SOP on Control of Sieves and Screens of Different Equipments

  • Objective:To lay down a procedure for Control of Sieves and Screens of different Equipments.
  • Scope:This Standard Operating Procedure is applicable for formulation plant of Pharmaceutical company.
  • Responsibility
    • Production Supervisor / Officer shall be responsible for implementation of the procedure as per this SOP.
    • Head-Production / designee shall be responsible for compliance of this SOP.
  • Accountability:
    • Head-Production and Head QA shall be accountable for compliance of this SOP.
  • Abbreviations and Definitions:
  • SS : Stainless Steel
  • BIS : Bureau of Indian Standard
  • BSS: British Standard Sieve
  • ISO: International Organization for Standardization
  • MM : Material Management
  • Procedure
    • INDENT OF SIEVES AND SCREENS:
      • Sieves and Screens shall be indent as per required sieve number and screen size.
      • Indent shall be raised by Production Supervisor / Officer.
      • Indent for the sieves and screens shall be made as per coding specification.
      • Indent shall be approved by Head-Production / designee and submit to MM department.
      • MM department shall send the purchase order to the manufacturer.
    • INSPECTION ON RECEIPT:
      • Number of Sieves and Screens received, shall be checked as per Purchase Order.
      • Sieves and Screens Coding shall be checked as per Purchase Order.
      • Integrity of Sieves and Screens shall be checked by Nominal Aperture Calibrator with Magnification.
      • For the mesh size less then 40 the calibrator shall be placed on the wire mesh and the individuals Opening is visualized by using the fine tunings.
      • The distance between adjacent parallel wire (Nominal Aperture) is measured in both wrap and weft direction.
      • Ten such readings shall be taken all over the mesh
      • The average of these readings shall be the nominal aperture of the wire mesh.
      • The nominal aperture size shall be compared with the standard size specified in Annexure-3 and Annexure-4 and if it falls within the specified tolerance the sieve is accepted.
      • For the mesh size 40-200. The calibrator shall be placed on the wire mesh and count the number of wires in 2.5 mm.
      • Multiply the counted number of wires with 10 it gives the number of wires in a linear inch, i.e. 25.4mm.
      • The wire diameter of a particular mesh shall be taken from Annexure-7.
      • The nominal aperture size of the wire mesh shall be calculated by using the formula given below.

D = Diameter of wire

N = Mesh count = Number of wires/linear inch

Nominal Aperture size = (25.4/N)-D.

  • All the screens and sieves shall be of SS 316 material of construction with lead free welding (e.g. argon arc welding) and shall comply with BIS / ISO / BSS or Pharmacopoeial standard.
  • On receiving new sieve / screen entry shall be made in Change Parts Register as per Annexure-1.
  • Each sieve shall be coded with Identification Number either engraved / written on its SS parts or silicon part, or shall be labelled (written) under the transparent silicon or Teflon ring.
  • For numbering of the sieve or screen, first two letters shall represent the type of equipment then a ‘dash’ then size of the mesh in three digits again ‘dash’ and finally serial number in three digits.
  • The identification number for the sieves or screen of the equipment shall be as following:
  • Fisrt 2 digits shall denote name of the equipment like VS for Vibro Sifter.
  • Third digit shall denote dash (-).
  • Fourth, fifth and Sixth digit shall denote mesh size e.g. For mesh size 5 shall be written as 005.
  • Seventh digit shall denote dash (-).
  • Eight, ninth and tenth digit shall denote serial number of the sieve / screen.
  • Vibro Sifter / Sifter: The numbering shall start with abbreviation of VS as equipment name, then sieve size in number (in the case of wire mesh) and finally serial number of the sieve e.g.
  • Sieve with sieve size of 8 mesh shall be numbered as VS-008-001.
  • Same procedure follow for all Sieves and Screens of Different Equipment’s.
  • Each sieve / screen shall be certified by its manufacturer for its material of construction, sieve no., and sieve size.
  • Record of the sieves / screen and their identification numbers shall be maintained in Change Parts Register (Annexure-1)
  • In case any damage is observed during inspection prior to use , the same sieve / screen shall be immediately discarded by marking ‘Rejected’ with a permanent marker on its ring duly signed by Production Supervisor / Officer with date. Rejected sieve / screen shall be sending to Administration Department through Engineering Department for disposal after affixing the label ‘SCRAP ITEM’ duly filled and singned by Production Supervisor / Officer.
  • After use sieve / screen shall be cleaned along with its parent equipment considering it a part of parent equipment comply its SOP and after cleaning cover with the stretch wraps and keep in the sieve storage area.
  • Sieve / Screen Status Register shall be maintained as per Annexure-2.
  • Forms and Records
    • Sieves / Screen Inventory Register- Annexure-1
    • Sieves / Screen Status Register – Annexure-2
    • International Sieve Comparison Table – Annexure-3
    • Tolerance on Aperture Width – Annexure-4
    • Sieve/Screen Inspection record – Annexure-5
    • Standard Wire Diameter and Permissible Variations  – Annexure-6.
  • Distribution
    • Master Copy – Documentation Cell (QA)
    • Controlled Copies – Production, Quality Assurance,   Administration and Engineering.
  • History
Date Revision Number Reason for revision
   – 00 New SOP

