Aleksandra Sander

COMPARISON OF CONVECTIVE, VACUUM, AND MICROWAVE DRYING CHLORPROPAMIDE

Drying kinetics of convective, vacuum, and microwave drying of a pharmaceutical product, chlorpropamide, has been investigated on a laboratory scale, in the temperature interval from 40°C to 60°C, and the range of microwave heating power from 154 W/kg dm to 385 W/kg dm . The experimental data obtained were approximated with the “thin-layer” equation and a two parameter exponential model. In order to compare convective, vacuum, and microwave drying, effective diffusion coefficients and specific heat consumption were calculated for each drying method. Higher rates and shorter drying times were achieved at a higher temperature and microwave heating power. The highest drying rates and the lowest specific heat consumption were achieved with microwave drying. This leads to the conclusion that microwave heating is the most appropriate method for drying of chlorpropamide. The quality of product was not changed for all applied methods.

Heat and mass transfer models in convection drying of clay slabs

Abstract Drying kinetics data for convection drying of industrially prepared roof tile clay slab were approximated with different mathematical models. Applied conventional model analysis enables evaluation of main transport properties: effective diffusion coefficient, mass and heat transfer coefficients, thermal conductivity, drying constant, and exponential model parameters. A neural network-based drying model was established using backpropagation algorithm for dynamics modelling of moisture content and temperature of thin clay sample. Obtained results confirm the assumption that both, the heat and mass transfers, are under external conditions. Very small values of Biot numbers confirm that fact. Drying air temperature and initial moisture content of clay strongly influence the drying kinetics and transport properties. The dependence between the drying air temperature and evaluated transport properties shows an exponential trend. Tomas and Skansi exponential model parameter, n , is independent from temperature. At lower values of initial moisture content of clay higher drying rates are achieved, which results with higher values of calculated transport properties. It was shown that neural network as an alternative method has potential for modelling the drying process and predicting drying dynamics based on experimental data.

THE INFLUENCE OF AIR TEMPERATURE ON EFFECTIVE DIFFUSION COEFFICIENT OF MOISTURE IN THE FALLING RATE PERIOD

ABSTRACT The convection drying of spheres of Al-Ni catalyst and thin clay plate was investigated on a laboratory scale. The aim of the investigation was to determine the mechanism of moisture transfer within the firm sample skeleton. By measuring the mass loss and the surface temperature of the samples during the drying process, basic dependencies necessary to describe the process kinetics was obtained. Found functional dependencies show high level of correlation with experimental data. Exponential model parameters are dependent of air temperature and velocity, and the type of the examined material. The applicability of the chosen model to describe the drying kinetics is proven regardless of drying material origin and geometry, The comparison of different drying experiment and determination of the average diffusional coefficient at given experimental conditions is enabled.

Separation of Hydrocarbons by Means of Liquid- Liquid Extraction with Deep Eutectic Solvents

Abstract Liquid-liquid equilibria for six ternary systems with choline chloride urea or choline chloride glycerol (molar ratio, 1:2) as selective solvent were experimentally determined at atmospheric pressure and 25°C. Equilibrium data were presented with tie lines. Extraction experiments with three-component systems were performed. The suitability of deep eutectic solvents for the separation of pyridine and toluene from n-hexane, and n-butanol from toluene was evaluated in terms of properties of solvents, solute distribution ratio, and extraction efficiency. Choline chloride glycerol has a better potential for separation of pyridine from its mixture with n-hexane. The equilibrium data were well described with the NRTL model.

Spray Drying of Aqueous Solutions of Inorganic and Organic Materials

Since the characteristics of the solution and the hot drying air have major influence on the physical, structural, and granulometric properties of the powders obtained by spray drying, it is very important to properly select the process conditions which will result with the formation of a powder of desired properties. For that reason, the influence of process conditions on the properties of the powders produced by spray drying has been investigated on a laboratory scale. The aqueous solutions of two organic (glycine and pentaerythritol) and three inorganic (sodium chloride, potassium chloride and potassium sulfate) materials have been chosen. During very fast spray drying it is impossible to distinguish individual steps of simultaneous processes (crystallization and drying). Knowledge of solubility data and crystallization kinetics of selected materials may help to explain what happens during spray drying. The experiments have been performed at different drying air temperature, flow rate of the solution and of the spraying air. The obtained powders are mostly crystalline and agglomerated. Investigated process conditions influence the polymorphic composition of glycine obtained by spray drying. In order to have real information about the granulometric composition of powders it is necessary to perform microscopic analysis of the obtained crystals.

