Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

A Comparative Evaluation of the Flow and Compaction Characteristics of α-Cellulose obtained from Waste Paper

F O Ohwoavworhua , T A Adelakun, O O Kunle

Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Raw Materials Development, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), P. M. B. 21, Abuja, Nigeria.;

For correspondence:- F Ohwoavworhua Email: frankohwo@yahoo.com

Published: 23 March 2007

Citation: Ohwoavworhua FO, Adelakun TA, Kunle OO. A Comparative Evaluation of the Flow and Compaction Characteristics of α-Cellulose obtained from Waste Paper. Trop J Pharm Res 2007; 6(1):645-651 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v6i1.3

© 2007 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: Alpha-cellulose obtained as pulp from fibrous plant materials has found use in the pharmaceutical industry as a disintegrant and direct compression diluent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the suitability of α-cellulose obtained from waste paper as a direct compression excipient.
Method: The flow and compaction characteristics of α-cellulose (ACP) obtained from waste paper, in comparison with Avicel PH 101, using the Kawakita and Heckel models were evaluated.
Result: The results indicate that the flow properties of these materials could not be predicted accurately using the Kawakita model. A comparison of compression behaviour and compactibility of the two powders showed Avicel PH 101 to be a slightly better binder.
Conclusion: It was concluded that ACP material could find use as a potential dry binder and direct compression diluent in tableting as the binding properties were comparable to those of Avicel PH 101.

Keywords: Alpha-cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, flow and compaction characteristics, direct compression diluent.