Mayne Pharma commercializes branded and generic pharmaceuticals in a range of product areas. Its GMP-accredited manufacturing facility is located in Salisbury, South Australia, approximately 12 miles from Adelaide, where it produces tablets, capsules, liquids and creams.
Capsules are a popular method of drug delivery, comprising of two-piece dissolvable outer shell containing miniature pellets which carry the active ingredients. The pellets are prepared using a fluid bed dryer in order to reduce moisture content and are sometimes spray-coated with a solution containing key ingredients. The spray-coating solutions use an alcohol-based formulation to ensure correct mixing and maintenance of the fundamental chemical properties. The solutions must be prepared and applied within a tight temperature range.
Mayne Pharma wanted to expand and upgrade its existing production capacity for capsule production by adding a third fluid bed dryer and the associated equipment, while simultaneously improving temperature regulation to its existing lines. HRS Heat Exchangers was asked to provide a quotation for a hot water heater to support the new line, but quickly realized that a turnkey package offering active heating or cooling as required would provide a much better solution.
“The alcohol for the solutions is drawn from our outside tank farm,” a spokesperson for Mayne Pharma explained. “One of the issues with the old systems was that on hot days the factory had to wait for the alcohol to cool down before mixing the solutions, which could sometimes take hours. The HRS solution means that we can actively cool it if we need to. Alternatively, if we bring in the alcohol on a cold day, we can heat it up, as necessary.”
The solution produced by HRS is a heater/cooler with the ability to reduce hours of cooling time to less than 60 minutes. Due to space constraints in the existing factory and the requirement to connect various pieces of equipment, the unit was supplied on a compact skid with integrated controls and automation of both the heating and cooling processes. Other challenges faced by HRS Engineers were uncertainties about heat transfer in the existing tanks and having to overcome unknown pressure losses in a small jacket annulus which would otherwise affect the performance of the unit.
