Analysis of the interplay between agitation-induced damage and crystal growth in suspension crystallization by means of three-dimensional shape analysis

结晶是精细化学品、食品和活性药物成分的产品配制和纯化的常用单元操作。晶体的形状是一个重要的工艺参数，也是结晶产品的质量标准。例如，晶体的形状对结晶活性药物成分的生物利用度或催化剂的活性具有决定性影响。在生产过程中，晶体的形状也会影响结晶过程本身和后续工艺步骤，如洗涤、干燥或离心。用于晶体形状分析的现有技术方法使用2D成像技术。使用这种方法，可以很好地估计晶体的尺寸。然而，它们确定晶体的3D形状的能力固有地受到限制。当要表征复杂形状时，例如由破碎、磨损或团聚引起的形状时，情况尤其如此。在以前的工作中，我们开发的方法来描述在3D中的单晶和团聚晶体的形状。除团聚外，破碎和磨损是结晶过程中发生的两种非常常见的现象。在本项目中，方法将扩展到也包括受损晶体的形状（破碎和磨损）。然后，这些方法将被用来研究破碎和磨损对晶体生长过程中晶体形状发展的影响。所获得的知识将用于模拟结晶过程中的晶体形状，同时考虑晶体生长，破碎和磨损。

Crystallization is a frequently used unit operation for product formulation and purification of fine chemicals, food and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The shape of crystals is an important process parameter and also a quality criterion of the crystalline product. For example, the shape of crystals has a decisive influence on the bioavailability of crystalline active pharmaceutical ingredient or on the activity of catalysts. During the manufacturing process, the shape of the crystals also influences the crystallization process itself and subsequent process steps such as washing, drying, or centrifugation. State of the art methods for crystal shape analysis use 2D imaging techniques. Using such methods, the size of crystals can be well estimated. However, their ability to determine the 3D shape of crystals is inherently limited. This is especially the case when complex shapes, such as those caused by breakage, attrition, or agglomeration, are to be characterized. In previous work we developed methods to describe the shape of single and agglomerated crystals in 3D. Besides agglomeration, breakage and attrition are two very common phenomena occurring during crystallization. In the present project, methods will be extended to also cover the shape of damaged crystals (breakage and attrition). These methods will then be used to investigate the influence of breakage and attrition on the development of the shape of crystals through crystal growth. The knowledge gained will be used to model the shape of crystals in a crystallization process taking into account crystal growth, breakage and attrition.