Prediction of the dextrose nucleation kinetics by the growth rate of crystallites

The crystallization of dextrose is usually performed by seeding the feed solution. The secondary nucleation by catalytic mechanism play an important role on the process performances leading to a large content of fines in the final product. In this work an investigation on the dextrose nucleation carried out in presence of seeds is reported. The objectives were to measure both the induction time and the metastable zone width. Few large crystals were added to a supersaturated solution and the detection of the nucleation point was accomplished by eye and by using a turbidimeter: a good agreement between the two methods was assessed.