Suspension selection

An interesting historical application of the Boltzmann equation involves examination of the number density of very small spherical globules of latex suspended in water. The particles are dishibuted in the potential gradient of the gravitational field. If an arbitrary point in the suspension is selected, the number of particles N at height h pm (1 pm= 10 m) above the reference point can be counted with a magnifying lens. In one series of measurements, the number of particles per unit volume of the suspension as a function of h was as shown in Table 3-3. 

Intravenous aqueous injections provide an excellent means of achieving a rapid therapeutic response. Parenteral product design, eg, vehicle and other excipient selection, as well as choice of route of adrninistration, can prolong therapeutic activity and increase onset times. Thus, oily solutions, suspensions, or emulsions can be adrninistered by subcutaneous or intramuscular routes to create prolonged effect, ie, depot injection (28). 

A classification by chemical type is given ia Table 1. It does not attempt to be either rigorous or complete. Clearly, some materials could appear ia more than one of these classifications, eg, polyethylene waxes [9002-88 ] can be classified ia both synthetic waxes and polyolefins, and fiuorosihcones ia sihcones and fiuoropolymers. The broad classes of release materials available are given ia the chemical class column, the principal types ia the chemical subdivision column, and one or two important selections ia the specific examples column. Many commercial products are difficult to place ia any classification scheme. Some are of proprietary composition and many are mixtures. For example, metallic soaps are often used ia combination with hydrocarbon waxes to produce finely dispersed suspensions. Many products also contain formulating aids such as solvents, emulsifiers, and biocides. 

Eroth flotation (qv) is the most important method for cleaning fine coal because very smak particles caimot be separated by settling methods. Air is passed through a suspension of coal in water to which conditioning reagents, usuaky special oils, have been added. The oils are selected so that the coal particles preferentiaky attach themselves to the bubbles and separate from the refuse that remains in suspension. 

The use of a water-immiscible Hquid to separate coal from impurities is based on the principle that the coal surface is hydrophobic and preferentially wetted by the nonaqueous medium whereas the minerals, being hydrophilic, remain suspended in water. Hence, separation of two phases produces a clean coal containing a small amount of a nonaqueous Hquid, eg, oil, and an aqueous suspension of the refuse. This process is generally referred to as selective agglomeration. 

Product Quality Considerations of product quahty may require low holdup time and low-temperature operation to avoid thermal degradation. The low holdup time eliminates some types of evaporators, and some types are also eliminated because of poor heat-transfer charac teristics at low temperature. Product quality may also dic tate special materials of construction to avoid met hc contamination or a catalytic effect on decomposition of the product. Corrosion may also influence evaporator selection, since the advantages of evaporators having high heat-transfer coefficients are more apparent when expensive materials of construction are indicated. Corrosion and erosion are frequently more severe in evaporators than in other types of equipment because of the high hquid and vapor velocities used, the frequent presence of sohds in suspension, and the necessary concentration differences. 

Preliminary Selections Assembling background information permits tentative selection of promising equipment and rules out clearly unsuitable types. If the material to be processed is a shiny or pumpable suspension of sohds in a hquid, several methods of mechanical separation may be suitable, and these are classified into setfiiug and filtration... 

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