There's No Such Thing As A "Perfect Blend" – Uniformity Factors In Pharmaceutical Mixed Powders

By Mike Tousey, Techceuticals, LLC and Matt Hicks,

The "perfect blend" for mixed powders is best defined as a blend with 100% uniformity, but that is impossible. It can be relatively easy to achieve the close to the perfect blend in a one-time mixing and blending process, however, ensuring as close to 100% uniformity as possible batch-after-batch is one of the most difficult issues those in bulk-solids processing operations face. Although demonstrating a perfect blend across batches is a huge undertaking, it is key to showing an effective, repeatable bulk-solids manufacturing process. There are many factors that influence how powders mix—ingredient characteristics, blend hold times, and the equipment used for mixing and blending, all affect blend uniformity.