A process for the crystallisation of a water-soluble compound is disclosed. The process comprises (a) providing, in a crystallisation vessel, a solution of the water-soluble compound in a mixture of water and a solvent in which the water-soluble compound has a lower solubility than in water; (b) passing vapor phase of the mixture through a sorption zone containing a water vapor sorbent to selectively adsorb water from the vapor phase; (c) recycling a part of the vapor phase to the crystallisation vessel or withdrawing vapor phase depleted in water from the process and adding solvent to the crystallisation vessel; (d) allowing solid crystals of the water-soluble compound to precipitate from the solution; and (e) discharging precipitated solid crystals of the water-soluble compound from the crystallisation vessel and discharging a solution of non-crystallised water-soluble compound in water-solvent mixture from the crystallisation vessel.

The invention relates to a continuous method for obtaining a crystalline monosaccharide, comprising: continuous crystallization of the monosaccharide in a main crystallizer (10), wherein crystallization by evaporation and/or crystallization by cooling is carried out continuously on a crystal suspension in the main crystallizer in order to allow crystals of the monosaccharide to grow in the crystal suspension; separation of crystals of the monosaccharide out of the crystal suspension to obtain crystalline monosaccharide; continuous formation of a mass of crystallization magma for the main crystallizer (10) in a cascade, wherein the cascade comprises at least one first stage (13) and a final stage (15) connected in series and each stage comprises at least one pre-crystallizer (13A, 15A), wherein, in the at least one pre-crystallizer (13A) of the first stage (13), a solution is seeded with monosaccharide by means of monosaccharide seed crystals in order to obtain a pre-crystallization magma, and a mass of crystallization magma for the downstream stage (14, 15) is formed from the pre-crystallization magma by means of crystallization by cooling and/or crystallization by evaporation, and wherein a solution containing monosaccharide and a mass of crystallization magma from the upstream stage is supplied to the at least one pre-crystallizer (15A, 15B, 15C) of the final stage (15) to obtain a pre-crystallization magma, and in the at least one pre-crystallizer (15A, 15B, 15C) of the final stage (15) a mass of crystallization magma for the main crystallizer (10) is formed from the pre-crystallisation magma by means of crystallization by cooling and/or crystallization by evaporation; the continuous supply of a solution containing the monosaccharide and a mass of crystallization magma from the at least one pre-crystallizer (15A, 15B, 15C) of the final stage (15) of the cascade to the main crystallizer (10) to provide the crystal suspension.

A stacked continuous vacuum pan (SCVP) system and method may be provided wherein the SCVP includes at least three modules mounted on separate floors in a stacked formation. Each module includes a horizontal shell and a vertical calandria mounted along the horizontal shell. The calandria may be a honeycomb or swarm calandria. The SCVP system may operate as a single unit while allowing an individual module to be taken offline without disrupting use of the SCVP system.

The invention relates to a continuous method for obtaining a crystalline monosaccharide, comprising: continuous crystallization of the monosaccharide in a main crystallizer (10), wherein crystallization by evaporation and/or crystallization by cooling is carried out continuously on a crystal suspension in the main crystallizer in order to allow crystals of the monosaccharide to grow in the crystal suspension; separation of crystals of the monosaccharide out of the crystal suspension to obtain crystalline monosaccharide; continuous formation of a mass of crystallization magma for the main crystallizer (10) in a cascade, wherein the cascade comprises at least one first stage (13) and a final stage (15) connected in series and each stage comprises at least one pre-crystallizer (13A, 15A), wherein, in the at least one pre-crystallizer (13A) of the first stage (13), a solution is seeded with monosaccharide by means of monosaccharide seed crystals in order to obtain a pre-crystallization magma, and a mass of crystallization magma for the downstream stage (14, 15) is formed from the pre-crystallization magma by means of crystallization by cooling and/or crystallization by evaporation, and wherein a solution containing monosaccharide and a mass of crystallization magma from the upstream stage is supplied to the at least one pre-crystallizer (15A, 15B, 15C) of the final stage (15) to obtain a pre-crystallization magma, and in the at least one pre-crystallizer (15A, 15B, 15C) of the final stage (15) a mass of crystallization magma for the main crystallizer (10) is formed from the pre-crystallisation magma by means of crystallization by cooling and/or crystallization by evaporation; the continuous supply of a solution containing the monosaccharide and a mass of crystallization magma from the at least one pre-crystallizer (15A, 15B, 15C) of the final stage (15) of the cascade to the main crystallizer (10) to provide the crystal suspension.

A stacked continuous vacuum pan (SCVP) system and method may be provided wherein the SCVP includes at least three modules mounted on separate floors in a stacked formation. Each module includes a horizontal shell and a vertical calandria mounted along the horizontal shell. The calandria may be a honeycomb or swarm calandria. The SCVP system may operate as a single unit while allowing an individual module to be taken offline without disrupting use of the SCVP system.

The invention relates to a cooling crystallizer (2.0) for saccharose magma in a vertically oriented container (2.1) which has an upper inlet (2.2) for supplying magma and a lower outlet (2.3) for discharging magma, comprising multiple cooling blocks (5.0) which are mutually spaced in a vertical direction. A heat carrier fluid flows through the cooling blocks (5.0), and the cooling blocks are coupled to a heat exchanger in order to dissipate heat from the magma, wherein multiple cooling blocks (5.0) are combined to form a cooling packet (5.1; 5.2), and the cooling packets (5.1; 5.2) are designed as separate cooling circuits with separate heat exchangers (2.1.2; 2.2.2).