Continuous manufacturing can greatly benefit the pharmaceutical industry for improving production yields, size flexibility, and transferability among sites.

This study investigated the dynamics of pharmaceutical granules dried in a continuous horizontal fluidized bed dryer (FBD) equipped with a screw conveyor to evaluate the feasibility of the process.

Pharmaceutical granules are often irregularly shaped and feature a large particle size distribution, thus complicating the operation of traditional continuous FBDs with smooth fluidization regimes. The presence of screw conveyor enhanced plug flow, decreased agglomeration, and improved fluidization stability and homogeneity.

The residence time distribution (RTD) of solid flow was evaluated by the pulse-tracer injection method. The dispersion model and the tanks-in-series model were both suitable for describing the particle flow through the dryer. The corresponding Peclet numbers vary between 9.8 and 13.3 while the tank number better fitting the model are between 5.4 and 7.2.

The influences of different parameters were studied. The internal screw conveyor rotation was the most critical parameter affecting the solid RTD, followed by air velocity. The air temperature also had a moderate impact. The solid throughput rate had a negligible effect on the solid RTD, but it did have a direct impact on the overall drying rate.

连续制造可以极大地有益于制药行业，以提高产量、尺寸灵活性和站点之间的可转移性。

本研究调查了在配备螺旋输送机的连续卧式流化床干燥机 (FBD) 中干燥的药物颗粒的动力学，以评估该工艺的可行性。

药物颗粒通常形状不规则，粒度分布大，从而使具有平滑流化制度的传统连续 FBD 的操作复杂化。螺旋输送机的存在增强了活塞流，减少了团聚，并改善了流化稳定性和均匀性。

固体流的停留时间分布（RTD）通过脉冲示踪剂注射法进行评估。分散模型和串联罐模型都适用于描述通过干燥器的颗粒流。相应的 Peclet 数在 9.8 到 13.3 之间变化，而更适合模型的罐数在 5.4 到 7.2 之间。

研究了不同参数的影响。内部螺旋输送机旋转是影响固体 RTD 的最关键参数，其次是空气速度。气温也有适度的影响。固体通过速率对固体 RTD 的影响可以忽略不计，但它确实对整体干燥速率有直接影响。