PHARMACEUTICS

LECUTURE ON COMMINUTION
LECTURER: MR LAWRENCE SONEKA

 Comminution – is the process of reducing the particles size of a

substance to finer state or powder. It is done with the help of mortar and
pestle or mills. Different mills used for reduction of particle size are
hammer mills, ball mills, colloid mills and fluid energy, etc.
 On a small scale, the Pharmacist reduces the size of drug substances by
grinding with mortar and pestle. A finer grinding action is accomplished
by using a mortar with rough surface (as a porcelain mortar) than with a
smooth surface (as a glass mortar)
 Particle size reduction plays important role in pharmaceutical technology
(e.g. in preparation of solution, emulsion, suspensions or pastes, as well

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 as in granulation, tablet compaction). It can be a finishing operation too,
for example in making powder or granulate type end products.
 Grinding a drug in mortar in order to reduce its particles is called
Trituration or Comminution

Levigation is commonly used in small-scale preparation of ointments and

suspensions to reduce the particles size and grittiness of the added powder.
Spatulation is the blending small amounts of powder by movement of a spatula
through on a sheet of paper or an ointment tile. See the picture below

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Energy Utilization
 For any particle there is a minimum energy that will fracture it
 Mills usually utilizes less than 1% energy input to fracture particles and
create new surfaces
 The remainder of the energy is lost as friction between particles, friction
between the particles and the mill, heat, vibration and noise
 A number of empirical equations have been proposed such as:
Kickes theory which states that the energy requirement, E, for a size
reduction is directly related to the reduction ratio D1/D2 where D1 and
D2 are the diameter of the particles before and after communition
respectively. Where C is constant.
E = C in D1/D2
This is especially applicable to coarse grinding

Rittingers Theory states that the energy required for size reduction is
directly proportional to the increase in surface and inversely
proportional to the product diameter produced by milling.
As the surface area increases, diameter decreases. This is more applicable
to fine milling where the increase in surface per unit mass is large.
E = C (1/D2 – 1/D1) or E = A/D
Grinding Efficiency
Grinding is classified into 3 categories:
 Coarse grinding (to 200 – 70 mesh size)
 Fine grinding (below 200 mesh size)
 Superfine grinding (few mesh or less).

Importance of Communition (size reduction) of drugs

 Size reduction aids efficient processing of solid particles by facilitating
powder mixing or production of pharmaceutical suspension.
 Size reduction of particles increase surface leading to easy solubility
 To improve the flow of powders
 To improve physical stability
 To improve the rate of absorption
 To improve the extraction process

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Mechanism of Comminution of drugs
Particle size reduction in solid happens due to the following mechanisms of
forces:
1. Cracking – the substance is exposed to compressive force between flat
surfaces
2. Milling – substance is exposed to an additional force, perpendicular to
this compressive force.
3. Shearing – similar to cracking, but the surface are sharp, not flat.
4. Cutting – size reduction is achieved by using sharp surfaces.
5. Crushing – by imparts.
For particle size reduction to take place very well, it’s advisable to choose
equipment that is most suited to the comminution properties of the drug
substance as well as capable of exerting above types of forces. See below
diagram showing different types of forces.

Diagram showing different mechanisms of Comminution.

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Principles of size reduction (Communition)

1. Cutting – The material is cut into small pieces by means of shape

blade. e.g. cutter mill

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 2. Compression – The material is crushed by the application of
pressure. e.g. mortar and pestle, colloid mill
3. Impact – The material is stationery and hit by a moving object at
high speed or vice versa. e.g. hammer mill
4. Attrition – The material is in motion with the surface and the
pressure is applied to the material. e.g. roller mill, fluid energy
mill

