Spray congealing: applications in the Pharmaceutical Industry

In this work, the potential of spray congealing in microencapsulation, taste masking and controlled release was explored and compared to other commonly used technologies, specifically spray drying and hot melt extrusion. The ability to control powder characteristics without the need of subsequent downstream processing methods is a marked advantage over other “particle-engineering” technologies. Moreover, spray congealing is an environmentally friendly process where high throughputs can be achieved. This technology involves some critical stages that should be thoroughly evaluated when establishing the process, namely the atomization, cooling and feed stages. Spray congealing represents a very attractive and promising platform to address some of the challenges related to drug development and drug life cycle management.