Comparison between two types of Artificial Neural Networks used for validation of pharmaceutical processes

Two types of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) and a Generalized Regression Neural Network (GRNN), have been used for the validation of a fluid bed granulation process. The training capacity and the accuracy of these two types of networks were compared. The variations of the ratio of binder solution to feed material, product bed temperature, atomizing air pressure, binder spray rate, air velocity and batch size were taken as input variables for training the MLP and GRNN. The properties of size, size distribution, flow rate, angle of repose and Hausner's ratio of granules produced, were measured and used as output variables. Qualitatively, the two networks gave comparable results, as both pointed out the importance of the binder spray rate and the atomizing air pressure to the granulation process. However, the averaged absolute error of the MLP was higher than the averaged absolute error of the GRNN. Furthermore, the correlation coefficients between the experimentally determined and the calculated output values, the corresponding prediction accuracy for the different granule properties as well as the overall prediction accuracy using GRNN were better than using MLP. In conclusion, the comparison of two different networks (MLP, a so-called feed-forward back-propagation network and GRNN, a so-called Bayesian Neural Network) showed the higher capacity of the latter for validation of such granulation processes.