(121a) Opening Remarks: Learnings & Future Challenges for Granulator Control & Optimization

Significant progress has been made over the last three decades in our understanding of granulation rate processes, and their impact on granulator design and operation.  For simplified systems, these include relating both formulation and operating variables to wetting dynamics, wet mass rheology, granule growth and densification, and granule strength.  Yet many challenges exist, especially for granulation systems with complex flow patterns or complex wet mass rheology. An overview of this session and current understanding will be summarized, and some challenges in design and control will be presented, utilizing disc and high shear mixer granulation as model complex systems