The present paper reports the first monitoring and control of ultra-low dose powder feeding using a camera image-based mass flow measurement system. Caffeine was fed via a single-screw microfeeder as a model active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). The mass, mass flow and sizes of the particles were successfully monitored in real-time by the developed videometric system consisting of a high-speed process camera coupled with an image analysis software. The system was also tested in feedback control mode to automatically reach the desired mass flow values by adjusting the feeder speed based on the mass flow measured by the image analysis system. Based on these features, the developed videometric system can serve as a multi-purpose PAT-tool and can provide valuable real-time information about the process which is indispensable for modern continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing.

• Budapest University of Technology and Economics
• Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy

• API
• Process control

1. API
2. continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing
3. Dynamic Image Analysis (DIA)
4. feed-back control
5. Machine vision
6. Micro-feeding
7. Process analytical technology (PAT)
8. process control
9. Research Article
10. Videometric feeding