MELT CRYSTALLIZATION - THEORETICAL PRESUMPTIONS AND TECHNICAL LIMITATIONS

The fundamentals of the design of melt crystallization processes on cooled surfaces are presented. Determination of the energy requirements is the essential point. During each freezing step a multiple of the heat of solidification must be removed and must be re-introduced during the subsequent melting step. Consequently, discontinuous processes of this nature can only compete with other thermal separation techniques - in which a continuous countercurrent operation can be realised - if the plant is well designed and the process is precisely controlled.