GPC Dust Collector Helps Keep Pharmaceutical Company’s Process in Check with FDA
The Problem
GPC Compact Cyclone Dust Collectors
At a prominent US pharmaceutical company, facility managers were working hard to design a dust collection system for a plant manufacturing a variety of prescription drugs. They planned on using a cartridge collector as part of their tablet manufacturing process, but because they’re regulated by the FDA, every gram of product must be accounted for, even the dust. The challenge for them was that any tablet dust created is extremely fine and flows like water, and although a cartridge collector would collect the particulate during the process, much of the dust would get stuck in the filters. This effectively makes that dust very difficult to account for.
The facility also employs a bag-in/bag-out process when changing filter collectors to help ensure that none of the particulate gets lost. Despite this semi-successful process, the company still needed a way to collect most of the particulate before it traveled through the cartridge collectors, so they reached out to Aerodyne for assistance.
The Solution and Measurable Results
Horizontal GPC Cyclone
Aerodyne evaluated their proposal and suggested implementing the GPC dust collector (Ground Plate Cyclone) to aid in collecting fine dust. The GPC is a compact, high efficiency cyclone dust collector with several distinct advantages over traditional high-efficiency cyclone dust collectors. The GPC’s spiral inlet directs dirty gas streams toward the ground plate and hopper of the collector. It is also compact and able to be installed horizontally with little impact on collection efficiency.
The company purchased 15 vertical Carbon steel GPC-20s for its plant. The GPCs are in rows of five, each located in their own “clean room.” Each of these clean rooms serves a different purpose in pharmaceutical production, like capsule coating. The rows of cyclones collect and process API dust, then feed a cartridge collector for final dust collection. They’re also all fitted with a special bag for the bag-in/bag-out process to further prevent dust loss. After roughly 16 hours of operation with this setup, almost zero dust reached the cartridge collector. Placing the GPCs in front of the cartridge collectors has provided numerous benefits to this process.
Filters typically need to be replaced frequently because they fill up with product in a short amount of time. Because the dust passes through the GPCs before the cartridge collectors, however, the filter life gets extended. This also helps with overall recovery of the product, which is crucial in an application such as this where there are FDA regulations and all of the dust must be accounted for. Additionally, the GPC requires less maintenance than cartridge collectors, reducing operational strain.
