Nucleation kinetics from metastable zone widths for sonocrystallization of l-phenylalanine

This study investigates the effect of ultrasound on metastable zone width (MSZW) during crystallization of l-phenylalanine from aqueous solution. The solubility of l-phenylalanine in water was measured gravimetrically in the temperature range of 293.15-333.15 K. The MSZW was measured by conventional polythermal method for four different cooling rates at five different saturation temperatures in absence and presence of ultrasound. The MSZW increased with increase in cooling rates and decreased with increase in saturation temperature. The application of ultrasound considerably reduced the MSZW for all the experiments. The obtained MSZW data are analysed using four different approaches to calculate various nucleation parameters. In presence of ultrasound, the apparent nucleation order decreased and nucleation rate constant increased significantly.