Development of a continuous evaporation system for an API solution
stream prior to crystallization
Abstract
A bubble column was investigated as a method to achieve a desired and
controllable rate of evaporation of a pharmaceutical solution in
continuous processing mode. Applying a developed thermodynamic model to
predict the rate of evaporation, all predicted values achieved
accuracies within the bounds of instrumentation errors. The model
accounted for the measured effect of reduced vapor pressure caused by
dissolved solids as a function of their concentration. A general method
to obtain accurate measurement of this effect is introduced and applied,
improving the accuracy of model predictions. Predicting the rate of
evaporation using the developed model, consistent and repeatable
evaporation rates ranging from 0.7–6.9 g/min were achieved. Applying
the column as a controllable evaporator, the concentration of a dilute
feed stream was increased in a single equilibrium stage and coupled to a
crystallizer. The configured system achieved a steady state of
controllable operation over a duration of 5 hours