Secondary Nucleation from Nuclei Breeding and Its Quantitative Link with Fluid Shear Stress in Mixing: A Potential Approach for Precise Scale-up in Industrial Crystallization

Mustafa Yousuf, Patrick J. Frawley

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The development of robust process scale-up involves a clear understanding of mixing hydrodynamics in crystallization. In the present work, particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) was used to determine the fluid turbulent shear stress (TSS) as a function of scale-up involving cooling crystallization experiments at different agitation rates. At a given scale, with increased agitation rate from 300 to 370 rpm, the secondary nucleation threshold (SNT) and product mean particle size were observed to decrease due to increased TSS. In nuclei breeding, the nucleated crystals at the seed surface are readily sheared off by the increased fluid shear stress. This catalytic process enhanced the rate of secondary nucleation, and hence a decrease in SNT. The SNT and mean particle size increased with scale size due to a decrease in average turbulent dissipation rate which resulted from a decrease in TSS. Secondary nucleation due to nuclei breeding was found to have a quantitative link with TSS. This resulted in a constant SNT under the influence of the same TSS which led to a consistent particle size distribution (PSD), independent of the scale. The presented approach shows that a controlled PSD can be obtained across different crystallization scales by controlling secondary nucleation through hydrodynamics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)926-934
Number of pages9
JournalOrganic Process Research and Development
Volume23
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 May 2019

Keywords

  • nuclei breeding
  • particle size distribution
  • scale-up
  • secondary nucleation threshold
  • turbulent shear stress

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