Pharmaceutical Engineering: Size reduction

objectives, mechanism, and laws governing size-reduction, factors affecting size reduction, hammer mill, ball mill, fluid energy mill, edge runner mill, end runner mill

1. SIZE REDUCTION
Parag Jain
Assistant Professor
Chhattrapati Shivaji Institute
of Pharmacy
Durg, Chhattisgarh
Presented by

2. Introduction
•The size reduction of solids is an energy intensive and
highly inefficient process
•5% of all electricity generated is used in size reduction
•Based on energy required for the creation of new
surfaces, the industrial scale processes is generally less
than 1% efficient

3. Introduction
Raw materials often occur in sizes that are too large to be used
and, therefore, they must be reduced in size
The term size reduction is applied to all the ways in which
particles of solids are cut or broken into smaller pieces
The reason that size reduction or comminution is usually carried
out is to increase the surface area of the material
comminution is a generic term for size reduction
crushers and grinders are type of comminuting equipment

4. DEFINITION
•Size reduction is the operation carried out for reducing
the size of bigger particles into smaller one of desired
size and shape with the help of external forces.
•COMMINUTION is another term used for size
reduction.

5. Benefits of Size Reduction
maximize the area of solid in contact with the
liquid or gas phase around it
which enhances:
•Reactivity
•Dissolution
•Catalytic effects
•Permits separation of unwanted ingredients by
mechanical methods
•Easy handling

6. OBJECTIVES
•Increase the surface area because, in most reactions involving solid
particles, the rate of reactions is directly proportional to the area of
contact with a second phase.
•Break a material into very small particles in order to separate the
valuable amongst the two constituents.
•Achieve intimate mixing.
•To dispose solid wastes easily .
•To improve the handling characteristics.
•To mix solid particle more intimately.

7. ADVANTAGES:
•Content uniformity
•Uniform flow
•Effective drying
•Increases surface area or viscosity
•Uniform mixing and drying
•Improve rate of absorption. Smaller the particles greater is
absorption.
•Improve dissolution rate.

8. DISADVANTAGES:
○Drug degradation
○Contamination
6

9. MECHANISM OF SIZE REDUCTION:
○Impact- particle size reduced by a single rigid
force (hammer).
○Compression- in this mode material is
crushed between rollers by the application of
pressure.
○Attrition- arising from particles scraping
against one another or against a rigid
surface by rubbing action.
○Cutting- the material is cut by means of
sharp blades.
7

11. Ideal Crusher/Grinder
•Have large Capacity
•Require a small power input per unit of
product
•Yield a product of single size or the size
distribution required

12. MECHANISMS AND LAWS
○The energy requirement for particle size
reduction is a function of input and output of
particle size, hardness, strength and other
properties of solids.
for energy requirement○Various theories
are:-
❑Rittinger’s theory
❑Kick’s theory
❑Bond’s theory
10

13. 11

14. RITTINGER’S THEORY
○According to this theory energy E required
for size reduction of unit mass is directly
areaproportional to the new surface
produced.
E=K
R (Sn – Si) …. (3)
Where
•S
i = initial surface area
•S
n = new specific surface area
•K
R = Rittinger’s constant.
•E= amount of energy
13

15. KICK’S THEORY:
○It states that energy required for deforming a set of
particle of equivalent shape is proportional to the
ratio of the change in particle size.

16. Applications
Kick's law is more appropriate to coarse crushing
for the grinding of coarse particles in which the
increase in surface area per unit mass is relatively
small
Rittinger's law is more appropriate to fine grinding
the size reduction of fine powders, in which large
areas of new surface are being created, Rittinger's
Law fits the experimental data better

17. BOND’S THEORY
○According to bond theory the energy used in crack
propagation is proportional to the new crack length
produced.
○It states that energy required for deforming a set of
particle of equivalent shape is proportional to the
change in particle dimensions.
14

18. Rittinger’s theory:(n=2.0)
○Energy α new surface area formed.
Bond’s theory:(n=1.5)
○Energy used in crack propagation α Crack
length produced.
○Energy α Ratio of change in particle
dimensions.
Kick’s theory:(n=1.0)
○Energy α Ratio of change in size.
16

19. Factors Influencing Choice of Size
Reduction Equipment
1. Feed and Product Size
Feed Size Product Size
Coarse Crushers 1500 - 40mm 50 - 5mm
Intermediate Crushers 50 - 5mm 5 - 0.1mm
Fine Crushers. (Grinders)5 - 2mm <0.1mm
Fine Milling <0.2mm down to 0.01µm

