Dealing with pharmaceutical ingredients demands adherence to a range of health and safety regulations. A sieve or screener is a crucial part of every pharmaceutical production process, particularly as product quality and integrity are essential.
The use of a vibratory sieve safeguards against customer compensation or litigation, as it eliminates all oversized contamination. Vibratory sieves ensure that ingredients and finished products are quality assured during production and before use or dispatch.
However, the design of sieving equipment has had to undergo radical changes in recent years to overcome the demands of companies that manufacture pharmaceuticals. These demands include improving productivity, product quality and, most importantly, the health and safety of operators of sieves and screener.
The latest generation of sieve has resulted in significant improvements in safety by containing the powders being processed, thus adhering to occupational exposure limits (OELs). In basic terms, a sieve consists of a housing containing a removable wire mesh of defined aperture size.
This assembly is vibrated by an electric motor so that particles small enough pass through the mesh apertures, as well as any particles or contamination that are too big, remain on the top. Most units used in the pharmaceutical industry tend to be circular and of a high-quality good manufacturing practice (GMP) design. Stainless steel mesh with high tolerance on the apertures is also specified to give excellent product quality.
This article looks at the types of sieving, where sieves are used, the features and benefits of check-screening vibratory sieves, the unique Russell Vibrasonic® Deblinding System, the effect of the ATEX Directive and improvements in containment within the pharmaceutical industry.
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