Dry Granulation by Roller Compaction: Solving Extreme Flowability Challenges in High-Load Powders
Some high-load actives behave predictably. Others — refuse to flow, compress, or even move through standard processing equipment.
This case focuses on one such material — a highly cohesive, low-density powder with extreme flowability issues — and how dry granulation via roller compaction was used to transform it into a stable, capsule-ready form.
Not all powders are created equal.
- The Core Problem:
A Powder That Refused to Behave
The incoming materials present multiple critical limitations:
- Terrible flowability
- extremely poor flowability (high angle of repose)
- strong inter-particle cohesion
- low bulk density and high compressibility variability
- tendency to form bridges and arches in hoppers
- When compacted or blended, it either:
- under pressure — it compacted into dense, non-processable masses
- without pressure — it remained too light and non-flowing for encapsulation
We used a pure compaction process:
- No binders, just mechanical force
- Optimized roller pressure and gap width
- Real-time density adjustments to avoid brittleness
It took testing, but we found a sweet spot in the compression force and milling setup that allowed us to granulate pure material or ready mixes without altering purity or content.
Dry roller compactor at BF-EssE facility
BF‑EssE owns its own dry granulation roll compactor, transformation of fine powders into dense, flowable granules without the use of liquids or binders
Our In-House Compaction Saved the Project
- Turning to Dry Granulation:
- Final Result
Clean Granules, Perfectly Encapsulated
THE FINAL GRANULES:
- Passed flow and fill tests
- Had a tight weight range for encapsulation
- Maintained label claim purity
- Were mechanically stable during capsule filling
- Too much compression force
- Dry roller compactor
- Initial stage of the powder
- Why This Matters:
The resulting granules demonstrated:
- significantly improved flowability
- stable and repeatable capsule filling
- narrow weight variation
- mechanical stability during handling
Most importantly:
the material remains unchanged in composition.
Granulation Isn’t Just for Tablets
Dry granulation is often associated with tablet-making — but in this case, it made high-purity encapsulation possible.
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