Feedback Supersaturation Control Crystallization Process of Itaconic Acid

Seeding metastable zone of itaconic acid in water is determined using a laser dynamic detecting technique, based on which feedback supersaturation control is performed for the crystallization process. The crystallization is strictly confined within the metastable zone throughout the whole process to effectively inhibit the secondary nucleation and the strategy of seed loading is employed to avoid the burst of primary nucleation, resulting in the uniform particle size distribution. With the aid of solution information, continuous feedback control is conducted to keep the supersaturation at a high level accelerating the crystal growth, which significantly shortens the time consumption, and also the effect of seed amount is discussed in this work.