Pharmaceutical Feeders

Feeders and material handling systems for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.

The complete Coperion K-Tron line of pharmaceutical equipment is engineered to meet the rigid requirements of the industry, including strict adherence to cGMP guidelines and standards, as well as the use of FDA approved materials of construction.

Coperion K-Tron's P-Series vacuum receivers and Coperion K-Tron pharmaceutical design feeder line are easily disassembled. All units are specifically designed to meet the cleaning requirements of the end user, including options on complete wash-in-place and  rinse-in-place cleaning.

Additional design options available include the ability to provide complete product containment during feeding and product transfer, isolation in glove boxes, and executions suitable for use in hazardous environments according to ATEX and NEC guidelines.

Systems Design and Integration

Coperion K-Tron’s Systems Engineering Group specializes in supplying systems focused on material transfer and process ingredient feeding on a worldwide basis. Coperion K-Tron’s experienced technical engineers are available to discuss your process requirements in detail and recommend specific design options to optimize your process, both in feed accuracy as well as process quality.

Validation

Coperion K-Tron can provide an extensive array of validation documentation including FRS, HRS, DQ, FAT and SAT protocols for both standalone feeders/conveyors and complete systems. Controls options are available to meet CFR 21 Part 11 compliance. Integration with a variety of communications platforms including Modbus, Allen Bradley, DeviceNet, Profibus, etc. are available.

Pharma Feeder Design

All Coperion K-Tron feeders are available in volumetric and gravimetric lossin-weight configurations. Standard design features include

• All stainless steel product contact surfaces with FDA approved elastomers
• Material certification and surface finish confirmation on product contact surfaces ,/p.
• Integrated horizontal agitator to ensure optimal screw fill
• Gas purging connections for all shaft seals
• Exclusive Coperion K-Tron Smart Force Transducer (SFT) digital weighing technology with true 1:4,000,000 in 80 ms resolution for optimal accuracy, critical in continuous applications
• Minimum surface finish on all contact surfaces of 0.8 micron Ra (25 micro inches Ra). Higher surface finishes optional.
• All seals, gaskets and O-rings are constructed of FDA approved materials.

Pharma Feeder Models

Pharmaceutical Design: Single Screw Feeders
Single screw feeders are ideal for handling free-flowing materials such as granular excipients. Coperion K-Tron offers the KS60 in either  volumetric or gravimetric configurations.
Feed Rates:
0.4 dm3/hr (0.014 ft3/hr) to 4600 dm3/hr (162 ft3/hr).

Pharmaceutical Design: Twin Screw Feeders
Twin screw feeders are ideal for handling difficult materials such as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), excipients, lubricants and pharmaceutical granulations. Coperion K-Tron offers two sizes (KT20 and KT35) in either volumetric or gravimetric configurations.
Feed Rates:
0.12 dm3/hr (0.004 ft3/hr) to 2041 dm3/hr (72.1 ft3/hr)

Pharmaceutical Design: Twin Screw Microfeeder
The MT12 Microfeeder is specially designed for feeding freeflowing to difficult powders (e.g. lumpy, moist or bridge-building materials) at extremely low rates with extremely high accuracy and minimal residual material left in the feeder.
Feed rates:
0.04 dm3/hr (0.0014 ft3/hr) to 4 dm3/hr (0.014 ft3/hr).

Pharma Feeder Applications

Typical applications of pharmaceutical design feeders include:

• Feeding of mills and micronizers for both excipients and APIs
• Pharma extruder feeders including hot melt and wet granulation extrusion
• Single and multiple ingredient dispensing and batching, including reactor loading
• Lubrication of tablet press tooling
• Feeding of continuous pharmaceutical processes including mixing/blending, wet and dry granulators, coaters, and drying.