An integral model for determining the temperature-dependent interfacial energy and pre-exponential factor during the metastable zone width cooling process.

• An integral model was developed to determine the nucleation parameters. • A temperature-dependent function of interfacial energy was proposed. • A temperature-dependent pre-exponential factor inversely proportional to the solution viscosity was adopted. • The metastable zone width data of phenacetin in ethanol were analyzed. By incorporating a temperature-dependent function of interfacial energy and a temperature-dependent pre-exponential factor inversely proportional to the solution viscosity, an integral model was developed according to classical nucleation theory to retrieve the nucleation parameters from the metastable zone width (MSZW) data. The developed model was applied to determine the temperature-dependent interfacial energy and pre-exponential factor during the cooling process from the MSZW data for phenacetin in ethanol experimentally measured in this work. For comparison, the interfacial energy and pre-exponential factor for phenacetin in ethanol at various operating temperatures were determined from the induction time data based on the conventional method. The results indicated that the temperature-dependent interfacial energy and pre-exponential factor for phenacetin in ethanol obtained from the MSZW data based on the developed model were consistent with those obtained from the induction time data based on the conventional method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]