Impact of Ultrasound Amplitude on Crystallization of Borax Decahydrate in a Stirred‐Batch Crystallizer

Abstract

The influence of ultrasound amplitude on nucleation kinetics and properties of the final product of borax decahydrate was investigated. Mechanical mixing in a stirred‐batch crystallizer was performed by a straight‐blade turbine (SBT) to ensure a complete suspension of crystals. The obtained results indicated that continuous sonication affects nucleation kinetics, but also the properties of the final product. An increase of the ultrasound amplitude decreases the metastable zone width which ultimately reflects on the final crystal size. Even though the mean crystal size was larger in the non‐sonicated system, it seems that the application of ultrasound shifts the crystal size distribution from bimodal to monomodal. But the shift comes at the cost of a substantial increase in power consumption.