Design and Characterization of a Novel Continuous Annular Gap Crystallizer

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) has been shown to be a viable route to realize crystallizer design and affords the opportunity to accelerate development of novel, lab scale designs as well as the ability to rapidly adapt tailor-made equipment to the requirements of a specific application. This article presents a novel, modular crystallizer design, and the design rationale is discussed. The crystallizer consists of a heated, cylindrical mantle in conjunction with a concentric internal cylinder with a lamellar surface structure designed to keep particles in lateral motion relative to the direction of fluid flow. Using a single module, fluid and particle residence times and particle size evolution have been evaluated as a function of operating parameters. The performance of the equipment over an extended period of time has been investigated with a view to characterizing its propensity for fouling and blockage.