Crystal growth of L-ascorbic acid in programmed batch cooling crystallization

The characteristics of L-ascorbic acid crystal growth in aqueous solution w as studied in programmed batch cooling crystallization. Both seeded and uns eeded experiments were carried out in a mechanically agitated double jacked vessel under appropriately controlled temperature. The final product size distribution was measured by laser analyser in the crystal suspension. The batch process was described by the moment equations model, and an indir ect integral method was developed for the identification of the nucleation and crystal growth rate expressions. The principle of the method is that th e model parameters are determined by fitting the final crystal size distrib ution computed from the model, by using the spline approximations of the pr ogrammed cooling curves, to the measured distribution.