The crystal morphology and growth rates of triclinic N-docosane crystallising from N-dodecane solutions

Abstract A detailed analysis of the crystal morphology of triclinic n-docosane (C 22 H 46 ) is presented together with a preliminary assessment of the supersaturation-dependence of the growth rates for the predicted ( h k l ) faces. A methodology to index the experimentally observed crystal faces, based on a combined BFDH and zone axis methodology is defined. Analysis using this methodology yields the morphological indexation of n-docosane to be (001), (112), (102), (010), and (1−33) or (130) based on the expected triclinic crystal structure. Crystals of n-docosane growing from supersaturated n-dodecane (C 12 H 26 ) solutions, as studied using in-situ optical microscopy, at three different supersaturation ( σ ) levels 0.01, 0.02 and 0.05, reveal that the crystal morphology changes with increasing in supersaturation, evolving from a habit consistent with a triclinic crystal system to a habit that is perhaps more representative of an orthorhombic structure. Growth rates determined for the (112) and (102) faces as well as for those less dominant faces range between 0.51 and 9.85 µm/s, in good agreement with previously reported data for other organic molecules including n-alkanes.