(37c) Fluid Mixing Issues in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Mixing of fluids is an extremely common operation encountered in countless applications in the pharmaceutical industry. Many pharmaceutical processes such as crystallization, precipitation, chemical reaction, fermentation, solid-liquid suspension, and liquid-liquid emulsification, to cite a few, require or are greatly enhanced by the intimate contact between two or more distinct phases (in multiphase systems) or the rapid homogenization of a second fluid (in single phase systems). Despite its ubiquitous presence in pharmaceutical and other industrial processes, mixing is often overlooked in the industrial practice.

This presentation gives an overview of some of the most important fluid mixing issues encountered in the pharmaceutical industry and shows how pharmaceutical processes can benefit from a better understanding of, and a greater appreciation for, the underlying mixing phenomena.