Lipase catalysed biodiesel synthesis with integrated glycerol separation in continuously operated microchips connected in series

Although the application of microreactors in different processes has been extensively explored in recent decades, microreactors continue to be underexplored in the context of the enzyme-catalysed process for biodiesel production. Due to their numerous advantages, microreactors could become the next step in the development of a biodiesel production process characterised by sustainability, cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency. In this investigation, biodiesel production was catalysed by lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus (Lipolase L100). Edible sunflower oil was used as a model substrate in order to investigate the process. After optimal process conditions had been determined, waste-cooking oil was used for biodiesel production to make the production process more sustainable. Three different substrate-feeding strategies were investigated and finally an optimal strategy was proposed. In all the investigated systems, fatty acids methyl esters (FAME) content was higher than 95% and obtained in a significantly shorter time (less than 2 h) compared to the batch process in which biodiesel production was catalysed by lipase (C = 95%, t = 96 h). After the optimal biodiesel production system had been proposed, an integrated system with two microchips connected in series was developed. The first microchip was used for biodiesel production and the second for simultaneous purification i.e. glycerol separation. Finally, purified biodiesel was produced with glycerol content below the detection limit.

Transport phenomena in environmental engineering

Abstract A term transport phenomena arises as a second paradigm at the end of 1950s with high awareness that there was a strong need to improve the scoping of chemical engineering science. At that point, engineers became highly aware that it is extremely important to take step forward from pure empirical description and the concept of unit operations only to understand the specific process using phenomenological equations that rely on three elementary physical processes: momentum, energy and mass transport. This conceptual evolution of chemical engineering was first presented with a well-known book of R. Byron Bird, Warren E. Stewart and Edwin N. Lightfoot, Transport Phenomena, published in 1960 [1]. What transport phenomena are included in environmental engineering? It is hard to divide those phenomena through different engineering disciplines. The core is the same but the focus changes. Intention of the authors here is to present the transport phenomena that are omnipresent in treatment of various process streams. The focus in this chapter is made on the transport phenomena that permanently occur in mechanical macroprocesses of sedimentation and filtration for separation in solid–liquid particulate systems and on the phenomena of the flow through a fixed and a fluidized bed of particles that are immanent in separation processes in packed columns and in environmental catalysis. The fundamental phenomena for each thermal and equilibrium separation process technology are presented as well. Understanding and mathematical description of underlying transport phenomena result in scoping the separation processes in a way that ChEs should act worldwide.

Production of stable amorphous form by means of spray drying

ABSTRACT Spray drying is a very useful method for manufacturing of amorphous solid materials. This is mainly due to the possibility of fast solvent evaporation that leads to a rapid transformation of solution to a solid state. Besides evaporation kinetics, there are various process parameters that influence physical and chemical characteristics of such obtained material. The possibility of obtaining a stable amorphous structure of the active pharmaceutical ingredient in a spray dryer was examined. A solution of the hydrochloride crystalline structure of the active pharmaceutical ingredient in a mixture of water and acetonitrile was dried at different temperatures and flowrates of nitrogen used for atomization, as well as the flowrates of the solution. The influence of the process conditions on the properties of the product was analyzed. The final dried products were characterized and identified with a variety of analytical and physical methods. The results showed that a stable amorphous structure of the high purity active pharmaceutical ingredient is obtained, and that the optimal conditions of the process are defined. The amorphous structure is stable at temperatures below 200°C when it is transformed into a new crystal structure. Conditions of high relative air humidity lead to partial transformation.

Liquid–liquid equilibrium for the systems hydrocarbon–thiophene or pyridine–1-hexyl-3, 5-dimethylpyridinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide

ABSTRACT Liquid–liquid equilibrium for eight ternary systems involving one hydrocarbon (n-hexane, n-heptane, i-octane or toluene), thiophene or pyridine and an ionic liquid (1-hexyl-3,5-dimethylpyridinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide) was experimentally determined at atmospheric pressure and 25°C. Equilibrium data are presented with binodal curves as well as with tie lines. The suitability of ionic liquid (IL) for extractive desulfurization and denitrification was evaluated in terms of solute distribution ratio and selectivity. Extraction experiments with three-component and seven-component (n-hexane, n-heptane, i-octane, toluene, thiophene, pyridine and IL) systems have been performed. The equilibrium data in three-component systems were well described with Non-Random Two-Liquid (NRTL) and Universal Quasi-Chemical (UNIQUAC) models.