A solid hollow fiber cooling crystallizer and method for crystallizing
aqueous and organic solutions are provided. The solid hollow fiber
crystallizer (SHFC) for carrying out cooling crystallization of
inorganic/organic microsolutes/macrosolutes from solution generally
includes a bundle of non-porous hollow fibers mounted within a shell
where a feed solution for crystallization flows through the lumen side of
the hollow fibers and a cooling solution flows through the shell side to
form nuclei and subsequently crystals in the feed solution at a
temperature below its saturation temperature. The solid hollow fiber
crystallizer may be combined with a mixing device, such as a completely
stirred tank or static mixer, to further effectuate crystallization. The
solid hollow fiber crystallizer may be operated in a number of modes
including feed recycle mode, once through mode, SHFC-in-line static mixer
in series mode, and SHFC-CST in series mode. The advantages of solid
hollow fiber cooling crystallization in comparison to conventional
crystallization processes include improved temperature control between
crystallizing solution and coolant, higher nucleation rates, improved
control of crystal size and crystal size distribution, smaller crystal
size, capability for decoupling crystal nucleation and crystal growth,
decreased fouling of process equipment, and improved process scale-up.