Tablet coating machines

Tablet coating is an important process step in tablet production. The pharmaceutical industry needs solutions that meet coloring and taste-masking requirements, as well as high demands from applications such as enteric coatings, controlled release coatings or the addition of an active ingredient. With our vast experience from the former Manesty brand, combined with Hüttlin’s strong innovation and process expertise in mixing, spraying and drying, Syntegon has created a new benchmark for tablet coating: our new Sepion tablet coater.

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Key benefits

Fast and robust processes

With an optimized drum geometry and matching spraying system, you can achieve higher spray rates and significantly shorter process times.

Verified batch size flexibility

The Sepion coater achieves verified filling levels between 10 and 100% without the need to change the mixing baffles.

Go for full service

Whether you need process support, rental equipment, or a service agreement – we take your molecules to production.

Closed, clean and contained

The Sepion drum coater is designed for closed charging, sampling, and discharging. Its door is equipped with 3-clamp connections that allow for flexible interfaces, e.g. for a containment upgrade for coating tablets with highly potent active ingredients. Additionally, Sepion comes with a fully automatic cleaning system.

A drum like no other

The extended drum length ensures a shallower tablet bed and results in a higher coating frequency per tablet, while allowing for an increased number of spray guns. The result: high spray rates and shorter process times. The 51% open drum area further supports a higher drying capacity.

Flexible batches and uniform mixing

The drum of our Sepion coater is unique: its fully welded mixing baffles achieve filling levels between 10 and 100% with no baffle changes. At the same time a 100% filling level ensures uniform blends with a relative standard deviation of less than 3% in less than 8 minutes.

An automated spray arm

Our drum coater comes with an automated spray arm. Depending on the filling level, you can adjust the optimum gun-to-bed distance via the HMI. This allows you to maintain the ideal spray angle without further manual intervention and enhance operator safety.

Sensoric efficiency

An optional laser measures the gun-to-bed distance and allows for a fully automated recipe-driven adjustment, eliminating the need for manual operator intervention. For temperature-sensitive products and maximum product safety, the Sepion coater can be equipped with an infrared sensor to accurately measure the tablets’ surface temperature.

Spray arms for all needs

The standard spray arm of our Sepion coater provides anti-bearding spray guns with individual supply tubes for liquids. The optional Pro version has a common liquid and compressed air supply that integrates all hoses and features a tool-free quick-release system, avoiding misalignment and further reducing set-up and cleaning times.

High-quality cleaning

With our cleaning systems, we aim for the highest efficiency. Depending on the product and available cleaning media on site, you can choose between different cleaning skids. A zoned, recipe-driven system combined with cleaning nozzles for all product contact surfaces achieves reproducible and validatable results.

IoT READY

The Sepion series comes with Syntegon’s latest, IoT-ready, Human Machine Interface (HMI) ─ an intuitive and modern solution for easier process control and monitoring. It can even be connected to Synexio, our cloud-based software solution for the collection, evaluation and visualization of machine and production data.

Are you looking for a solution for early-stage development?

Our tabletop unit Solidlab 1 enables you to test small R&D batches in a fast and easy way. As an ideal solution for your feasibility studies, it can be equipped either with a fluid bed or a drum coater module. The drum coater version comes with two different drums for batches from 0.25 to 1.2 kg. Unlike most other solutions in the market, the Solidlab 1 comes with our PROVICON control system featuring open recipe creation and management for a time-saving product development.

Do you want to develop and scale up your formulation to production?

Our Solidlab 2 drum coater module has been designed for exactly this purpose, allowing you to easily scale up. Exchangeable drums enable you to precisely coat tablets with batch sizes from 0.8 to 12.8 kg. You can use a fluid bed or drum coater process module, which share a common air handling and control system. Unlike most other solutions in the market, the Solidlab 2 Plus comes with our PROVICON control system featuring open recipe creation and management for a time-saving product development.

You want to flexibly coat tablets at production scale?

Our Sepion tablet coaters stand out in the market with their large batch capacity from 175 to 1,000 liters and high efficiency. The fully welded mixing baffles allow verified filling levels between 10 and 100% with no baffle changes. At the same time a 100% filling level achieves uniform blends with a relative standard deviation of less than 3% in less than 8 minutes. The Sepion drum coater further offers closed material handling and fully automated cleaning. As an option, you can also coat tablets with highly potent active ingredients.

Use case scenarios

Tablets at their best

Outstanding granule properties like smooth flowability and an ideal particle size distribution result in excellent compression characteristics – even at very low API concentration, e.g. for cancer therapy.

Sugar coating

Sugar coating is typically used for existing formulations, particularly in pain relievers. Usually the weight gain is between 70 and 100 %.

