Controlled precipitation

In a process of precipitation, two or more reactants form a product. In many cases, the solubility of this product is very low and high supersaturation is generated which leads to nucleation and crystal growth. The number of the formed nuclei and their growth govern the particle size distribution of the precipitate. As a rule, the precipitate is separated from the mother liquor in a centrifuge or on a filter. This separation and the subsequent drying process of very fine particles can be very expensive with respect to investment and energy costs. Therefore, it is desirable to produce as coarse a precipitate as possible with a narrow crystal size distribution.