Powder dosing using double screw feeder

Background

This dataset, compiled by Dr. Philipp Grohn and Dr. Rakulan Sivanesapillai of Bayer, serves as a benchmark for particle simulation codes using relevant industrial test cases. The main goal is to systematically compare simulation outcomes against experimental data for two distinct powders—a cohesive, fine powder and a free-flowing, coarser powder—both subjected to identical industrial feeding conditions. While all necessary characterisation and apparatus data are included, the actual experiment results have been deliberately excluded, allowing the dataset to be used as a blind code challenge.

The constituent components of this dataset are as follows:

Material property data pertaining to two distinct pharmaceutical excipient powders: Pharmatose 200M (Lactose Monohydrate) and Avicel PH101 (Microcrystalline Cellulose).

The technical specifications of the Three-Tec ZD 5 FB flat-tray twin screw feeder.

Excluded for blind comparison: The files "Feeder_Three-Tec_*.xlsx" which contain empirical time-series data from feeding tests of the aforementioned powders using the Three-Tec ZD 5 FB flat-tray twin screw feeder. (To be compared with simulation output).

Overview

The folder contains files focused on two pharmaceutical excipients: Pharmatose 200M (Lactose Monohydrate) and Avicel PH101 (Microcrystalline Cellulose).

The data set is designed to:

Characterise the fundamental bulk and particle properties of both materials.

Compare the performance of a Three-Tec ZD 5 FB flat-tray feeder when processing the two powders under various operational settings.

Key Topics and Documentation

Topic

Description

Material Characterisation

Measurements of Bulk Density (b ), Flow Factor (ffc), Cohesivity (fc), and Hausner Ratio (nHa).

Particle Size Distribution (PSD)

Laser diffraction data (Mastersizer 3000) including median size (d(0.5)) and size spread (d(0.1) and d(0.9)).

Feeder Performance

More details of the powders and a list of screw and agitator speeds, etc for which experiments were undertaken

Supporting Documents

Technical specification sheet for the Three-Tec ZD 5 FB feeder and a reference document detailing all Abbreviation Descriptions used in the spreadsheets. Photographs of the materials.

Comparative Material Properties

The two excipients exhibit distinct flow characteristics, which is the core focus of the comparison:

Pharmatose 200M (Lactose)

Avicel PH101 (Cellulose)

Charge Nr

BTW0KCK (2023)

BX06FUF (2021)

Bulk Density (b [g/L])

703.4

353.4

Median PSD (d(0.5) [µm])

43.14

67.19

Cohesivity (fc)

1.6

0.7

Flow Factor (ffc)

2.0

4.6

Feeder Performance Testing

The materials were tested on the Three-Tec ZD 5 FB feeder. The key experimental variable was the speed of the 5mm pitch double concave screw and the agitator:

Test Condition

Screw RPM

Agitator RPM

Low Speed

121.8

10.4

Medium Speed

236.3

21.0

High Speed

350.9

31.6