Continuous Processing with Process Analytical Technology

Continuous processing has long been well established in various industries including the food, dairy, and chemical industry because large-volume productions are often found in these industries. Despite the many advantages of continuous processing as compared with batch processing such as low operating and capital costs, consistent quality, ease of automation, reduced scale-up and streamlined process development, batch processing has been traditionally used in industries where low-volume, sophisticated products demanding stringent quality attributes are manufactured (e.g. pharmaceutical industry). With the advances in process analytical technology, which is adopted in the pharmaceutical industry as part of the PAT initiative, in equipment design and automation, as well as in process modeling and control, continuous processing is becoming a feasible option even for the manufacture of relatively low-volume products. Papers that enhance our understanding of continuous particulate processes such as blending, granulation, spray drying, milling, roller compaction, etc. are invited from both academia and all sectors of industry. They can be experimental, theoretical, and/or computational. Although pharmaceutical applications will be given special consideration, the session is intended to serve as a venue for sharing fundamental, continuous particulate processing knowledge across a multitude of industries. Those papers that consider process analytical technology and/or modeling tools toward characterizing continuous processes or controlling them are especially welcome.