Industrial Pharmacy and Mass Transfer

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing core concepts, definitions, unit operations, and mass transfer mechanisms in industrial pharmacy.

Pharmacy

The art and science of preparing, compounding, and dispensing drugs/medicines, derived from the Greek word "Pharmakon" meaning medicine or drug.

Clinical Pharmacy

A branch of pharmacy practice focused on providing direct patient care in community or institutional pharmacy settings.

Industrial Pharmacy

A specialized branch of pharmaceutical sciences that deals with the research, development, large-scale manufacturing, production, quality control, marketing, and distribution of drug products.

Unit Operation

An industrial step that focuses on physical changes, altering the size, shape, or physical state of a material without changing its chemical nature (typically reversible).

Unit Process

An industrial step that focuses on chemical changes, involving a chemical reaction that transforms starting materials into a new chemical compound (typically irreversible).

Mechanical Operations

Unit operations that alter the physical state of a material (such as size, shape, or particle distribution) using purely mechanical forces without causing chemical changes, such as crushing, grinding, filtration, and screening.

Fluid Flow Operations

Unit operations that deal with the transportation, metering, and manipulation of fluids (liquids and gases) through process equipment, driven by a pressure difference.

Heat Transfer Operations

Unit operations where thermal energy is transferred between fluids or solids, driven by a temperature gradient.

Mass Transfer Operations

Unit operations involving the transport of material from one phase or region to another, driven by a concentration difference or gradient.

Evaporation

A unit operation (special case of heat transfer) involving the removal of a volatile solvent (like water) from a non-volatile solute in solution by vaporization at its boiling point.

Drying

A unit operation where relatively small amounts of volatile liquid (usually water) are removed from solid materials at temperatures below the boiling point by circulating air or carrier gas.

Distillation

A unit operation where components of a liquid mixture of miscible and volatile substances are separated by partial vaporization based on differences in vapor pressure.

Absorption

A unit operation in which a gas component (solute) is removed from a gas mixture by dissolving it into a liquid stream in which it is soluble.

Stripping

A unit operation involving the removal and recovery of a dissolved gas solute from a liquid phase.

Membrane Separation

A unit operation involving the separation of a solute from a fluid by selective diffusion through a semipermeable or microporous membrane barrier into another fluid.

Liquid-Liquid Extraction

A unit operation where a solute in a liquid solution (feed) is separated by contacting it with another relatively immiscible liquid solvent.

Feed

The initial liquid solution containing the solute that is to be extracted in a liquid-liquid extraction process.

Extract

The solvent-rich product layer containing the dissolved solute resulting from a liquid-liquid extraction process.

Raffinate

The residual liquid layer left behind after the solute has been removed during a liquid-liquid extraction process.

Adsorption

A process where a constituent of a gas or liquid stream is separated by adhering to the surface of a solid adsorbent material.

Desorption

The reverse of adsorption, involving the transfer of mass from the solid adsorbent surface back into a gas or liquid medium.

Liquid-Solid Leaching

A unit operation where a liquid solvent is used to treat a finely divided solid to dissolve and extract a soluble solute contained within the solid matrix.

Crystallization

A unit operation involving the removal of a solute from a liquid solution by precipitating it as a pure solid crystalline phase when concentration exceeds solubility.

Humidification

A process in which the vapor content of a gas stream is enriched by passing the gas over a liquid.

Dehumidification

A process involving the removal of vapor (such as water vapor) from a gas phase by condensing it into the liquid phase.

Dialysis

A membrane-mediated separation process in which low molecular weight solutes in a liquid phase diffuse across a microporous membrane into a second liquid phase due to a concentration gradient.

Law of Conservation of Mass

A fundamental law established in 1789 by Antoine Lavoisier stating that mass in an isolated system is neither created nor destroyed by chemical reactions or physical transformations.

Diffusion

The mass transfer process of individual components moving from a region of higher concentration to lower concentration at fixed temperature and pressure until concentration is equalized.

Molecular Diffusion

The slow transport of individual molecules through a stagnant fluid or fluid in laminar flow due to random, microscopic thermal motion described by Fick's law.

Eddy Diffusion

The rapid transport of material in fluids occurring under turbulent conditions with the assistance of external forces, such as mechanical agitation or convective fluid motion.

Convective Mass Transfer

Mass transport within a moving fluid caused by the combination of microscopic molecular diffusion and macroscopic fluid bulk motion (advection).

Diffusion Coefficient

A physical parameter ($D$) measuring how fast mass diffuses in a given medium, influenced by molecular collisions, molecular mass, spacing, and temperature.

Ordinary Diffusion

Mass diffusion driven specifically by a concentration gradient.

Thermal Diffusion

Mass diffusion driven by a temperature gradient.

Pressure Diffusion

Mass diffusion driven by a pressure gradient.

Forced Diffusion

Mass diffusion induced by an applied external force field (such as an electric or magnetic field) to separate charged or magnetized molecules from a mixture.

Knudsen and Surface Diffusion

Diffusion occurring in porous solids (e.g., silica gel) where pore size is smaller than or comparable to the mean free path of gas molecules, causing adsorbed molecules to move along pore walls.

Fick's Law of Diffusion (Solid/Fluid System)

An equation for the rate of solute diffusion in unit time through a stationary boundary layer of film thickness $L$: $w = \frac{D A (C_1 - C_2)}{L}$, where $D$ is the diffusion coefficient, $A$ is surface area, $C_1$ is interface solute concentration, and $C_2$ is bulk solute concentration.

Concentration Gradients in a Solid/Fluid System

The boundary layer model representing mass transfer from a dissolving solid crystal through (1) solid, (2) fluid film boundary layer where molecular diffusion occurs, and (3) bulk moving fluid where eddy diffusion occurs.

Concentration Gradients in a Fluid/Fluid System

The boundary layer model representing mass transfer across an interface between two immiscible fluids, featuring (1) vapor, (2) vapor film, (3) interface, (4) liquid film, and (5) liquid.