both dry mixing and wet granulation efficiently and in much less time compared to traditional method
Dry Granulation - double compression on pre-compression method; powder mixture is compacted into large pieces and subsequently broken down into granules; for moisture and heat-sensitive materials
Wet Granulation disadvantages
Labor-intensive, time-consuming, not for moisture or heat-sensitive drugs