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Crystallization of potassium sulfate by cooling and salting‐out using 1‐propanol in a calorimetric reactor
Author(s) -
Taboada M. E.,
Palma P. A.,
Graber T. A.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
crystal research and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.377
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1521-4079
pISSN - 0232-1300
DOI - 10.1002/crat.200310002
Subject(s) - crystallization , potassium sulfate , isothermal process , nucleation , potassium , chemistry , economies of agglomeration , propanol , saturation (graph theory) , thermodynamics , analytical chemistry (journal) , materials science , chemical engineering , chromatography , methanol , organic chemistry , physics , mathematics , combinatorics , engineering
A study was made on a isothermal process for the crystallization of potassium sulfate as an alternative to the cooling process. The process employs addition of 1‐propanol to aqueous salt solutions to achieve the “saltingout” of the K 2 SO 4 . This work was carried out using an automated Mettler Toledo model RC1 reactorcrystallizer with 800 ml capacity, and controlled isothermally at 25 °C to test the crystallization of K 2 SO 4 by addition of the alcohol, and from 50 to 10 °C for the cooling crystallization. In both systems, the line of nucleation points was shown to be approximately parallel to the saturation curve, with an average width of 13°C or 3 % mass for crystallization by cooling, compared with 0.2 to 1 % by salting‐out. In experiments on crystallization by cooling, the K 2 SO 4 crystals were 0.27 mm in mean size, showed 7 % agglomeration, and contained 8.5 % moisture. Crystals obtained by salting‐out had a mean size of 0.79 mm, 28 % agglomeration, and 9‐10 % moisture content. A crystal shape factor of approximately of 0.7 was obtained in both systems, apart from the agglomeration.