Online Particle Size Analysis by DLS to Control Homogenizer Pressure
Online Particle Size Analysis by DLS to Control Homogenizer Pressure
This customer was creating an emulsion in a precursor step to manufacture nanoparticles for drug delivery. The control of a high pressure homogenizer was critical to generate uniform droplet size at close to exactly 100 nm. Laboratory measurements did not give feedback quickly enough to allow dynamic control of the homogenizer pressure to finely tune the desired particle size. PSS designed an installed an only Nicomp DLS system as shown in the Figure below.
Online DLS System at Customer Plant
Online Particle Size Analysis Study
A study was conducted to understand the relationship between homogenizer operating pressure and the emulsions droplet size generated. The results from this study are shown below where relationship wad determined to be ~ 9nm in size per 1000 psig change.
Relationship Between Operating Pressure and Droplet Size
Online Particle Size Analysis a Trial Run
In a trial run the first few measurements of the droplet size were 5-7 nm under the desired range, so the pressure was reduced 1000 psig to bring the size up to the desired 100 nm value. The data from this run is shown below.
Now that conditions were optimized the following production run generated the desired 100 nm size range for the entire batch as shown below.
