The Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering facility in Austria is using discrete element modelling software to help with product design and reduce product development cycles.
The RCPE is jointly owned by the Graz University of Technology, the University of Graz, and Joanneum Research and was established to bridge the gap between academic pharmaceutical research and the pharmaceutical industry. The RCPE conducts cutting-edge application-oriented research and development projects in collaboration with industrial, engineering, and scientific partners, helping them to develop new products and production processes.
DEM Solutions will provide the RCPE team with EDEM particle simulation technology, and will also contribute extensive practical experience in the industrial application of DEM to pharmaceutical manufacturing. EDEM, DEM Solutions' particle simulation software, enables a detailed analysis and visualisation of the flow of particles, from powders to tablets, through process segments and handling equipment and can promote both innovation in product design as well as reduce the need for physical prototypes and long product development cycles.
EDEM software has many applications within the pharmaceutical industry and has previously been used to predict pharmaceutical powder flow properties; evaluate powder testing equipment; optimise tablet compaction, coating, and handling; design and test powdered drug delivery devices; and to develop virtual prototypes of process equipment, such as mills, mixers, and tablet presses.
'We welcome our new partner, DEM Solutions, to the RCPE team,' stated Dr Johannes Khinast, scientific director of the RCPE and professor of chemical engineering at the Graz University of Technology. 'The integration of advanced modelling tools, such as EDEM, is of vital importance to the RCPE mission. The capability to simulate complex particulate systems using a science-based method, such as DEM, will yield valuable information for use in research and development and will ultimately contribute to our understanding of relevant phenomena at all scales.'
