Operation strategy of industrial crystallization for the production of 2,3,4,4'-tetrahydroxybenzophenon

To improve the filterability of hydroxybenzophenone crystal, a cooling strategy for the cooling crystallization process is investigated by examining the solubility and growth kinetics of hydroxybenzophenone. The operating strategy is divided into two steps. The first step is to generate the seed by dissolving the raw material and by changing operating conditions. The second step is to grow seeds to the product with desired crystal size distribution. For each part, an operating strategy has been proposed based on the solid-liquid phase equilibrium data in a ternary system and growth kinetic experimental results. The strategy for the first step is experimentally determined under various operating conditions, and the second one is determined by theoretical modeling and model-based optimization. The average crystal size resulting from the proposed strategy has been improved and the filterability has been enhanced compared to an existing strategy used in the industry.