Crystallization is one of the most common separation techniques in chemical industry. Nonetheless, the nucleation step in the crystallization process is little understood. This makes it difficult to gain control over the crystallization process and more specifically crystal prope
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Crystallization is one of the most common separation techniques in chemical industry. Nonetheless, the nucleation step in the crystallization process is little understood. This makes it difficult to gain control over the crystallization process and more specifically crystal properties. Nucleation mechanics is therefore studied thoroughly. Non-Photochemical LaserInduced Nucleation has shown to be a promising technique for getting a hold on nucleation and with that crystal properties such as crystal shape, size and morphology. Althoug Non-photochemical Laser-Induced Nucleation is promising, its mechanism has not yet been uncovered and thus requires subsequent research. This research can be very intensive as it commonly requires the study of a lot of samples. Microfluidics can drastically reduce the amount of work for conducting experiments, since it allows for multiple samples, independent droplets, to be studied in a short time. In this study, a previously designed microfluidic setup is used to study two aspects of Non-Photochemical Laser-Induced Nucleation. First, the influence of time on the nucleation process is investigated by increasing the droplet pathway in an improved version of the microfluidic setup, via a longer capillary and a FEP tube coil. Second, the nanoparticle heating mechanism is explored by filtration of a supersaturated KCl solution and doping of a filtered supersaturated solution with iron oxide nanoparticles. Control cooling and laser irradiation experiments are conducted with these solutions to study the effect of nanoparticles on Non-Photochemical Laser-Induced Nucleation. Results show that increasing the droplet pathway is not that simple because of a coating issue of the capillary that can possibly be solved by trial and error and the formation of dead zones and back flow in the FEP tube coil. The effect of time on the nucleation probability in Non-Photochemical Laser-Induced Nucleation has therefore not been studied up to a satisfying result. Removal of nanoimpurities from a supersaturated KCl soltuion upon filtration gives a significantly lower nucleation probability compared to an unfiltered solution. Addition of iron oxide nanoparticles on the other hand increases the nucleation probability to 100%. These results highly support the nanoparticle heating model.