The development of increasingly potent pharmaceutical products and potentially toxic materials and chemicals has led to the need for increased operator protection from exposure to harmful dusts.
Hosokawa Micron Ltd. has in response developed a range of high containment enclosures named Stott Isolators and Gloveboxes. Stott pharmaceutical isolators create a physical barrier between the operator and the product, enabling ‘shirt sleeve’ operation without the need for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Stott isolators are available for both manual and automated handling/processing procedures and can be provided in single units or multi-cell variants, where defined barriers separate individual processes and offer complete operator safety and product integrity.
The isolators and gloveboxes are ideal for such critical processes as milling, micronizing, drying, dispensing, and product pack-off. They provide much needed protection for operators against toxic pharamceuticals and other hazardous materials.
Integrated containment technology
Our Stott isolators and gloveboxes can be designed to contain either Hosokawa or third-party processing equipment such as micronizers, tray dryers, granulators, etc. Hosokawa’s range of equipment can be designed bespoke for installation within an isolator to offer a highly engineered, contained processing solution.
Mobile isolators
If you require a lower cost alternative or a shorter lead time for testing, trials or production processes, the Mobile ‘plug and play’ Isolators offer containment levels <1µg/m³.
Excellent internal visibility
Optional glove port positioning
Lightweight construction
Highly flexible in use as self-contained workstations.
Plastic bag canopy ‘single use’ variant available
Nuclear Containment Systems
The design of Hosokawa containment systems for the nuclear and associated industries is heavily influenced by our extensive experience of GMP containment system design for the pharmaceutical industry. Primary considerations for such systems are:
Operator protection
Product protection
Easy cleaning and maintenance
Good ergonomics
Integration of processing equipment in isolators, gloveboxes, and containment systems is carried out so as best to avoid contamination of drive systems and other parts which would be difficult to clean, reduce the hazard to personnel during maintenance, and increase the reliability and lifespan of equipment. This is typically achieved by using through-wall designs where the drive system is mounted in a technical enclosure which is isolated from the processing area.
In nuclear containment systems, similar design principles apply; crevices and areas where material can collect should be avoided. In some cases, there may be a risk of reaching a critical mass of material which can become unstable, so all material brought into the system must be accounted for.
Nuclear containment systems are typically designed for a lifespan of 25 years, and the proper integration of process equipment as described above will help to reduce maintenance and increase reliability. If equipment is contaminated with any radioactive material it cannot simply be cleaned and removed from the containment as with pharmaceutical systems.
Class I nuclear gloveboxes are designed to achieve a leak-tightness of better than 0.05% volume per hour, compared to our standard pharmaceutical standard of 0.5% volume per hour.
Isolators and Gloveboxes Specifications
Hosokawa Micron offer a range of off the shelf and bespoke Isolator containment options to suit individual requirements. We work with customers to develop the right containment solution from individual units to fully integrated systems.
conThe chamber design (especially in the Pharmaceutical application machines) is designed to promote free material transit with minimal product retention at the end of the processing cycle
Jacketed housings and hollow shafts enable product heating or cooling
Efficient and adjustable shear input and heat transfer makes applications very diverse including back mixing or simply forming wet cake products for drying efficiency
Can also act as a product conditioner before spheronization and drying
Heat-sensitive materials such as toner, resin, wax, fat, ion exchangers, plant protectors, dyestuffs and pigments
Hard and abrasive materials such as silicon carbide, zircon sand, corundum, glass frits, aluminium oxide, metallic compounds
Highly pure materials where the requirement is contamination-free processing such as fluorescent powders, silica gel, silica, special metals, ceramic raw materials, pharmaceuticals
High-performance magnetic materials based on rare earth metals such as neodymium-iron-boron and samarium-cobalt. Mineral raw materials such as kaolin, graphite, mica, talc
Selectively ground composite materials such as metal alloys
It is especially suited to delicate products and processes where very accurate results are required and is synonymous with gentle mixing of large volumes of up to 100,000 litres, delivering:
The Schugi® Flexomix mixer/agglomerator is ideal for use in the production of instant products such as soups, beverages and sauces as well as chemical and pharmaceutical products. It is suitable for:
Modification of starch
Agglomeration pesticide formulae
Agglomeration of fine powders for compaction
Hydration of phosphates
Production of detergent powders
Humidifying products (e.g. pesticides) before extrusion
In short, the Alpine Ultraplex UPZ Fine Impact Mill can be tailored to match the individual requirements of every customer. The versatility of different available milling elements fulfils a wide variety of demands on the end-product, for example:
High fineness with sharp top cut
Products that are low in fines with good flow properties
Production of powders with a high bulk density
Production of powders with a high mass fraction within a defined particle size range