From Lab to Production: Why Powder Process Scale-Up Needs a Pilot Stage

A formulation that works in the lab cannot always go straight onto production equipment. The pilot stage in between often decides whether scale-up goes smoothly.

Three scales

• Laboratory scale: proves feasibility and screens formulations and raw materials, with little material and low cost of trial and error.
• Pilot scale: fixes process parameters on equipment closer to production and generates the data needed for scale-up.
• Production scale: stable, continuous manufacturing.

Why not scale up straight from the lab

Drying, granulation and mixing all involve heat and mass transfer, mixing and residence time, and these change with equipment size and design. Results from small lab equipment do not always scale proportionally. Pilot equipment exposes such issues earlier, under conditions closer to production.

What is usually verified at pilot scale

1. The workable range of key process parameters, such as temperature, airflow, feed rate and time.
2. Product specifications, such as moisture, particle size, bulk density and flowability.
3. How the material affects the equipment, for example sticking, caking, heat sensitivity or oxidation.
4. Yield and losses.
5. The basis for choosing the type and size of production equipment.

Which scale to use

• Little or high-value sample, only a first check needed: laboratory scale, for example a bench-top freeze dryer.
• Data needed that matches production designs, or scale-up is coming: pilot scale.

If you are unsure, tell us about your material and goal and book a sample trial so the results can guide the decision.