Kinetics of (R,S)- and (R)-mandelic acid in an unseeded cooling batch crystallizer

The objective of this work is to determine the nucleation and growth kinetics of (R,S)-mandelic acid ((R,S)-MA) and (R)-mandelic acid ((R)-MA) in aqueous solutions using an unseeded cooling crystallization process. To obtain the nucleation and growth kinetics, the solubility, metastable zone limits, and supersaturation were measured by in-situ attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM). The nucleation rate and growth rate parameters were determined by a nonlinear optimization algorithm. The effects of initial concentration and cooling rate on supersaturation and the nucleation rate are also discussed.