Effect of Collision by Agitation of Impeller on Secondary Nucleation Rate of K-Alum

Effect of collision by agitation of impeller on secondary nucleation rate of K-Alum was studied in the range of nucleation rate increasing with impeller rotational speed. Fluidized bed of seed crystal with a paddle-type impeller was used as the crystallizer, and the height of seed bed was adjusted to be the same as the width of the impeller to allow for seed crystals to be directly agitated by the impeller. The total number of secondary nuclei generated was observed by direct counting under a microscope. Secondary nucleation rates are correlated with supersaturation, and these powers of supersaturation are in the range 1.3-1.6, depending upon impeller rotational speed and impeller diameter. These values of 1.3-1.6 are smaller than the power of 3.3 obtained by fluidized seeds and by seeds of the minimum size to be able to produce secondary nuclei, and are almost identical with that for crystal growth rate. This result is discussed in terms of the damaged surface repairing model reported by Larson et al. New equation of secondary nucleation rate by impeller agitation is derived by improving the semi-theoterical model of secondary nucleation rate in a stirred tank reported by de Jong et al., and experimental data obtained in this study are correlated by that equation.