Brevetti Angela SYFPAC® BFS technology overview

Brevetti Angela’s renowned SYFPAC® range of packaging machines are based on the Blow Fill Seal (BFS) process for forming plastic containers, filling them, and sealing them as a single machine process.

BFS technology is ideal for high speed aseptic packaging of pharmaceutical sterile liquids in small to large volumes.

The BFS process

Blow-Fill-Seal machines turn plastic granules into finished aseptic containers in one continuous and fully automated process:

1. Extrusion: The plastic granules are heated to a molten form that is then extruded into a hot hollow soft plastic pipe called a parison.
2. Blow: The specifically shaped mold fitted to the machine closes over the parison, with pressurized sterile gas fed in to expand the parison against the inner mold face to form the container to desired final shape. The gas used can be air, nitrogen or any other inert gas. The shaping process is assisted by creating a vacuum within the mold cavity.
3. Fill: The BFS machine inserts the filling nozzles into the top of the formed plastic containers to inject the product. During this step, the nozzles and the open end of the containers are showered with sterile filtered gas to protect against contamination. The performance of sterile air shower can be continuously monitored by a particle counter.
4. Seal: After filling, jaws at the top of the mold close to hermetically seal the filled containers
5. Deflash: The final step is to remove the flash left by the mold halves and deliver the finished container outside the machine, with a cycle time that normally amounts to 10 to 15 seconds.

BFS advantages

BFS technology offers three fundamental advantages that are particularly relevant to pharmaceutical products and manufacturing.

• Efficacy: The BFS process does not require any pre-formed containers, as it starts directly from the polymer granule that is fed to the machine, where it is melted and extruded, thus eliminating the need for complicated or costly upstream equipment as well as simplifying supply and storage logistics.
• Versatility: BFS machines are designed to address specific customer needs for wide flexibility in the size and form of containers to suit the broadest possible range of final user requirements. This particularly applies to the design of the head of the container, to its general softness/rigidity, and to the types of plastic that can be used. Different volumes are available on the same machine and switching between different container formats is easy and quick.
• Sterility: Because the BFS process takes place under a Grade A sterile air shower, the final product is already aseptic. However, if regulations require the product to be terminally sterilized, it can easily withstand terminal sterilization at 121°C as per normal procedures.

Resources

Click on SYFPAC® BFS Innovative Solutions for Aseptic Packaging to download brochure.
Click on BFS Process to learn more.
Click on SYFPAC Videos to watch SVP and LVP systems in action.