The influence of malic acid, which acts as an impurity on the cooling crystallization of zinc lactate is investigated in this paper by monitoring the relative supersaturation and the number of crystals during crystallization. The presence of malic acid increases the solution solubility and makes the metastable zone wider; it also changes the habit of the crystal. The purity of the final products is shown to be influenced by the amount and size of seed crystals, cooling rate, seeding temperature and final temperature, but appears to depend mainly on the particle size and level of supersaturation. Residual supersaturation thresholds are observed that depend on the final temperature. A model is proposed to predict the steady-state supersaturation value from the final temperature at a given impurity concentration. This model is based on Kubota and Gibbs equations. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.