spotlight

Production Efficiency Using Corn Starch in Moisture Activated Dry Granulation

The old phrase “Time is Money” has never been more accurate than in today’s world. With the current economy, companies are looking at every opportunity to cut costs, including manufacturing costs. There is great value in production processes that can be shortened, but still produce a high-quality, effective end product. In the manufacturing of tablets, direct compression is always the first option investigated. However, if direct compression does not produce a quality tablet, the formulator must use granulation. Granulation processes take time and add additional cost to the formula. A new trend in granulation, which saves both time and money is Moisture Activated Dry Granulation. Since minimal moisture is needed in this specialty granulation process, no drying time is required, shortening the processing time greatly. The granulation can be “dried” using a new specialty starch from GPC.

Moisture Activated Dry Granulation (MADG) is an efficient, cost-effective granulating process that does not require a drying step. In the MADG process, the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) is dry blended with a binder or combination of binders in a typical high-shear granulator. A limited amount of moisture is then added to granulate the powder mixture, but not over-wet it. Next, an absorbent excipient, like corn starch, is added to evenly distribute the moisture and “dry” the granulation. Last, if the formulation requires a lubricant or disintegrant, it is added to the blend. Limited or no sizing is required in this process because the particles are small and uniform.

The MADG process is getting new attention because of its advantages over traditional granulation processes. Typical binders used in the granulation portion of the MADG process are MALTRIN^® M180 Maltodextrin NF and low molecular weight povidone. Grain Processing Corporation has developed a unique, absorbent starch called Spress^® B818 Pregelatinized Corn Starch NF which absorbs and distributes the moisture in the MADG process, thus drying the granulation.

For more information on Spress^® B818 and MALTRIN^® M180 in the MADG process, please visit the starch and maltodextrin section of this website.