Back

Equipment for the manufacture of pellets

Switch quickly between different materials with this easy to clean CE marked, top quality extrusion and spheronization system. An example of reliable and efficient British engineering at its best - this is the best option for your pellet production and is backed by the highly acclaimed support from Caleva Process Solutions.

The Caleva system gives you the ability to vary the density of the extrudates. Fine-tune your process to be ideal for your product properties and the intended use of your pellet or extrudate. This allows you to scale-up from your formulation development with any laboratory benchtop extruder.

Caleva is a company with almost 100% of its focus on equipment for extrusion and spheronization. It is our key and core business. We are passionate about our equipment and support being the best there is in this field.

The Caleva Variable Density Twin Screw Extruder

The Variable Density Twin Screw Extruder (VD-TSE) is Caleva's largest scale extruder, capable of producing up to 150kg of extrudate per hour (formulation dependent). Caleva's large-scale production extruders are used in production for a wide variety of industries by both large manufacturers and smaller contract manufacturers around the world. The VD-TSE can be used for anything from pharmaceutical products to animal feed. Outputting consistent and reliable extrudate regardless of your industry is what the VD-TSE is designed to do.

  • Designed to provide excellent results and offers the ability to output variable density extrudate.  Learn more about Variable Density Extrusion
  • Designed to withstand a higher axial load than standard to reduce risk of damage in use by operator over a wider range of industries

The Caleva Spheronizer 700

The Caleva Spheronizer 700 (S700) can produce up to 150 kg of pellets every hour (depending on your formulation) and works most efficiently with loads between 1 kg to 15 kilos. In a recent manufacturing installation, very small pellets were required, but in loads greater than 4 kilos the size of the pellets increased slightly beyond their required measurements. Using the flexible batch size of the S700, meeting the formulation's requirements was a simple and easy adaptation.

A few key features:

  • Air blast technology to enhance efficiency during continuous operation
  • Batch operation with fully automatic discharge
  • Water jacket for heating or cooling of the product
    S700

 

 

Surprisingly Compact

Good management of space in a production environment is often key to ensuring a high productivity rate. Having as much equipment as possible whilst still ensuring there is enough working space becomes difficult with large machinery.

For an extruder that can output around 150 kg per hour, people are often surprised by it's small footprint.

VD-TSE-small-footprint

 

Superior Caleva Design

Disc Groove

 

There is a groove under the spheronization disc to prevent water from running under the surface of the disc and entering the drive shaft - only available from Caleva

With very wet products, or as a result of condensation, water sometimes collects on the underside of the spheronizer disc. A safety groove is provided so that water does not creep to the centre of the disc when it is not spinning and run down into the drive shaft and motor. The shaft seal air purge on other equipment in the market may not operate when the machine is switched off.

 

Barrier Shield

 

On the base of the spheronization chamber, there is a barrier shield. This is to prevent cleaning water ingress into the drive shaft

Water can be drained from the spheronizer bowl and be removed down the drainage hole. Any remaining water can creep into the drive mechanism. The secondary shield on the Caleva machine will prevent this from happening, potentially giving longer life to the equipment.

 

Integrated Air Blast

 

To prevent blockages during operation, the S700 has an integrated air blast gun for immediate hand cleaning by operators. This stops the need to turn the machine off each time a blockage or build up occurs.

During continuous operation there is a tendency for moist pellets to stick around the discharge door area. If the door closes on, and compresses these pellets then an incomplete door closure can occur, which disturbs operation of the equipment.

Caleva spheronizers are fitted with a hand-held air blast gun to allow easy cleaning from both sides of the door opening as part of the operation to easily and efficiently prevent product build-up and operational disturbance.

 

Product discharge system

A gradient discharge door (rounded for gentle product flow) with pneumatic hinges, provides gentle product management and direction changes of spheroids that are still soft and wet. An angular system can damage the shape of the soft discharging spheroids

Spheronization Disc Lifting

The Caleva production spheronizer has a lifting device built into the machine. This makes removing the disc quick and easy, and is power operated by buttons on the side of the control panel.Hoist buttons

 

Use on uneven flooring

To avoid excessive wear, large spheronizers are designed to be placed on flat surfaces. The Caleva machine is designed to be levelled on uneven floors.  Levelling is important for smooth operation of a heavy disc rotating at speeds up to 400 rpm.

Air purge under the disc

The air flow on the Caleva machine is variable according to user requirement. This requirement can vary with batch size and formulation.

Rounded discharge chute

Similarly to the gradient discharge door, a gradient entry to the discharge chute provides gentle product management and direction changes of soft and still wet spheroids. An angular system can damage the shape of a proportion of the soft discharging spheroid product.

Product Temperature

For some formulations it can be important to know the product temperature of extrudate coming through a die, or the pellets inside the spheronization chamber. These Caleva machines have a thermometer that links to a display on the control panel, giving you a constant product temperature reading.

Controlled Pellet Discharge

If the spheronizer disc speed is too high during product discharge then pellets can either stick on or pellets can be damaged. On the door open command (automatic or manual) the speed of rotation of the disc is automatically slowed to an optimum rate for discharge before the door is opened.

