Important Considerations To Remove Dust In Tableting Operations

By Andre Petric, President, Kraemer US

Is dust pervasive in your tablet press rooms?  How about the packaging area? Is dust leading to equipment malfunctions or causing bottles and blister packages to seal poorly?

Dust is a common byproduct of tablet compressions and it often adheres to the tablets as they exit the tablet press.  Tablets may also have burrs, or flash, around their edges due to the gap between the punches and dies. If not removed promptly, dust and burrs can easily reach downstream process equipment and cause problems. By capturing the dust, you’ll prevent that and your process and packaging equipment will work more efficiently and require less maintenance. You’ll also have a cleaner work area.

Much of the dust that finds its way to downstream processes can be traced to an inefficient tablet deduster. It might also come from how the tablets are stored/transported:  When stored and moved in drums or bags , the tablets rub against each other , dislodging dust that is easily introduced into the packaging area.