Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10385207 | Chemical Engineering Research and Design | 2005 | 12 Pages |
Abstract
Recent developments in the use of non-intrusive, electrical measurements to interrogate mixing processes in batch vessels have triggered a joint GSK/Imperial College London project aimed at assessing the applicability of electrical resistance tomography (ERT) to pharmaceutical chemical development. Several vessel/stirrer configurations designed to mimic typical plant reactor geometries were investigated in connection with multiphase processes typical of the pharmaceutical industry. Case studies related to liquid-liquid dispersion and solids suspension in stirred tanks are described and the data obtained are compared with on-line monitoring information as well as computational fluid dynamics modeling results. Overall, very encouraging results were achieved for model and industrial processes. This approach shows promise for on-line control of process mixing performance as well as efficiency evaluation and optimization of several reactor geometries. This allows us to conclude that ERT is a valuable tool for the development of robust active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing processes.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Filtration and Separation
Authors
F. Ricard, C. Brechtelsbauer, X.Y. Xu, C.J. Lawrence,