PH209 Pharmaceutical Technology

• PH209 Exam Review Questions
• PH209 Heat Transfer Solutions

This course includes two modules, Unit Operations & Powder Technology, intended to equip students with knowledge and understanding of the principles and practices involved in pharmaceutical manufacturing, including the characteristics of processing equipment. Upon successful completion of the course, the student should be able to participate on technical teams in an industrial pharmacy setting and make valuable contributions in design, operation & maintenance of manufacturing processes.

Course Modules

Unit Processes

Aim: To equip the student with basic principles of unit operations, i.e. the basic physical processing steps, used in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to:

• Explain the basic principles underlying the fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, including their application in fluid transport, heat exchange,  evaporation, drying, separation and distillation operations

Module Content

• Overview (v1.0 of  combined notes)
• Fluid Mechanics (info on Navier Stokes eqn)
  • List of some kinematic viscosities
  • University of Leeds, Civil Engineering Course on Fluid Mechanics: http://www.efm.leeds.ac.uk/CIVE/FluidsLevel1/Unit00/T1.html
• Heat Transfer (Basics – as .pdf / Comprehensive Text)
  • Theory (MIT Open Courseware on Thermal Resistance Circuits)
  • Heat Exchangers
    • Some typical overall heat transfer coefficients
  • Evaporators
    • GEA Process Engineering. “Evaporation Technologies” has a good description of the operation and benefits of different types of evaporators.
• Mass Transfer
  • Overview / Theory
  • Drying
  • Separation
    • Filtration
    • Distillation

Powder Technology

Aim: To provide the student with the knowledge of powder properties and characteristics; along with the preparation and processing of powder in pre-formulation of solid dosage forms.

Objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to:

• Define a powder and appreciate particle sizes, shapes and flowability
• Describe the various methods available for particle size reduction and separation or classification, particle mixing, transport and storage

Module Content:

• Overview (lecture slides / as handouts)
• Powders in the context of pharmaceutical manufacturing, their characterization and processing properties.
• Particle size reduction: techniques, equipment, implications.
• Particle size analysis and importance: Sampling, probability and methods of measurements
• Mixing & De-mixing: mechanisms & issue in powder processing
• Particle transport and storage

Powder References:

1. Pharmaceutics. Aulton, M. E. (Ed.), Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier, 3^rd Edition, 2007.
2. Fundamentals of Particle Technology. Holdich, Richard G., Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK, 2002. (www.particles.org.uk/particle_technology_book/)