Blow-Fill-Seal and form fill seal technology

Blow-Fill-Seal (BFS) technology is a pharmaceutical filling process in which containers are formed from a thermoplastic granulate, filled with product, and then sealed in a continuous, integrated, automatic operation. The two most common types of BFS machines are the Shuttling machine (with Parison cut) and the Rotary machine (Closed Parison) types. The equipment design, operation, and therefore controls for these differ. For Shuttling systems, the processes of container extrusion and filling occur at two separate locations within the machine. The extrusion of the container parison occurs adjacent to the filling zone, the extruded plastic is collected from underneath the extruder head, is cut and formed and automatically transferred (usually by horizontal shuttling) to the filling and sealing zone. For Rotary design machines, the filling needles are enclosed within the extruded parison and therefore there is limited exposure of the inner surfaces of the container to the external environment.

Form fill seal – Similar to Blow fill Seal, this involves the formation of a large tube formed from a flexible packaging material, in the filling machine, the tube is then filled to form large-volume bags.