Annexure-1

Sieves / Screen Inventory Register

Date Supplier Name Invoice No. with date Item description Quantity Mother Equipment Name & ID Number Assigned Identification Number Remarks OK / Not OK Signature & Date

Annexure-2

Sieves / Screen Status Register

Mother Equipment Name: ……………………  Mother Equipment Identification Number: ………………

Date …………………

S. No. Description Identification Number Total quantity Checked By Total rejected quantity in numbers Quantity Left in Numbers Sent for disposal (date) Sent for disposal (By)

Annexure-3

International Sieve Comparison Table

SNo AMERICAN US STD

/ ASTM E11 1987

BRITISH  BS 410 1986 FRENCH AFNOR               NFX11-501 1987 GERMAN DIN 4188  1977
Alternative                  Inch/Mesh Aperture                mm/µm Equipvalent BS MESH Opening          mm/µm Equipvalent TAMIS No. Aperture mm Approx DIN No.
1 35 sieve 500µm 30 500µm 28 0.500 12
2 450µm 0.450
3 40 sieve 425µm 36 0.430 14
4 400µm 27 0.400 16
5 45 sieve 355µm 44 355µm 0.355
6 0.340 18E
7 315µm 26 0.315
8 50 sieve 300µm 52 0.300 20
9 280µm 0.280
10 60 sieve 250µm 60 250µm 25 0.250 24
11 70 sieve 212µm 72 224µm 0.224
12 200µm 24 0.200 30
13 80 sieve 180µm 85 180µm 0.180
14 0.170 35E
15 160µm 23 0.160
16 100 sieve 150µm 100 0.150 40
17 140µm 0.140
18 120 sieve 125µm 120 125µm 22 0.125
19 0.120 50
20 140 sieve 106µm 150 112µm 0.112
21 100µm 21 0.100 60
22 170 sieve 90µm 170 90µm 0.090 70
23 80µm 20 0.080
24 200 sieve 75µm 200 0.075 80
25 71µm 0.071
26 240 0.067 90E
27 230 sieve 63µm 63µm 19 0.063
28 300 0.060 100
29 270 sieve 53µm 56µm 0.056 110
30 350 50µm 18 0.050 120
31 325 sieve 45µm 400 45µm 0.045
32 400 sieve 38µm 40µm 17 0.040
33 440 36µm 0.036 130
34 450 sieve 32µm 32µm 0.032
35 500 sieve 25µm 0.025 200
36 635 sieve 20µm 0.020
37 0.016
38 0.010

Annexure -4

Tolerance on Aperture Width

Nominal Aperture Width In Micrometers Tolerances Of Average Aperture In Percentage
I000 to 500 microns + / – 5%
400 to 200 microns + / – 6%
I60 to 100 microns + / – 7%
80 microns + / – 8%
63 microns + / – 9%
50 microns + / -10%
40 microns + / – 11%
32 microns + / – 13%
25 microns + / – 15%
20 microns + / – 17%

Annexure-5

Sieve/Screen Inspection record

 Date__________  Sieve / Screen Size No__________________Supplier Name_________                                Received By_______________             

Size of Sieve/Screen.                                                          Location Av .Size
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  
                   

 Inspected By /Date   —————–

Annexure-6

Standard Wire Diameter and Permissible Variations

Sieve Size Mesh Wire Diameter In Microns Tolerance on Wire Diameters
4.75 mm 4 1016 -15 % to +30 %
3.35 mm 6 914 -15 % to +30 %
2.80 mm 7 813 -15 % to +30 %
2.36 mm 8 711 -15 % to +30 %
2.00 mm 10 508 -15 % to +30 %
1.70 mm 12 416 -15 % to +30 %
1.40 mm 14 416 -15 % to +30 %
1.18 mm 16 375 -15 % to +30 %
1.00 mm 18 375 -15 % to +30 %
850 microns 20 416 -15 % to +30 %
710 microns 24 345 -15 % to +30 %
600 microns 30 254 -15 % to +30 %
500 microns 36 193 -15 % to +30 %
425 microns 40 213 -15 % to +30 %
355 microns 44 233 -15 % to +30 %
300 microns 50 193 -15 % to +35 %
250 microns 60 172 -15 % to +35 %
212 microns 70 152 -15 % to +35 %
180 microns 80 132 -15 % to +35 %
150 microns 100 101 -15 % to +35 %
125 microns 120 81 -15 % to +35 %
106 microns 150 61 -15 % to +35 %
90 microns 170 61 -15 % to +35 %
75 microns 200 50 -15 % to +35 %

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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About Pharmaceutical Guidanace

Ms. Abha Maurya is the Author and founder of pharmaceutical guidance, he is a pharmaceutical Professional from India having more than 18 years of rich experience in pharmaceutical field. During his career, he work in quality assurance department with multinational company’s i.e Zydus Cadila Ltd, Unichem Laboratories Ltd, Indoco remedies Ltd, Panacea Biotec Ltd, Nectar life Science Ltd. During his experience, he face may regulatory Audit i.e. USFDA, MHRA, ANVISA, MCC, TGA, EU –GMP, WHO –Geneva, ISO 9001-2008 and many ROW Regularities Audit i.e.Uganda,Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe. He is currently leading a regulatory pharmaceutical company as a head Quality. You can join him by Email, Facebook, Google+, Twitter and YouTube

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