Separation and Purification Technology, Vol.220, 33-41, 2019
Investigations into ice scaling during eutectic freeze crystallization of brine streams at low scraper speeds and high supersaturation
Eutectic Freeze Crystallization (EFC) is a potentially cost-effective method to treat reverse osmosis (RO) brines, through the simultaneous crystallization of ice and salt. A major operational challenge, limiting the implementation of EFC in industry, is the formation of an ice scale layer on heat exchanger surfaces. This research determined the influence of the heat transfer driving force, hydrodynamics and brine composition on the severity of ice scaling during continuous EFC of a Na2SO4-H2O system. Experiments were conducted in a hybrid crystallizer-separator with a scraped 2 L crystallization zone. The research focussed on high heat transfer driving forces and slow scraping rates. A unique induction time for scale formation was observed for each set of process conditions. The induction time increased with the increase in scraper speed and decreased as the heat transfer driving force increased. The increase in induction time at higher rotational Reynolds number was attributed to faster distribution of supersaturation, as the flow regime became more turbulent, and more efficient scraping of ice off the wall. The scaling potential decreased as the magma density increased until a certain threshold was reached where it increased again due to the solids impeding effective mixing and heat transfer. Scaling tendencies were reduced during crystallization of multi-component brine streams as compared to binary streams.