In each location we have two types of tangential fluid energy mills, pancake and loop. The primary difference between the two is product chamber orientation, but both work using the same principles.

Pancake micronization mills (also called spiral jet mills) use high pressure air or nitrogen to fluidize the drug substance. Once the particles are fluidized in the grinding chamber, particle-to-particle collisions reduce size. Centrifugal force then moves the micronized particles to the center of the chamber where they exit into a product collector.

The benefits of using pancake mills in the micronization process include:

• Produces a narrow particle size distribution, with uniform particle shape
• Reproducible
• No heat buildup
• No product contamination from moving parts
• Scalable
• Low maintenance, simple operation

The principle of operation and benefits of the loop mill are the same as that of the pancake mill, however the chamber is elliptical in shape with less nozzles. This mill type will produce a narrow particle size distribution with slightly less aggressive conditions than the traditional pancake mill.

An additional advantage is that both micronization mill types do not allow any heat buildup due to the high fluidizing air volume. This ensures additional protection for our customers’ actives which are temperature sensitive.

Our mills are available in numerous sizes, ranging from 1" to 20" and provide flexibility in engineering the desired particle size in typical ranges of 1-30 microns.