Comparison of the drying processes and equipment

Equipment Mode of
the heat
transfer
Method
of
Material
handling
Advantages and Disadvantages
Desiccation
chambers/Tray dryers
Convection Static Adv: There is no erosion of the solid because it is
static and it is economic and small amount of the
product can be dried
Disadv: Non-homogeneous drying, not appropriate
drying method for the thermo-sensitive products
and the process is very slow
Drying tunnels Convection Dynamics Adv: Compared to the tray dryers, tunnel drying is
a continuous process and also a large amount of
materials can be dried
Disadv: High labor cost for loading and unloading
and not suitable for small scale production and
also cannot dry if the feed in liquid. Similar to the
tray dryers this method is also slow and
thermolabile substance cannot be dried
Lyophilisation/freeze
drying
Adv: Useful technique for the manufacturing of the
sterile drugs and antibodies. And also improves the
stability of the drug compounds which are prone
to hydraulic degradation and thus increase the
shell life
Disadv: High cost of equipment and high energy
consumption
Spray drying Convection Dynamic Adv: Compared to the slow tray dryers and tunnel
drying, spray drying can be used to achieve fast
drying by uniform atomization of the feed and by
ensuring effective mixing of the droplets with the
drying gas.
Fast drying and short residence time makes spray
drying applicable to dry the heat sensitive
materials such as live vaccines and complex
proteins
Also, this method combines crystallization and
drying so also applicable to the liquid or slurry feed
as compared to tunnel drying
Disadv: Its cost of operation and high volumetric
consumption of the inert gas
Fluid Bed Convection Dynamic Adv: Good homogeneity, low risk for
agglomeration and short drying times.
Disadv: Unlike spray drying the fluid bed drying not
suitable for pasty or liquid materials and like spray
drying it requires high volumetric consumption of
the inert gas
Vacuum drying(mixers
& Chambers)
Convection,
Conduction,
Radiation

Static&
Dynamic
Adv: fast drying and easy to dry heat sensitice
materials and capable of recovering the valuble
and useful ingredients
Disadv: Need of a pumping steam vacuum system
making the investment in equipment costs and
high operating cost and low it has got efficiency
problems when it is compared to spray or fluid bed
drying in case of the heat sensitive materials

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Fluid bed Drying
Fluidized-bed drying presents the benefits of high heat and mass transfer coefficients, with leads to the
rapid exchange of mass and heat between gas and particles, and hence increased drying rates results in
shorter drying times and it eliminates heating of a heat sensitive product.
Moreover, control of the process is reliable due to rapid mixing and heat transfer rates are high.
Fluidized-bed drying permits large scale continuous operation with easy handling of the feed and
product.
The dryers do not include any mechanical moving parts and therefore maintenance is not expensive.
A major disadvantage of fluidized beds is the potential for particle size reduction due to attrition and
collisions between them. In areas of high gas velocities greater rate of attrition occurs accompanied by
fracture of particles due to impact
The design of an industrial-scale fluidized bed dryer is a somewhat a challenge as it is based more on
empirical knowledge than on fundamental research.

The drying process may greatly influence the quality of the drug substances in several aspects: the
polymorphic form of the active ingredient, the structural changes that may have an effect on the activity
of the substance, the degradation products formed due to the drying conditions and the presence of
residual solvents undesirable or above the permitted limits after drying. For instance, when a drying
process is too short it will produce granules with entrapped moisture, but if the process is too long, then
the granules become very dry and friable. If granules that dried by the outer layer reach the tablet press,
then moisture will escape from the granules during compression and would cause the granules to stick to
the tablet press tooling. Important selection of the drying system (static vs agitated/fluidized system), it
has been seen that that static drying results in granules possessing higher strength and faster drug
dissolution on the other hand it has been seen that fluid bed drying caused less contraction than static bed
drying. Choice of drying method also holds its own impacts on the tablet properties, For e.g.: drying in a
microwave oven gives rise to more porous granules with a lower fracture strength than drying in a
convective dryer. However, in contradiction, it has also been observed that microwave drying may give
granules of similar structure as conventional tray drying. In addition, it has been shown that freeze-drying
may give extremely porous granules, with a significantly increased deformability and tablet-forming
ability, compared with other drying methods. It should also be pointed out in this context that the drying
of solids, e.g. the removal of crystal water and spray drying may result in solid-state transformations and
in the production of amorphous materials, this is due to stresses occurring during the removal of a liquid
by drying may, for instance, produce amorphous materials and influence on the porosity of granules, with
subsequent effects on the dosage form.