Production of Sucrose Crystals of Uni-Modal Size Distribution by Seeded Batch Cooling Crystallization

Abstract

From sucrose aqueous solution of high viscosity, sucrose was crystallized by seeded cooling in a batch crystallizer. At low seed loadings, the product crystal size distribution (CSD) was wide-spread because of enormous secondary and primary nucleation. However, at high seed loadings, it became uni-modal, where the crystallization was dominated by seed growth with practically no secondary nucleation. Enough seeding was thus effective in suppressing nucleation even during batch crystallization with high viscosity solution. The volume mean size of the product crystals obtained at high seed loadings agreed with that calculated by a simple mass balance assuming growth-dominated crystallization with no change in the number of crystals.