Spatial Variation of Pressure in the Lyophilization Product Chamber Part 2: Experimental Measurements and Implications for Scale-up and Batch Uniformity

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• 作者：Pooja Sane ; Nikhil Varma ; Arnab Ganguly ; Michael Pikal…
• 关键词：KEY WORDSchamber pressure ; design space ; freeze ; drying ; heat transfer ; primary drying
• 刊名：AAPS PharmSciTech
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：18
• 期：2
• 页码：369-380
• 全文大小：
• 刊物主题：Pharmacology/Toxicology; Biotechnology; Biochemistry, general; Pharmacy;
• 出版者：Springer US
• ISSN：1530-9932
• 卷排序：18

文摘

Product temperature during the primary drying step of freeze-drying is controlled by a set point chamber pressure and shelf temperature. However, recent computational modeling suggests a possible variation in local chamber pressure. The current work presents an experimental verification of the local chamber pressure gradients in a lab-scale freeze-dryer. Pressure differences between the center and the edges of a lab-scale freeze-dryer shelf were measured as a function of sublimation flux and clearance between the sublimation front and the shelf above. A modest 3-mTorr difference in pressure was observed as the sublimation flux was doubled from 0.5 to 1.0 kg·h−1·m−2 at a clearance of 2.6 cm. Further, at a constant sublimation flux of 1.0 kg·h−1·m−2, an 8-fold increase in the pressure drop was observed across the shelf as the clearance was decreased from 4 to 1.6 cm. Scale-up of the pressure variation from lab- to a manufacturing-scale freeze-dryer predicted an increased uniformity in drying rates across the batch for two frequently used pharmaceutical excipients (mannitol and sucrose at 5% w/w). However, at an atypical condition of shelf temperature of +10°C and chamber pressure of 50 mTorr, the product temperature in the center vials was calculated to be a degree higher than the edge vial for a low resistance product, thus reversing the typical edge and center vial behavior. Thus, the effect of local pressure variation is more significant at the manufacturing-scale than at a lab-scale and accounting for the contribution of variations in the local chamber pressures can improve success in scale-up.