Spray Drying 4.0: Integrating AI, real-time monitoring, and green solvents in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical formulations

The pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries use spray drying to convert the liquid solution into stabilized dry powder products. The technique regulates the particle size, morphology, and solid-state characteristics. Spray drying has an important role for enhancing solubility and stability of a drug besides delivering active principles for a wide range of applications. This review looks at all the research done by scientists to achieve the aim of Spray Drying 4.0 through hybridization of artificial intelligence with predictive modeling and process analytical technology for real-time monitoring and optimization of the manufacturing processes. The three main application type areas pertain to amorphous solid dispersions, inhalable powders, and encapsulated nutraceutical products. Emphasis will be given to Green Solvent Systems employing supercritical CO2 and ionic liquids combined with green engineering practices for environmental friendliness. The review discusses the FDA and ICH guidelines that shape Quality by Design (QbD) by their regulatory framework. Research would further investigate the hybridization of spray drying with other designs such as electrospinning, 3D printing, and freeze-drying for developing hybrid and multimodal systems for personalized medicine in intelligent medication delivery. It is evident that the future of spray-drying as a contemporary platform has limitless scaling for the pharma manufacturing process.