Transport Phenomena in Product Engineering
Educating chemical engineers for coming challenges
Teaching Chemical Product Design & Engineering (T6-3)
Keywords: multicomponent, mass transfer, teaching, tablets
Transport Phenomena
(in Product Engineering)
J.A. Wesselingh (emeritus Chemical Engineering, University of Groningen)
Recently, I was asked to write a chapter on mass transfer in and around pharmaceutical tablets. Tablets are a beautiful example of product engineering. They contain many components, in a variety of structures, and these show just about all complications that one can expect in mass transfer:
• multicomponent solutions,
• capillary wetting processes,
• diffusion through porous media,
• diffusion through swelling polymers…
The components can be all sorts of molecules, ranging from small solvents such as water, via weak and strong electrolytes, up to polymers such as proteins.
Transport can be governed by a range of different driving forces:
• activity (concentration) gradients,
• electrical gradients (in electrolytes),
• pressure gradients (in osmotic devices) and
• interfacial energy changes (in wetting).
This has brought me to think about how one should summarize and teach such a wide-ranging subject. I would like to discuss that with you.
Presented Monday 17, 12:15 to 12:35, in session Teaching Chemical Product Design & Engineering (T6-3).
