Selective Dissolution Process Featuring a Classification Device for the Removal of Fines in Crystallization: Experiments

With the aim of removing fine particles from a suspension obtained by crystallization, a selective dissolution process featuring a hydrocyclone is compared against a well-established partial dissolution process with a dedicated experimental campaign, which complements an earlier theoretical study. For this purpose, 3D printed hydrocyclones, solid–liquid separation devices, are studied in detail and successfully operated under conditions viable at the laboratory scale. A model due to Braun is fitted to the experimental results and validated using a cross validation strategy, thus providing a valuable tool for process simulation. The experimental campaign is designed to comparatively assess the efficacy and efficiency of the two processes under analysis as a function of their respective operating conditions, finally demonstrating the superior performance of the selective dissolution process. In particular, it is shown that while in a standard partial dissolution process 20–40% of the suspended mass has to be dissolved to remove a reasonable amount of fines, the proposed process reaches the same goal by dissolving as little as 3–10%.