Vol. 5, Issue 10 (2016)

Author(s):
Esratun Jannat, Abdullah Al Arif, Md. Mehdi Hasan, Abdullah Bin Zarziz and Harun Ar Rashid

Abstract:
Granulation is the process in which primary powder particles are made to adhere to form larger multi-particle entities called granules. Granulation is required to avoid segregation, enhance the flow of powder, to produce uniform mixture, to produce dust free formulation, to eliminate poor content uniformity and to improve compaction characteristics of mix. Granulation method is mainly divided into two types: wet granulation and dry granulation. Like any other scientific field, pharmaceutical granulation technology also continues to change, and arrival of novel and innovative technologies are inevitable. This review focuses on the recent progress in the granulation techniques and technologies such as pneumatic dry granulation, reverse wet granulation, steam granulation, moisture-activated dry granulation, thermal adhesion granulation, freeze granulation, and foamed binder or foam granulation. This review gives an overview of these with a short description about each development along with its significance and limitations. During the formulation development, each drug substance poses a unique challenge that must be taken into consideration at the process selection stage by the formulation development scientists.