Blow fill and seal technology is mainly used for pharmaceutical solutions. The examples of pharmaceutical solutions which can be packaged are, injectable solutions, antibiotics, ophthalmological drops, suspensions, infusion solution, solutions for dialysis, solutions for irrigation and solutions for hemofiltration. Besides this main field of application, this technology has been used also for packaging of fresh fruit juice, non aerated drinks, milk and various cosmetic products including creams.
The process begins from Extrusion of plastic granule in the form of hot hollow pipe of molten plastic called parison.
Following step is Blow moulding of the container from plastic granule. The parison is closed between the mould, and the container gets formed either by blowing sterile compressed air or by vacuum or by using vacuum as well as blowing. Container assumes shape of the cavity in mould. Container thus produced is open from the top and in it’s top part, plastic is still hot and in molten state until the subsequent steps of filling and container sealing.
Subsequent step is Filling of the formed container from the top which is still open (and still in hot-molten state!). Filling nozzles enter from the top of container and filling is done. Filling nozzles are specially designed and constructed to facilitate automatic cleaning and automatic sterilization. Additional functions of filling nozzles are to blow the bottles and also to provide exhaust path for air in the container. Filling process can be carried out under a shower of sterile filtered air to avoid contamination during filling. The blower on the sterile air shower can have variable pressure which can be made to change automatically so as to maintain constant air pressure under various situations. The air shower is validated at certain air pressure, and an automatic device can maintain the same pressure by automatically modulating the speed of the blower.
Next step is Sealing the top of the container which is still open and in hot molten state. The top gets pressed between head moulds, and as a consequence, top part of the container gets formed, sealed and at the same time, gets cooled. The result is a hermetically sealed container. The final steps are for De-flashing to remove the flash or scrap, trimming the containers and delivering the containers outside the machine. The whole process of Extrusion-Blowing-Filling-and Sealing and removing scrap takes between 10 to 18 seconds depending upon the type and size of the container. The advantage of Blow-Fill-Seal process is derived mainly from the fact that container is formed, quickly filled and sealed under protected environment automatically without human intervention.
SYFPAC® is an acronym for: "System for Filling Parenterals Aseptically into Containers of plastic materials". This system has been specifically studied to address the packaging needs of Parenteral fluids and injectables. The SYFPAC® system works on principle of Blow Fill and Seal, and has been conceived by creative application of fantasy, engineering design and thorough knowledge of advanced materials and techniques. The SYFPAC® is designed to perform reliably and precisely throughout its long working life. The simple and robust construction does not need much of maintenance.
