The effect of lid driven convective flows on lateral solute segregation in the vicinity of a crucible wall is studied in an idealized 2D melt crystal growth configuration. An order of magnitude analysis of the transport equation is performed, with the objective of identifying scaling laws between the relevant physical parameters of the problem. Numerical simulations are also carried out using the commercial software Fluent. Control variables, apart from the species molecular diffusion coefficient, are the lid and solidification velocities. The simulation results are in fair agreement with the predictions of the theoretical approach. Overall, the data show that very strong convective levels are necessary to keep lateral segregation within reasonable limits. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.