Effects of Aeration on the External Shape of Crystalline Particles in Reactive Crystallization with pH Modulation

Abstract

Crystalline particles with complex external shapes are frequently produced during reactive crystallization. As such crystalline particles increase the load on downstream processes, their external shape must be improved. This study investigated the effects of aeration on the external shape of crystalline particles for reactive crystallization with pH modulation. The experimental results suggested that aeration is effective at ensuring the preparation of initial crystals that work as inner seed crystals at the desired pH. In addition, the external shape of the product crystalline particles was found to change due to the pH changing when the initial crystals were produced. Subsequent experiments that considered aeration profiles resulted in crystalline particles being successfully obtained with a similar aspect ratio to the inner seed crystals as well as a good external shape. This study’s findings provide valuable data for the operation design for controlling the characteristics of crystalline particles obtained through reactive crystallization.

Keywords

• Reactive crystallization
• pH modulation
• Aeration
• External shape
• Agglomeration