Growth rate models and kinetics estimation for CaCO3 precipitated in continuous crystallizers

Precipitation of CaCO3 in a continuous crystallizer is analyzed on the basis of size-dependent growth rate models. The usefulness of such models is demonstrated by fitting them to several sets of experimental data consisting of the crystal size distribution measured under different operating conditions. The kinetic parameters, growth and nucleation rate thus estimated were correlated by empirical expressions in terms of observables. The growth rate of zero particle size has been found to increase with the augmentation of the desupersaturation rate and to decrease at higher suspension densities.