Jay Swarup, Entry #4

Hey everyone,
I just finished up a few more weeks at the Ramachandran lab. During this time, I did an experiment over again. But, I finally got good results for the experiment! The experiment in which I repeated was the one in which the goal was to increase the granule size by a certain amount. After adjusting certain parameters on the granulator, I was finally able to successfully produce granules of the correct size. Now, I have been assigned to work with another graduate student. In this experiment, in which I will start tomorrow, we will measure RTD, which is the residence time distribution. But before we could start the experiment, we had to make pre-blends. Pre-blend powder is the powder that the granulator uses to make the granules. To make pre-blends, we had to measure a certain amount of each chemical, such as APAP and MCC, and then put it in the machine. The machine that mixes all of the powders together is pictured below. To clarify, the machine is in the middle of mixing the powders which is why it is rotated and not on the floor.

After the machine ends, we take the powder out and clean the machine. Unfortunately, cleaning takes up a long time and the machine runs for 30 minutes. So, making 10 batches took up a lot more time than we anticipated. But, it was worth it in the end because now we have enough powder to complete our entire experiment.
Aside from working in the lab, I have been playing sports as usual and hanging out with friends and family. Also, Dr. Venanzi visited me and we had lunch together which was very nice.