Experimental and Mathematical Modeling on Falling Film Crystallizer with Baffles

This paper proposes a novel falling film crystallizer equipped with sieve baffles. Unlike traditional smooth cylindrical tubes, its crystallization unit is replaced with rectangular tubes containing perforated metal plates. This new design prevents crystals from detaching from the tube walls and enhances mass transfer during the crystallization process. A mathematical model for heat and mass transfer in the crystallization unit, along with a corresponding numerical solution, was developed, considering the baffle structure and the amount of crystal formation on the plates. A series of experiments were conducted under different feed and coolant conditions to validate the proposed model, showing good agreement between predicted and experimental results. Additionally, the effects of operation time, coolant inlet temperature, coolant mass flow rate, and the number of baffles on the economic benefits of an industrial-scale crystallizer were investigated.