Mass Transfer and Kinetic Studies of Antacids in Acetic Acid and its Modeling Simulation

One of the most common remedies for excessive digestive fluid (stomach acidity) is antacid tablets, and dilute acetic acid (such as vinegar) with a pH of around 3.0 is a reasonably effective and inexpensive representative of the weak organic acids present in human body. This acid may then be employed for simple laboratory simulation of the biochemical processes associated with neutralization by commercial over-the-counter antacids to relieve gastric distress. The laboratory experiment of the dissolution of an antacid tablet in dilute acetic acid solution may be taken as an example of mass transfer with chemical reaction, and the mass transfer and reaction steps can be studied. In the present work, experiments were carried out to determine the mass transfer coefficients and the reaction velocity constant for different commercially available antacid tablets in dilute acetic acid solution. The model developed by Stuart’s [1], which is a lumped parameter model, has been tested and modified to suit the present-work conditions. Also, an independent model has been developed to take care of mass transfer and reaction steps of the process. The model parametersκ , ∧ a K L have been evaluated.