Abstract:
A novel fractionation method of solid-layer crystallization was presented in this work. The palmitic acid (PA) and oleic acid (OA) mixture were processed in a batch crystallizer under fixed temperature gradient condition realized by external coolant and a heater inserted in the solution. During the operation, the coolant and heater temperatures were properly selected to create a solid-liquid interface in the solution, where the exchange of PA and OA were performed. The fatty acid concentrations in solid phase and liquid phase were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) during the processing. PA concentration in the outer solid phase gradually increased while OA concentration in the inner liquid phase increased, respectively. The mass transfer velocities of PA and OA were found to depend on the temperature gradient in the solution and the initial composition of the PA and OA mixture. The mass flux of PA was augmented by increasing the temperature gradient between TH and TW. The PA concentration rapidly decreased. The mass flux was higher when PA concentration in initial solution was higher. PA concentration was accumulated around the interface more than the other positions in the solid phase. About 11 percent of PA from the initial PA concentration was increase at solid-liquid interface. In this process, PA/OA fractionation could be controlled by two driving forces, namely PA recrystallization and transfer of OA elution in solid phase toward the interface. In this solid-layer crystallization, the effective diffusion coefficient of PA and conduction coefficient within solid layer were also determined in the range of 10-11-10-8 m2/s and 20-100 W/m.s, respectively. The correlations between effective diffusion coefficient and temperature were found as an exponential relationships.