Natoli Engineering Includes LIF Sensor in Catalog

Natoli Engineering Company, Inc. (St. Charles, MO) has included a Light Induced Fluorescence (LIF) Sensor in its new Tablet Compression Accessories Catalog. The LIF Sensor was designed to provide blend uniformity and end-point detection during blending of powders, as well as for liquid applications.

“Granulation sticking to tablet-compression tooling and other contact surfaces is one of the biggest obstacles in tablet compression today,” says Dale Natoli, the company’s vice president of engineering.

“With the need to increase manufacturing efficiencies while maintaining tablet quality, pharmaceutical companies are favoring direct-compression formulas, which contribute to the sticking issues. The LIF sensor gives tablet manufacturers the capability to ensure blending uniformity prior to tablet production, thus reducing product waste and labor.”

The LIF Sensor enables real-time monitoring of fluorophore solutes via intrinsic fluorescent sensing in the solid state that the company says has not been previously possible. In addition, the LIF Sensor provides remarkable sensitivity, a wide dynamic range, and low detection limits, resulting in improved product quality by reducing process upsets, lower annual product waste, improved root-cause analysis during manufacturing quality incidents often common within the pharmaceutical industry, improved process efficiency by reducing manufacturing processing time, and improved operator safety via an in-line approach.

Because fluorescence is approximately 1000 times more sensitive than absorbance spectroscopy, the LIF Sensor can accurately measure residual Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in both rinse water and directly on surfaces. This field analysis capability provides near real-time cleaning validation and eliminates the need to swab and send samples to the lab for High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis, which can take days, or even weeks, the company says.