(521a) Development of Slug Flow Crystallization for Reactive Crystallization

In pharmaceutical and chemical industries, many intermediate and essential ingredients need to go through the crystalline phase.¹ One key quality aspect for crystals is morphology, which affects not only product quality, but also process efficiency.^1–4 However, the crystal morphology from reaction synthesis is challenging to control, even with advanced continuous crystallizer designs that already improve quality consistency, controllability, and process flexibility. Also, the process and mechanism for morphology generation are not always clear.

This presentation will elaborate on the development slug flow process and morphology tuning process based on the reactive crystallization of L-Glutamic acid, a widely used amino acid. Specifically, the effect of reaction parameters on crystal morphology is evaluated, including supersaturation, temperature and flow rate. The slug flow configuration is selected, as one of the advanced tubular continuous crystallizers for a uniform reaction environment^2–4. The crystal growth mechanism is compared between slug flow and traditional batch reactors.