20. Factors Influencing Choice of Size
Reduction Equipment
2. Nature of Material
•Hardness - very hard materials are better in low speed or
low contact machines
•Structure - fibrous materials need tearing or cutting
action
•Moisture content - materials with 5 - 50% moisture do
not flow easily and can be difficult to process
•Stickiness - sticky materials need easily cleaned machines
•Soapiness - if coefficient of friction is low crushing may
be difficult
•Explosives - need inert atmosphere
•Hazardous to health - need good confinement

21. CRUSHER SELECTION CRITERIA
When selecting a crusher, the following criteria must be
considered:
•Will it produce desired output size and shape at the required
capacity?
•Will it accept the largest input size expected?
•What is its capacity?
•Will it choke or plug?
•Can it pass uncrushable debris without damage to the crusher?
•How much supervision of the unit is necessary?
•Will it meet product specifications without additional crushing
stages and auxiliary equipment?
•What is the crusher’s power demand per ton per hour of
finished product?
•How does it resist abrasive wear?

22. Crusher Selection Criteria
•Does it operate economically with minimum
maintenance?
•Does it offer dependable and prolonged service
life?
•Is there ready availability of replacement parts?
•Does it have acceptable parts replacement cost?
•Does it have easy access to internal parts?
•Is the crusher versatile?
•How does the initial cost of the machine compare
with its long term operating costs?
•Is experienced factory service readily available?

23. Types of Size Reduction Equipment
•A. Crushers (coarse and fine)
•B. Grinders (intermediate and fine)
•C. Ultrafine grinders
•D. Cutting machines

24. Types of Size Reduction Equipment
Crushers (coarse and fine)
Crushers are slow speed machines for coarse
reduction of large quantities of solids
•Crusher do the heavy work of breaking large pieces
of solid material into small lumps
•A primary crusher operates on run-of -mine material
accepting anything that comes from mine face and
breaking it into 150 to 250 mm lumps
•A secondary crusher reduces these lumps into
particles perhaps 6mm in size

25. Types of Size Reduction Equipment
Crushers
–Jaw crushers
–Gyratory crushers
–Crushing rolls
•Single Roll Crushers
•Double Roll Crusher

26. Types of Size Reduction Equipment
B. Grinders (intermediate and fine)
reduce crushed feed to powder
•The product from an intermediate grinder
might pass a 40-mesh screen
•most of the product from a fine grinder would
pass a 200-mesh screen with a 74 µm opening

27. Types of Size Reduction Equipment
Grinders (intermediate and fine)
–Hammer mills; impactors
–Rolling-compression mills
–Attrition mills
–Tumbling mills

29. Construction and working
•A hammer mill is essentially a steel drum containing a
vertical or horizontal rotating shaft or drum on which
hammers are mounted.
•The hammers swings on the ends or fixed to the central
rotor.
•The rotor is rotates at a high speed inside the drum while
material is fed into a feed hopper.
•The material is put into the hopper which is connected with
the drum.
•The material is powdered to the desired size due to fast
rotation of hammers and is collected under the screen.

30. •This are mainly
operated at
2500 rpm or
1000 to 2500
rpm for the
reduction of the
large sized
particles.
•High speed rotor
uses 10000 rpm
speed.

31. Advantages
•It is rapid in action, and is capable of grinding many
different types of materials.
•They are easy to instal and operate, the operation is
continuous.
•There is little contamination of the product with metal
abraded from the mil as no surface move against each
other.
•The particle size of the material to be reduced can be
easily control ed by changing the speed of the rotor,
hammer type, shape and size of the screen.

32. Disadvantages
•Heat buildup during milling is more, therefore, product
degradation is possible.
•Hammer mills cannot be employed to mill sticky,
fibrous and hard materials.
•The screens may get clogged.

33. Ball mill
•These are also knows as tumbling mills or pebble
mills.
•Principle: The ball mill works on the principle of impact
between the rapidly moving balls and the powder
material, both enclosed in a hollow cylinder.
•At low speed the balls roll over each other attrition will
be mode of action thus in the ball mill attrition and
impact both mechanisms takes place.

