Influence of retinyl palmitate on nucleation and growth kinetics in batch sugarcane crystallization

The influence of retinyl palmitate (RP) on nucleation and growth kinetics, in the sugarcane fortification process, is analyzed. Batch cooling crystallization experiments using natural and linear profiles were carried out adding different amounts of RP. At each experiment, sugar concentration, crystal mass and crystal size distribution were measured as a function of time. Nucleation and growth rates were determined experimentally and kinetic parameters were determined using power-law type relations. At the end of each experiment, crystals were observed in microscope and morphological changes were analyzed. The results showed that the presence of RP in the fortification process of sugar generated a decrease in both nucleation and growth rates. The decrement was bigger when the initial concentration of RP increased. Moreover, it was observed that fortified crystals suffer morphological changes into their habit.

Keywords: Crystal morphology, kinetics parameters, modelling, nucleation and growth rates, shape factors.