A Comprehensive Analysis of Oral Solid Dosage Form Production Line
Oral solid dosage forms (tablets, capsules, granules, etc.) are the most common dosage forms in the pharmaceutical industry. Their production lines cover core processes such as raw material processing, granulation, tableting/filling, coating, and packaging. The following is a detailed description of the equipment composition and production process:
1. Raw Material Pretreatment System
Function: Crushes, sieves, and mixes raw materials to ensure uniformity.
Key Equipment:
- Pulverizer (pulverizer, air jet mill): Crushes raw materials to 80-200 mesh.
- Vibrating Screen (rotary vibrating screen, ultrasonic screen): Removes impurities and controls particle size.
- Three-dimensional mixer/V-type mixer: Ensures uniform mixing of raw materials (mixing time 10-30 minutes).
2. Granulation System
Function: Forms powdered raw materials into granules, improving flowability and compressibility.
(1) Wet Granulation (Suitable for sticky materials)
Equipment:
- High-speed wet granulator: Strong shear force, short granulation time (5-15 minutes).
- Fluidized bed granulator (one-step granulation): Integrates mixing, granulation, and drying.
- Binder: Aqueous solutions or ethanol solutions such as HPMC and PVP.
(2) Dry granulation (suitable for heat-sensitive materials)
Equipment:
- Dry granulator: Forms granules by roller pressing and then crushes them (no drying required).
(3) Drying equipment
Equipment:
- Hot air circulating oven: Static drying, suitable for small batches.
- Fluidized bed dryer: Dynamic drying, high efficiency (moisture content ≤3%).
3. Tableting system
Function: Compresses granules into tablets (regular tablets, sustained-release tablets, etc.).
Key equipment:
Rotary tablet press:
- Number of punches: Single punch (laboratory), multi-punch (19 punches, 37 punches, 55 punches industrial grade).
- Pressure control: 10-100kN (hardness ≥50N).
- Speed: 5,000-200,000 tablets/hour (e.g., Fette 3090 high-speed tablet press).
Anti-metal contamination system: Magnet, metal detector.
Online monitoring: Tablet weight, hardness, and thickness monitoring (feedback control).
4. Capsule Filling System
Function: Fills empty capsules with powder or granules.
Key Equipment:
- Semi Automatic Capsule Filling Machine
- Fully Automatic Capsule Filling Machine
Auxiliary Equipment:
- Capsule Polishing Machine: Removes surface powder and improves appearance.
Filling Method:
- Direct powder filling (for materials with good flowability).
- Granule/microsphere filling (for sustained-release capsules).
5. Coating Systems
Functions: Improve tablet appearance, mask taste, provide moisture protection, or control release.
(1) Sugar Coating/Film Coating
Equipment:
High-efficiency coating machine (pan-type):
Spray gun system: Airless spraying, uniform coating.
Hot air circulation: Temperature control 30-50℃.
Fluidized bed coating machine:
Suitable for microcapsule coating (sustained-release formulations).
Coating Materials:
- Film coating: HPMC, Opadry.
- Enteric coating: CAP, HPMCP.
(2) Sustained-release Coating (Microcapsules/Tablets)
Equipment:
Fluidized bed bottom spray coating machine.
6. Packaging System
(1) Inner Packaging
Aluminum-Plastic Blister Packaging Machine (PVC/PVDC + Aluminum Foil):
Thermoforming vs. Cold Forming (Drug Stability Requirements).
Bottling Line:
- Bottle Unscrambler
- Counting Filling Machine (Tablets/Capsules)
- Desiccant Dispenser
- Capping Machine
- Labeling Machine
(2) Outer Packaging
- Cartoning Machine: Automatic Folding Carton, Inserting Instruction Manual.
- Cellophane Wrapping Machine
- Heat Shrink Film Packaging Machine
- Carton Case Packing Machine.
7. Production Line Configuration Examples
Tablet Production Line:
Raw material pretreatment → Wet granulation → Drying → Granulation → Compression → Coating → Blister packaging → Boxing
Capsule Production Line
Raw material mixing → Capsule filling → Polishing → Bottling/Aluminum-plastic packaging → Boxing
Looking for a fully customized solid dosage production line for tablets or capsules? Celine Pharma delivers tailored solutions, including complete auxiliary equipment, to meet your specific needs!
✅ End-to-end support
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