Backed by Caleva Expertise & Service

Backed by Caleva Expertise & Service

scott-caleva-1

Scott has recent experience of some quite challenging extrusion and spheronization projects where, with some careful thought, success has been possible, even though at the outset it was considered doubtful. When safe to d Scott is always keen to visit customer sites to demonstrate how our equipment can help.  Contact Scott directly +44 (0) 7495 527790 or email scott.humphries@caleva.com

 

Caleva-variable-density-twin-screw-extruder-technical-specification

Variable Density Twin Screw Extruder

Technical Specification

Download Now
Caleva-spheronizer-700-technical-specification

Caleva Production Spheronizer 700

Technical Specification

Download Now
caleva-equipment-General-Brochure-1

Options & Further Considerations

Practical Use Examples

Download Now
caleva-Production-Equipment-Brochure

Caleva Production Equipment

General Brochure

Download Now
Dawn Philips
By Dawn Philips
9 Jun 2021 in Product Yield, Scale Up and Manufacturing

Leave A Comment

Overcoming Consistency Challenges in the Iron Making Sector

Caleva's International Sales Manager Steve Mate visited the Department of Chemical Engineering at Osaka Metropolitan University to find out how the Mixer Torque Rheometer (MTR) is being used. Read More

5 Reasons Why You Should Choose Caleva

At Caleva we want to help pioneering research and formulation scientists achieve results and we believe that our range of R&D machines should make achieving these results as easy as possible. Read More

Equipment for the manufacture of pellets

Switch quickly between different materials with this easy to clean CE marked, top quality extrusion and spheronization system. An example of reliable and efficient British engineering at its best - this is the best option for your pellet production and is backed by the highly acclaimed support from ... Read More

Production Capacity Estimates for Extrusion and Spheronization Systems

We are often asked about the production capacity of our extrusion and spheronization systems. To provide this information there needs to be an understanding of the process parameters that will be used and that have been determined at the development stage. With that information, the advice that we g... Read More

Opportunities for Mixer Torque Rheometry

Wet granulations are a useful precursor to many solid dosage formulations and as such are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry. Because of the diverse nature of pharmaceutical materials, granulation is often employed as an intermediate process to enhance flow and compaction properties and impr... Read More

How Do You Ensure Consistency During Scale Up?

The Mixer Torque Rheometer's Consistency Test To ensure consistency is maintained during scale up and production, the Mixer Torque Rheometer can be used to perform a quick and simple test which monitors the consistency of the wet granulation during the mixing phase. This test can be used whether you... Read More

What characteristics should my extrudate have?

Extrusion and spheronization is not always completely straightforward. A formulation required for spheronization needs to go through the following processes and achieve the following properties. Read More

What are the standard processes in the manufacture of pellets?

Wet Granulation - Granules are formed by the addition of a granulation liquid onto a bed of powder under the influence of an impeller. This is typically carried out using a high-shear granulator or a simpler planetary mixer. Read More

Should I use spheronization or layering to manufacture pellets?

There are two main ways to make small pellets for drug delivery: Drug layering onto inert starter (or seed) pellets that are bought commercially Extrusion and spheronization binding the active material in the substrate of the pellet from the beginning There is no right or wrong way to make pellets. ... Read More

Do all extruders and spheronizers have the same level of performance?

Product yields (the percentage of the spheroids produced in a batch that are within the size range required) will never be 100%. Read More

Coating pellets and tablets - can results be used in scale up?

We are often asked if parameters used for film coating of materials in the Mini Coater Drier can be used for “scale up” to production. The desire for a process to be scalable is understandable but it is not always feasible or relevant. Read More

A better therapeutic effect with spheroids

In many cases the main reason for the use of pellets in the manufacture of products is for its controlled release properties. However there are reasons to believe that pellets or spheroids in any case can offer a superior therapeutic effect even when modified release is not the prime objective. Read More

Examples of the terminology used in spheronization and marumerization

Spheronization, marumerization, pelletization and micropelletization all mean the same thing. The manufacture of products in small spheres (spheroids) for use in pharmaceutical (pharma) and catalyst industries. Within each batch the spheroids are of regular shape and size and are quite dense. The pr... Read More

Extruding with the E35

The Caleva Extruder 35 is capable of processing batch sizes from 250g to 5kg (wet weight) of product to create an hourly output of approximately 100kg (product dependent). The E35 works with a large range of materials, including pharmaceutical materials, catalysts and agricultural products. The Extr... Read More

Spheronizing with the S380

The Caleva Spheronizer 380 is capable of processing batch sizes from 250g to 5kg (wet weight) of product to create an hourly output of approximately 50kg. The S380 works with a large range of materials, including pharmaceutical materials, catalysts and agricultural products. The Spheronizer The sphe... Read More

How can I be sure that the trials and development work that I do will give me comparable results when I need to scale up to production sizes?

Scale up of the spheronization process is relatively well known and understood. All of the Caleva extrusion and spheronization equipment is designed with scale up in mind. Our range of screw extruders have the ability to modify the density of your extrudate when this is important. The smallest extru... Read More

Effect of spheronizer plate design on the spheronization of ketoprofen

Abstract: Spheronization is a rapid process for production of microspheres. The process involves the dry mixing of drug with microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), which on subsequent wetting with water forms a plastic mass suitable for extrusion and spheronization. As in any pharmaceutical operation, la... Read More

Yield Problems in Production and Quality Control

One of the strengths of the Caleva Mixer Torque Rheometer (MTR-3) is that it can be used to verify the properties of wet powder mass samples taken during production in large scale mixer/granulator systems. Read More

Do you have heat generation issues with your extrusion process?

During production scale extrusion heat is generated as a result of the process. The amount of heat generated will vary depending on: The formulation of the product The rate of extrusion The physical specifications of the extruder The type of extruder being used, for example, screw, gear, or basket. Read More