Pharmaceutical Industry

Industrial textiles are used in a variety of screening, filtration, and separation processes in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical compounds. These textiles are mainly found in gas-solid and liquid-solid separation applications in both API and finished pharmaceutical processing.

Fluid Bed Dryer Bags pharmaceutical industry textilesinside

Pharma-grade fabrics

When it comes to the pharmaceutical processing industry, a great deal of attention is paid to quality standards and stringent procedures.

Applications for pharma-grade fabrics include deliquoring of solids in centrifuges, filter presses, or filters/dryers, liquid polishing of products or raw materials on filter presses, and product containment in drying systems.

All these processes include direct product contact to the filter media surface, many of which are in late-stage processes.

Pharmaceutical screening fabrics

Pharmaceutical screening fabrics are an important and critical part of the screening system in pharmaceutical production processes, especially for the manufacturing of oral solid dosage forms.

Various types of pharmaceutical screening fabrics are applied to not only assist in separating oversized raw material but also assist in the dispersion of material to obtain ingredients in a uniform and required particle size.

Pharmaceutical filter fabrics

Pharmaceutical filter fabrics ensure that products are adequately purified and fit for consumption as well as cut down on loss of sellable product due to contaminates.

Examples of filter fabrics for pharmaceutical applications are:

Filter bags
Filter liners
Filters
Pressure filtration media

Many pharmaceutical manufacturing processes include direct product contact with the filter media surface. Therefore, the design and production of the filter media must be carefully controlled and monitored to avoid issues with regard to contamination.

Pharmaceutical centrifuge fabrics

Centrifuges operate on the principle of centrifugal force and a filter cloth to separate solids from liquids.

High rotational speed provides high centrifugal force that allows the suspended solid in the feed to settle on the surface of a filter media.

Pharmaceutical centrifuges are used in discontinuous or batch operations.

The use of dedicated pharmaceutical centrifuge fabrics allows reduction of the residual moisture in the filter cake to minimum values.

Pharmaceutical centrifuge fabrics textilesinside

Innovations in pharma-grade fabrics

Innovations in fabrication techniques, that use alternate methods of bonding the fabric parts are currently available.

Ultrasonic, RF, and heat welding are being employed to eliminate the need for sewing on many products, such as:

Centrifuge and Nutsche filter bags
Tubular filters
Dryer bags or sleeves

These new bonding techniques have proven reliable in eliminating the contamination issue as well as product loss through needle holes. As products are produced in finer particle sizes, this is a significant issue.

Reduction of risk through the proper and early consideration of these items will reduce downtime, rework, and validation time for lower overall operating costs.