Tailor-made additives to influence the habit of barite (BaSO4) obtained by precipitation

In order to influence the habit of barite (BaSO4) single crystals obtained by precipitation, the tailor-made additives 2-aminoethanol, 3-aminopropanol, 5-aminopentanol, 4-aminobutane sulfonic acid, and several other growth inhibitors have been tested. The crystallization experiments have been carried out in a fully automated crystallizer with reproducible educt feed rates. The kinetics of the reaction has been measured by means of the conductivity. Scanning electron microscopic analysis of the obtained crystal habits led to the result that most of the additives tested did not influence the growth form of the crystals, but the predicted, tailor-made additives resulted in a more isometric crystal form.