The Secondary Nucleation Threshold and Crystal Growth of α-Glucose Monohydrate in Aqueous Solution

Investigation of the secondary nucleation threshold (SNT) of α-glucose monohydrate was conducted in aqueous solutions in agitated batch systems for the temperature range 10 to 40 °C. The width of the SNT decreased as the induction time increased and was found to be temperature independent when supersaturation was based on the absolute concentration driving force. Nonnucleating seeded batch bulk crystallizations of this sugar were performed isothermally in the same temperature range as the SNT experiments, and within the SNT region to avoid nucleation. The growth kinetics were found to be linearly dependent on the supersaturation of total glucose in the system when the mutarotation reaction is not rate limiting. The growth rate constant increases with increasing temperature and follows an Arrhenius relationship with an activation energy of 50 ± 2 kJ/mol. α-Glucose monohydrate shows significant crystal growth rate dispersion (GRD). For the seeds used, the 95% range of growth rates was within a factor of 6 for seeds with a narrow particle size distribution, and 8 for seeds with a wider distribution that was used at 25 °C. The results will be used to model the significance of the mutarotation reaction on the overall crystallization rate of d-glucose in industrial crystallization.