C3 - Batch or Continuous?

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How are chemicals needed in large quantities made?
Continuous processes, such as sulfuric acid or ammonia
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What is continuous processing?
Makes large amounts of the product 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It takes less energy to maintain - as long as the process can be kept running - than to stop and start the process
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Where does continuous processes happen?
Large chemical plants with good transport links
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What the advantages of continuous processing?
Plants are highly automated so have minimal labour costs, making the product cheaper
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What are the disadvantages of continuous processing?
The process is inefficient if not in constant use, there is a very high initial building and set up cost for these chemical plants
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How are chemicals needed in small quantities made?
Batch processing
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What is batch processing?
Makes a fixed amount
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What the advantages of batch processing?
Allows batches to be made and stored until needed, allows quantities to be made that can be sold within a given time as many drugs have a 'sell by' date, makes it easy to make a new batch when needed, easy to change production to a different product
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What are the disadvantages of batch processing?
Each batch has to be supervised so it is labour intensive and very costly, time is needed for cleaning if the product line is changed, it is inefficient as the production is not in use all the time
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Why are medicines so expensive?
Because raw materials are rare, and a lot are found in plants which are difficult to extract
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What is involved in extracting a chemical from a plant?
Crushing to disrupt and break cell walls, boiling in a suitable solvent to dissolve the compounds, chromatography to separate and identify individual compounds and isolating purifying and testing potential useful compounds
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What type of compounds have definite melting and boiling points?
Pure compounds
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Why is it difficult and costly to get a license for a new drug?
Thousands of compounds often need to be tested to find effective ones, likely compounds need to be tested on living tissue to ensure safety, long-term trials on humans are needed to identify possible side effects
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What is continuous processing?

Back

Makes large amounts of the product 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It takes less energy to maintain - as long as the process can be kept running - than to stop and start the process

Card 3

Front

Where does continuous processes happen?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What the advantages of continuous processing?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What are the disadvantages of continuous processing?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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