87380 - Pharmaceutical Technologies M

Learning outcomes

The course aims at introducing the design of unit operations and equipment specific of the pharmaceutical industry. Criteria and procedures for process design, quality control and certification will be introduced.

Course contents

Requirements/Prior knowledge

A prior knowledge and understanding of local and integral balances of mass and energy, fluid dynamics models (perfect mixing and plug flow) is required to attend with profit this course.

In addition, students should master the utilization of spreadsheets.

Fluent spoken and written English is a necessary pre-requisite, because all lectures and tutorials, and all study material will be in English.

Program

Illustration of objectives and aims of the course.

Characteristics and peculiarities of the pharmaceutical industry. Outline of pharmaceutical legislation. The quality of the product.

The concept of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and the importance of the unit operations in the production process.

Kinetics of the chemical reactions for the synthesis of API.

Viable methods for the kinetic analysis in the synthesis of API in batch and continuous reactors.

Purification of the product: distillation and extraction.

Filtration and drying.

Kinetics of thermal destruction of microrganisms and the sterilization process.

Batch and continuous reactors. Multiphase reactors with mixing.

Case studies.

Readings/Bibliography

Chemical Engineering in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, Second Edition, D.J. am Ende and M.T. am Ende (Eds.), 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Teaching methods

Power point lecture presentations, demonstrations and practical classes.

Lectures by industry experts.

Assessment methods

The student sits an oral exam, which consists of 3-4 questions, aiming to demonstrate both the theoretical preparation and the capability of the student of solving design and analysis problems. A presentation and a critical discussion of the outcomes of the case-study will also be required.

Higher grades will be awarded to students who demonstrate a sound theoretical preparation, an organic understanding of the subject, a high ability for the practical applications, and a clear, comprehensive and concise presentation of the contents.

To obtain a passing grade, students are required to at least demonstrate a knowledge of the key concepts of the subject, some ability for critical discussion, and a comprehensible use of technical Language.

A failing grade will be awarded if the student shows knowledge gaps in key-concepts of the subject, inappropriate use of language, and/or logic failures in the analysis of the subject.

Teaching tools

Teaching material including PowerPoint slides, lecture notes are available to the students via the IOL (Insegnamenti OnLine) Platform.

Included: Analysis of case studies, Examples with the illustration of the solutions.

Office hours

See the website of Valerio Cozzani

See the website of Alessandro Paglianti

See the website of Ernesto Salzano