Crystal Nucleation Kinetics from Induction Times and Metastable Zone Widths

We compare two recently developed methods to determine crystal nucleation rates in stirred solutions by using isonicotinamide (INA) in ethanol as an example. The two developed methods make use of the stochastic nature of crystal nucleation, which is reflected in induction time and metastable zone width variations measured in sufficiently small volumes. These methods give easy experimental access to the nucleation rate parameters in solution under industrially realistic crystallization conditions. While the metastable zone width method is less labor intensive, the induction time method has higher accuracy and is easier to analyze.