Drew Strongrich is the CEO and co-founder of LyoWave, a manufacturer of high-frequency microwave systems for industrial heating applications. He has over 9 years of experience working with leaders in the pharmaceutical freeze-drying industry. His research interests include dielectric heating, process analytical technologies, computational fluid dynamics, and process optimization.

Webinar Abstract

Microwave heating, a century-old technique most associated with late-night leftovers, is now being used to lyophilize our most critical therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostic reagents. Volumetrically heating the product in this way overcomes many of the key heat and mass transfer limitations imposed by conventional freeze-drying. Specifically, materials dried at microwave frequencies do not require direct contact with the shelf to offset latent heat consumed by the sublimation process. This feature enables significant improvements in throughput, scalability, heating uniformity, and drying rate enhancement for common products such as vials, lyobeads, bulk powders, tissues, and preservative-free foods.

Highlights

• Fundamentals of dielectric heating for frozen aqueous systems
• Application of microwave heating to common modalities and primary packaging
• Cycle speedup and throughput improvements using microwave heating