Industrial Crystallization

Crystallization is a core technology applied to separation and purification as well as characterization of crystalline solids including nano-sized particles. Since the industry is increasingly concentrating its efforts on the environ-mental and health aspects of chemical manufacturing as well as on highly characterized products, improved crystallization technology is required. The latter is also well suited for applications in nanotechnology, biotechnology, and environmental technology as applied to the life sciences, fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, energetic materials and process engineering, etc. Crystallization focuses on subjects with stringent performance-related specifications, such as purity, mean size, crystal size distribution, shape, agglomeration, polymorphism, chirality, and on the operation and design of crystallizers. Although much literature exists on the topic of crystallization, a large number of open questions remain. Furthermore, the study of crystallization is a multi-disciplinary area involving, amongst others, chemical engineers, chemists, physicists, in particular solid-state physicists, and pharmaceutical scientists. Moreover, crystallization is a topic of interest to both academics and industry. This special issue of Chemical Engineering & Technology selected contributions of the BIWIC 2015 Workshop of Industrial Crystallization. The scope of the conference is focused on the following main topics: fundamentals of crystallization (thermodynamics and kinetics), process design (monitoring and modeling), product design (polymorphism, solvates, amorphous, salts, nano-crystals, co-crystals, purification, chiral separation), industrial application, and intensified processes and equipment (external fields, microtechnology, hybrid processes). The BIWIC 2015 meeting tried to provide a multi-disciplinary platform for engineers, chemists, physicists, in particular solid-state physicists, and pharmaceutical scientists in academia and industries, experts and novice alike. The crystallization of pharmaceutical, organic and energetic material is covered in the articles concerned with the production of crystalline products, processing technology, and process engineering.