34. Construction
•It consists of a hollow cylinder which is mounted on a metallic
frame in such a way that it can be rotated on its longitudinal axis.
•The length of the cylinder is slightly higher than its diameter.
•The cylinder contains balls that occupy 30 to 50% of
the mill volume.
•The ball size depends on the size of the feed and the diameter
of the mill.$ !
•Balls are made up of steel, iron or stoneware and acts as grinding
medium.

36. Working
•The drug to be ground is put into the cylinder of the
mill in such a quantity that it is filled to about 60% of
the volume.
•A fixed number of balls are introduced and the cylinder
is closed. The mill is allowed to rotate on its
longitudinal axis.
•The speed of rotation is very important

37. Uses
•For fine grinding with a particle size of 100 to 5 mm or
less.
•For production of ophthalmic and parenteral
products.
•For milling dyes, pigments and insecticides at
low speed.

38. ADVANTAGES:
○It can produce very fine powder.
○Ball mill is used for both wet and dry grinding
processes.
○Toxic substances can be ground, as the cylinder is
closed system.
○Rod or bars can also be used as grinding media.
○Sticky material are size reduced in ball mill,
○Installation, operation and labor costs are low.
○Since the mill is closed system used for sterile
products and oxygen sensitive products.
28

39. DISADVANTAGES:
○The ball mill is a very noisy machine.
○Ball mill is a slow process.
○Soft, fibrous material cannot be milled by
ball mill.
29

40. FLUID ENERGY MILL/ JET MILL/ MICRONIZERS/
ULTRAFINE GRINDERS
○Principle:
✓Fluid energy mill operates on the principle of impact and
attrition. Milling takes place because of high velocity
collisions between the suspended particles.
○Construction:
✓It consist of an elliptical pipe which has a height of about
2 meters and diameter may be ranging from 20 to 200
mm.
30

42. Construction
✓The mill surface may be made up of either soft
stainless steel or tough ceramics.
✓Grinding nozzles are placed tangential and
opposed to the initial flow path of a powder.
✓Compressed air is used at 600 kilopascals to 1
megapascals.
✓Venturi feeder is provided in the path of the airflow.
An outlet with a classifier is fitted to allow the
escape of air.
32

43. ○Uses:
✓To reduce the particle size of most of drugs such as
antibiotics and vitamins.
○Advantages:
✓It has no moving parts heat is not produced during
milling.
✓It is rapid and efficient method for reducing powder
to 30 mm or less.
✓No contamination is possible.
○Disadvantages:
✓Not suitable for milling of soft, tacky and fibrous
material.
✓Equipment is expensive.
34

44. EDGE RUNNER MILL:
○Principle:
✓The size reduction is done by crushing due to
heavy weight of stones.
○Construction:
✓It consist of two heavy rollers and may weigh
several tons.
✓The roller move on a bed which is made up of
granite or stone.
✓Each roller has a central shaft and revolve on
its axis.
✓The rollers are mounted on horizontal shaft
and move around the bed.
35

45. 36

46. WORKING:
✓The material to be ground is placed on the bed
with the help of the scrapper in such a way that
it comes in the path of the stone wheel.
✓These stones revolve on its own axis and at the
same time travel around the shallow stone bed.
✓The material is ground for definite period.
✓The powder is collected and passed through a
sieve to get powder of required size. 37

47. 38

48. END RUNNER MILL:
○Principle:
✓Size reduction is done by crushing due to
presence of heavy weight steel pestle.
○Construction:
✓It is considered as mechanical mortar pestle.
✓It consist of a steel mortar which is fixed to a
plate.
✓The construction of mortar is connected to
horizontal shaft bearing a pulley so the plate
with mortar can be rotated at high speed.
✓The pestle is dumb-bell shaped and bottom of
pestle is flat.
39

49. 40

50. ✓Construction of pestle is done in such a way
that it can be raised from mortar for cleaning
and emptying.
○Working:
✓The material to be ground is placed in the
mortar. The scraper puts the material in the
path of the pestle.
✓The mortar revolves at high speed and the
pestle is placed in the mortar.
✓The revolving mortar causes pestle to revolve.
✓The material is collected and passed through a
sieve to get the powder of desired size.
41

51. 42

52. Website: www.probecell.com Email: [email protected]
Ph: 7415211131
Office: Smriti Nagar, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh - 490020
https://youtube.com/c/ParagJainthunderpassionate https://www.facebook.com/thesisresearchwriting
Research article Review article ThesisSynopsisPhD Title Research guidance