Evaluation of an in-line particle imaging tool for monitoring twin-screw granulation performance Ashish Kumar a,b , Jens Dhondt b , Fien De Leersnyder b , Jurgen Vercruysse c , Valérie Vanhoorne c , Chris Vervaet c , Jean Paul Remon c , Krist V. Gernaey d , Thomas De Beer b,1 , Ingmar Nopens a,* a BIOMATH, Department of Mathematical Modelling, Statistics and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B- 9000 Gent, Belgium b Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Process Analytical Technology, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Ottergemsesteenweg 460, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium c Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology, Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Ottergemsesteenweg 460, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium d CAPEC-PROCESS, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark Abstract Twin-screw granulation is an emerging continuous wet granulation technique in the phar- maceutical industry due to several advantages over batch granulation. However, for the im- plementation of a fully continuous line in an industrial environment, in-process measurement tools are required to monitor critical process parameters and (intermediate) product quality attributes, and trigger control actions based on such measurements. This study aimed at evaluating the feasibility of implementing an in-line particle imaging technique (Eyecon™) after continuous twin-screw granulation and before the drying system. Off-line sieving was * Email address: ingmar.nopens@ugent.be, Tel.: +32 (0)9 264 61 96; fax: +32 (0)9 264 62 20 Email addresses: ashish.kumar@ugent.be (Ashish Kumar), jensj.dhondt@ugent.be (Jens Dhondt), fien.deleersnyder@ugent.be (Fien De Leersnyder), jurgen.vercruysse@ugent.be (Jurgen Vercruysse), valerie.vanhoorne@ugent.be (Valérie Vanhoorne), chris.vervaet@ugent.be (Chris Vervaet), jeanpaul.remon@UGent.be (Jean Paul Remon), kvg@kt.dtu.dk (Krist V. Gernaey), thomas.debeer@ugent.be (Thomas De Beer) URL: www.biomath.ugent.be (Ingmar Nopens) 1 Shared last authorship Preprint submitted to Powder Technology July 30, 2015