Controlling the Size of Taurine Crystals in the Cooling Crystallization Process

Abstract

Taurine crystals (TC) with high fluidity, anticaking, and antisticking properties are commercially required by manufacturers. Crystal size and shape are two main factors controlling these properties. This study investigated the size and shape of TCs produced by a cooling crystallization processing. The addition of activated carbon to decolor the product exhibited negligible effects on the size of TCs. Increasing the crystallization temperature resulted in the formation of small-size crystals, whereas TC size decreased as the stirring rate increased. A careful control of post high-speed stirring aging in a slowly stirred system enabled the preparation of larger crystals. The estimation of optimal crystallization time is crucial as lengthening the crystallization time might not effectively increase the overall size of the crystals. It was found that the shape of the TC was not affected by various operating conditions, delineating a similar inherent molecular arrangement of taurine molecules under the range of operating conditions tested. These findings contribute to the understanding of controlling properties of TCs for industrial manufacturing via the cooling crystallization method.