Dry To Die: How Spray Drying Can Be Replaced By Freezing For Bulk Intermediates

By Daniel Tischler, Director Commercial Operations

Spray drying is a method that has been widely used in the biopharmaceutical industry for drying bacterial or yeast cells. In this method the mixture containing the compound of interest is atomized and then very hot air is used to rapidly evaporate the water, resulting in a dehydrated powder that can be stored or transported. However recently, overall spray dryer installation costs and ongoing manufacturing requirements are very high. This price tag has biopharmaceutical companies are turning to alternative, more controllable methods of freezing.

Plate-based freezing and thawing system is an approach that provides a more controllable method of freezing biopharmaceutical products. Plate-freezers, such as Single Use Support’s RoSS.pFTU system, ensure controlled and uniform freezing, helping to prevent valuable products from degrading during the freezing process. Plate-freezing has proven effective in the controlled freezing of all types of biopharmaceuticals on a laboratory scale but also for larger volumes of up to 1,000L per batch.

Explore Single Use Support’s novel end-to-end process solution for filling, freezing, storing, transporting, thawing, and draining large volumes eliminates the need for spray drying during the processing of biopharmaceutical intermediates.