A recently launched sinusoidal pump promises sustainable, high quality, versatile fluid management for the pharmaceutical industry.

The new technology provides a number of advancements compared to conventional lobe pumps, offering pharmaceutical manufacturers lower shear, lower power consumption, full traceability and cleanability when transferring syrups, oils, creams and gels.

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group states that its Certa Plus sinusoidal pump is a best in class, sustainable solution for shear sensitive, viscous pharmaceutical products and utilises MasoSine’s experience in sinusoidal pumping technology to meet a broad range of applications.

The pump’s features aim to ensure that high-value medicines are manufactured at high quality and free from contamination. The pump’s clean-in-place (CIP) capabilities enable ease of cleaning, with added capabilities that assure quality across a wide range of pharmaceutical products, meeting the challenges faced by manufacturing pharmaceuticals, to ensure versatile, robust fluid handling when producing high-quality medicine, free from contamination. The efficient design of the pump means up to 50% less power is used, minimising cost and reducing carbon footprint.

Certa Plus asserts that it provides virtually pulsation-free product flow with no need for ancillary dampeners, improving flow meter accuracy and heat exchanger efficiency. The low shear handling aims to minimise the temperature increase of the pumped liquid and improve batch consistency and final product quality.

The pump is designed for transferring and handling of a wide range of products from syrups and sugar solutions to lozenges. Its continuous flow and high suction aim to support the efficient manufacture of pastille products. The seal flush reduces the risk of sugar-based products drying out at the seal, enabling easier processing of syrup and sugar solutions.

Across pharmaceutical applications, varying temperatures result in products with varying viscosities. For example, in the production of suppositories, pumping at lower temperature means an increasing viscosity of the product. The powerful suction of the Certa Plus allows for the processing of both low viscous liquids such as oils, and high viscous products, such as creams and gels.

The CIP capabilities facilitate ease of cleaning and allow the pump to be integrated into an aseptic fluid path. The pump can then be wet cleaned without dismantling and is steam-sterilisable and bacteria-tight to remove the risk of residuals and contamination. Certa Plus has full EHEDG Type EL Class I and EHEDG Type EL Aseptic Class I aseptic certification and all components are made of FDA and USP Class VI certified raw materials.