| This work is concerned with using solid-fluid equilibrium in separations by crystallization, as well as providing some fundamental understanding of intermolecular forces in solid-fluid equilibrium. The goal is to develop systematic procedures for crystallization-based separations of complex molecules such as chiral molecules and ampholytes, while providing a link between the molecular scale and the plant scale through the use of solid-fluid equilibrium phase diagrams. Major aspects of this project include synthesis of chiral crystallization processes, crystallization of amino acids and ampholytes, crystallization of enantiomers and polymorphs accounting for kinetics and mass transfer effects, and molecular models of solid-fluid equilibrium of single components and mixtures. Process systems engineering for crystallization of these molecules is facilitated by the use of solid-fluid equilibrium phase diagrams. Some of the complexities in the phase diagrams of these molecules, such as polymorphism and compound formation, are related to the phase diagrams of simple molecular models of aromatic hydrocarbons. |
