Effect of nucleation kinetics on the dynamic behavior of a continuous crystallizer

The nucleation kinetics of three materials were related to the growth kinetics using steady state data obtained at various degrees of supersaturation. The power models obtained from the three crystallizaitons exhibited widely different kinetic orders. These materials were then crystallized under unsteady state conditions in a mixed suspension–mixed product removal crystallizer and the transient size distributions were determined. The unsteady state model previously developed by Randolph and Larson was solved on a digital computer for the three systems. Good agreement was obtained. It was found that unsteady state experiments have some advantages over steady state experiments in determining the kinetic order of nucleation.