Powder Systems Limited (PSL), based in Liverpool, UK designs and manufacturers Nutsche filter dryers for small-scale process development to large-scale manufacturing. PSL’s Nutsche Filter Dryers are well known for their efficient and quality designs developed for washing and isolating solids, even in the most difficult production processes. Their unique technology enables reliable production scale-up and helps overcome traditional product development issues such as batch reproducibility and product uniformity. PSL’s technology can be used at all levels of production from R&D to pilot-scale and large-scale commercial manufacturing.
Filter Dryers combine the function of filtration with drying. They are not just filters that dry (this occurs when an inert gas is passed over a wet cake sitting on a Nutsche filter and is not repeatable). A filter dryer incorporates both unit operations via the use of low RPM, high torque agitator that turns over the solids in the cake to facilitate faster, more thorough and repeatable drying. In the PSL lab and production scale systems, the agitator can be set via recipe to a specific depth within the cake in order to exactly quantify drying within a batch. With the use of the programmed automation features, these specific multiple height settings and agitation speed can be repeated from batch to batch to provide the exact same drying profile with each experiment or production run
What sets PSL small scale filter dryers apart is that the automation functions are incorporated into the small dryers we offer. Thus, data that is a function of defined experimentation (agitator height, RPM, inert drying gas flow) can be captured for scale-up.
PSL’s SimpleFilter is a cost-effective and user-friendly solution allowing efficient nutsche filtration and drying of small and pilot scale batches. It is a compact and mobile system that can be easily moved throughout different production areas within a same facility.
The SimpleFilter was developed to overcome well-known production challenges faced by manufacturers when using traditional production methods such as Büchner filtration and oven tray-drying. It is the ideal technology to successfully complete scale-up and scale-down activities and obtain predictive performance results.
The SimpleFilter consists of a single plate pressure & vacuum filter-dryer vessel equipped with a glove-bag containment system allowing simple and effective product discharge under nitrogen purge. Its vessel is available in different materials hence suiting a broad range of chemical processes.