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Technical data of our tablet coating machines

starting from less than

liter

drum capacity up to

liters

from 10 to

% batch size flexibility

% open drum surface

Technical data overview

	Solidlab 1 R&D scale	Solidlab 2 Plus R&D scale	Sepion Production scale
Drum size (l)	0.8; 1.5 exchangable drums	2; 4; 8; 16 exchangable drums	175 – 1,000 fixed drum size
Batch size (kg)	250 g to 1.2	0.8 to 12.8	14 to 800
At a density of (kg/l)	0.8	0.8	0.8

Our solutions have got you covered

Scale-up from lab to production

With Syntegon’s complete range of R&D and large-scale coaters you can scale up operations from lab to production. Our pharma service team is ready to support you.

Standards and safety

Our equipment fulfils the current CE and ATEX directives and complies with current GMP standards. Our safety concept doesn’t require explosion venting and hence facilitates the installation of your coater.

Sustainability

All our machines are designed to keep your ecological footprint as small as possible. More efficient and shorter processes result in reduced waste and a minimum use of crucial resources.

Service Agreements

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Digital Solutions

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Parts

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Maintenance

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Technical Support

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Modernizations

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Training

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Expert Services

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About us

Oral solid dosage forms (OSD) are our specialty: in the course of our long business history, we have supported countless industry players across the globe and shared our rich expertise in tablet coating. As an innovation-driven company, we are far from maintaining the status quo: over the last few years, we have been actively pursuing new ways to advance OSD manufacturing. Download our selection of brochures to find out more.

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∞

satisfied customers across the globe

years of expertise

installed base worldwide

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OSD: Many facets – one partner

Oral solid dose (OSD) manufacturing is a demanding endeavor. There is no better partner to tackle those tasks with than Syntegon. Our OSD services and process technology will make your production a rock-solid success. Find out more in this video.

Tablet coating downloads

Sepion brochure

R&D brochure

Containment Brochure

Industry requirements and Syntegon’s containment solutions for OSD forms

Pharma Solid

Hüttlin Services

Frequently asked questions

Coating is crucial for tablets: from coloring and taste-masking to functional coatings, it can support the identification and application of the tablet. Enteric coatings and sustained/controlled release coatings ensure that the right amount of API is released at the right location at the right time. Moreover, APIs can be part of the coating suspension (active coating).

Drum coaters are typically used for the film and/or sugar coating of tablets. The core of a drum coating machine is a horizontally rotating, perforated drum with baffles that support the homogeneous mixing of tablets. In order to apply the coating suspension, the drum features spray guns that are positioned on a spraying arm which is positioned in parallel to the tablet bed. The types of coating that manufacturers can realize with a drum coater include color coating, taste-masking, enteric coating, controlled release coating as well as active coating.

A drum coating machine ensures three essential tablet coating steps, including tablet mixing, spraying of the coating suspension, and drying of the coated tablets.

To minimize risks for personnel, products and the production environment, closed charging, sampling and discharging is of utmost importance – especially when it comes to contained applications. A closed process ensures a high-quality OSD product for patients.

For pharmaceutical manufacturers, flexibility is key. Modern equipment allows for filling levels ranging from 10 to 100 percent to process different batch sizes in the same drum, preferably with no changeovers, e.g. baffle changes.

When it comes to coating uniformity, the right gun-to-bed distance is crucial to avoid any overlaps or gaps in the spraying pattern. State-of-the-art machines come with a fully automatic adjustment of the gun-to-bed distance, supporting contained applications without manual intervention. Additionally, a fully automatic adjustment of the gun-to-bed distance provides more flexibility, e.g. the above-mentioned drum filling levels of 10 to 100 percent.

Another key requirement of pharmaceutical manufacturers is process efficiency. Extending the length of the drum allows for a shallower tablet bed and results in a higher coating frequency per tablet. At the same time, manufacturers can increase the number of spray guns, resulting in higher spray rates and significantly shorter process times.

By significantly reducing process and cleaning times, drum coating contributes to less energy consumption and supports a more sustainable operation.

Interested in tablet coater machines?

Country/Region

Tablet coater

Key benefits

Fast and robust processes

Verified batch size flexibility

Go for full service

Features of our tablet coater​

Closed, clean and contained

A drum like no other

Flexible batches and uniform mixing

An automated spray arm

Sensoric efficiency

Spray arms for all needs

High-quality cleaning

IoT READY

Use case scenarios

Tablets at their best

Sugar coating

Interested?

Technical data of our tablet coating machines

Our solutions have got you covered

Scale-up from lab to production

Standards and safety

Sustainability

Why choose a Syntegon tablet coating machine?

About us

OSD: Many facets – one partner

Tablet coating downloads

Sepion brochure

R&D brochure

Containment Brochure

Pharma Solid

Hüttlin Services

Related news

Related technologies

High-shear mixer

Fluid bed

Tablet compression

Capsule filling

Pharma services (Solid)

Nutrition and health services

VFFS of powder and granules​

Continuous manufacturing

Frequently asked questions

Why are tablets coated?

What is a drum coating machine?

What are the principles of tablet coating?

What are the characteristics of a state-of-the-art tablet coater?

Interested in tablet coater machines?

Local Agent

Features of our tablet coater

VFFS of powder and granules