Vertical continuous cooling crystallizers (VCCC) are commonly used in the sugar industry for
the economically important final recovery of sucrose from the mother liquor present in the
massecuite obtained at the end of the vacuum evaporative crystallization stages. In this work,
a steady-state one-dimensional distributed model is formulated to simulate well-designed VCCC
in which the massecuite follows approximately an ideal plug-flow pattern. The model consists
of seven ordinary differential equations comprising mass, energy, and crystal population balances.
The model describes the changes (along the crystallizer height) of the massecuite weight fraction
of crystals, mother liquor dry substance content, mother liquor purity, crystal average size, crystal
size coefficient of variation, massecuite temperature, and cooling water temperature. Simulation
of the model yields a very accurate description of the reported performance of a VCCC [with
vertically oscillating horizontal cooling coils (OVCC system)] from a beet sugar factory in
Germany.