Factors affecting size reduction

I. Hardness. Hardness is the resistance of a material to deformation.
It is measured using Moh’s scale (1-10) from graphite to diamond.
II. Toughness. Toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy
and resist impact. Soft but tough material is more difficult to
reduce size than hard but brittle. e.g. toughness – rubber and
hardness – chalk
III. Abrasiveness – it is the property of hard material especially
minerals that causes scraping or wearing of machine. Abrasive
substance when reduced in size may contain 0.1% metal from
machine.
IV. Stickiness – it is the property of a material to stick to the machine
parts during size reduction and block the parts. Drying or addition
of inert substance may help in sticky materials. e.g. gum, resins
V. Softening – Temperature required to soften or melt materials is
important in size reduction. So temperature should be kept low to
avoid softening of materials and reduce their size. e.g. waxy
substance can melt at high temperature

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 VI. Moisture. Moisture content of a material can affect its hardness,
toughness or stickiness. Generally materials should be dry and
contain less than 5% moisture. Material tend to cake and do not
flow when the moisture content is between 5 and 50%. This
reduces grinding efficiently. At the concentration greater than 50%
moisture, the mass becomes slurry or fluid suspension.
VII. Bulk. Bulk density of powder is defined as the mass per unit
volume. Higher density means less volume occupied and more
batch capacity.
VIII. Physiological effect. Some substances are very potent
(podophyllum, hormones, griseofulvin) and dust may affect person.
So such substance should be grinded on closed mills.
IX. Ratio of feed size to product. The amount of material feed affects
the product size. So size different equipments. E.g. coarse grinding
followed by fine grinding

The diagram above shows different principles of Communition

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Cutter mill
 It works on the principle of cutting
 Stationery and rotating blades are attached to the mill and screen of
desired size is present at the lower part
 The material is feed through hopper and size of material is reduced by
blades moving at high speed
 Coarse powder is obtained through this mill
Colloid mill
 It works on the principle of shearing
 Colloid mill consists of a conical rotor and stator. The distance between
rotor and stator is adjusted between 0.005 to 0.075 cm. The rotor is
connected to high speed motor which can revolve at a speed of 3000 to 20
000 rpm.
 The material is feed to hopper and size of material is reduced as it passes
through moving rotor and stator
Advantages of colloid mill
o Product with particles less than 1μ can be obtained
o Size reduction is carried out in the presence of liquid
o Useful for preparing suspensions, emulsions, lotions, ointments
and creams

Hammer mill

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  It works on the principle of impact
 Hammer mill consists of central shaft attached with number of hammers
in steel case. When shaft rotates hammers swing in radial position. Screen
of desired size is fitted on the lower portion
 The material is feed to hopper and size is reduced by the impact of
hammer.
Advantages of hammer mill
 They are simple to install and operation is continuous
 They are fast in action and can reduce the size of different types of
materials
 There is no chances of contamination due to abrasion of metal
 The particles size of the product can be controlled by changing speed,
hammer or screen.

Roller mill
 It works on principle of attrition
 Roller mill consists of two metal rolls with adjustable gap between them.
The speed of the rollers and gap between rollers determines the size of
particles
 The material is feed to hopper and the size of the particles is reduced by
moving rollers
Ball mill
 This mill works on the principle of impact and attrition
 It consists of cylindrical container filled with number of balls made up of
steels. The balls acts as grinder. The size of the balls determines the
particle size. The cylindrical container is rotated slow speed.
 The material is feed to the hopper and the moving balls reduces the size
of material.
Advantages of ball mill
I. It produces very fine powders
II. It can grind different types of materials from wet and dry
III. It can be used for continuous operation
IV. They are simple to operate and clean
V. It is used in completely closed form so suitable for toxic materials.

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Fluid energy
 It is also known as jet mill, ultrafine grinding mill or micronizer
 It works on the principle of impact and attrition
 A fluid (usually air) is passed through the nozzle at high pressure which
will move the material at high velocity with turbulence
 Coarse particles are feed into the mill and turbulence causes impact and
attrition to produce fine particles.
Advantages of fluid energy mill
 It can produce very fine particles
 It is suitable for heat sensitive products
 No contamination due to abrasion
 It does not contain any moving parts

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