Wednesday, November 29, 2017

November 2017 DynoChem Crystallization Toolbox Upgrade

We're delighted that the number of DynoChem users getting value from our crystallization tools continues to grow strongly and we're grateful for the feedback and feature requests they provide to help us improve the tools.

New features released this November include:
  • One-click conversion of kinetic model into predictor of the shape of the PSD
  • High-resolution tracking of the distribution shape, to minimize error*
  • Extended reporting and plotting of PSD shape.

Sometimes practitioners that are unaware of crystallization fundamentals, crystallize too fast and with little attention to the rate of desupersaturation.  For such a rushed process, even when seeded (2%) the operating lines might look like the picture on the left below (Figure 1). A more experienced practitioner might operate the crystallization as shown on the right (Figure 3):

The particles produced by these alternatives differ greatly in size.  The rushed crystallization leads to a multimodal distribution (red in Figure 2) with low average size, due to seeded growth and separate nucleation events during both antisolvent addition and natural cooling.  These crystals will be difficult to filter and forward-process.

More gradual addition, with attention to crystallization kinetics and both the addition and cooling rates, leads to larger crystals (blue in Figure 2) and a tighter distribution that can be further enhanced by optimizing seed loading, seeding temperature and the operating profiles.

From November 2017, these types of scenarios can be set up, illustrated and reported in minutes using the DynoChem Crystallization Toolbox.


* We have implemented high resolution finite volume discretisation of the CSD, using the Koren flux limiter.

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