Crystallization kinetics of citric acid anhydrate

• The solubility and metastable zone width of citric acid anhydrate were measured.
• Nucleation kinetic parameters were estimated by Nyvlt's method.
• A desupersaturation curve method was employed to estimate crystal growth.
• A dimension variation of a single crystal was also used to estimate growth rate.
• Both methods were compared.

The solubility curve, metastable zone width (MSZW) and Crystallization kinetics (nucleation and growth) were measured and estimated during batch crystallization of citric acid anhydrate (CAA). The solubility of citric acid in pure water was measured over the temperature range from 15 to 60 °C using a refractometer. The experimental data were correlated by the modified Apelblat equation. The MSZW was determined under four cooling rates for different citric acid concentrations by means of an ultrasonic technique. The primary nucleation kinetics of CAA was calculated based on these data and the polythermal method of Nyvlt. It was found that the MSZW obtained is in good agreement with literature. Crystal growth rates were calculated by two methods. The first one used seeded isothermal growth experiments (desupersaturation curve) and the derivatives method of Garside. The second method used the measurement of the dimension change of a single crystal in a microscopic cell at different supersaturation levels.