EVAPORATION
• Used to produce thick liquor by
evaporating excessive amount of
solvent (generally water)
• Here the amount of water is very
much high as compared to the drying.
• The solvent is removed by
converting it to vapour by
applying heat.
• Generally performed by making the liquor to flow
through set of narrow pipes being heated by steam
flowing over through them.
• Some times the vapour is discarded some other
time it is used as heating medium in the next
evaporator (also called effect)
Evaporators
Typical evaporator applications:
• Product concentration
• Dryer feed pre-concentration
• Volume reduction
• Water / solvent recovery
• Crystallization
Types of evaporators.
1. Falling Film Evaporators
2. Rising Film Evaporators
3. Forced Circulation Evaporators
4. Plate Evaporators
5. Thermal and Mechanical Vapor Recompression (TVR
& MVR
Falling Film Evaporator
In falling film evaporators, liquid and vapors
flow downwards in parallel flow.
The liquid to be concentrated is preheated to
boiling temperature.
An even thin film enters the heating tubes via
a distribution device in the head of the
evaporator, flows downward at boiling
temperature, and is partially evaporated.
This gravity-induced downward movement is increasingly
augmented by the co-current vapor flow.
Falling film evaporators can be operated with very low
temperature differences between the heating media and
the boiling liquid, and they also have very short product
contact times, typically just a few seconds per pass.
These characteristics make the falling film evaporator
particularly suitable for heat-sensitive products, and it is
today the most frequently used type of evaporator.
Falling Film Evaporator
Falling film evaporators are highly responsive to
alterations of parameters such as energy supply;
vacuum, feed rate, concentrations, etc.
When equipped with a well-designed automatic
control system they can produce a very consistent
concentrated product.
The fact that falling film evaporators can be
operated with small temperature differences
makes it possible to use them in multiple effect
configurations or with mechanical vapor
compression systems in modern plants with very
low energy consumption
Rising Film Evaporators
These operate on a "thermo-siphon" principle.
Feed enters the bottom of the heating tubes and as it
heats, steam begins to form.
The ascending force of this steam produced during
the boiling causes liquid and vapors to flow upwards
in parallel flow.
At the same time the production of vapor increases
and the product is pressed as a thin film on the walls
of the tubes, and the liquid rises upwards.
This co-current upward movement has the beneficial
effect of creating a high degree of turbulence in the
liquid.
This is advantageous during evaporation of highly
viscous products and products that have a tendency
to foul the heating surfaces.
Usually there must be a rather high temperature
difference between the heating and boiling sides
of this type of evaporator.
Otherwise the energy of the vapor flow is not
sufficient to convey the liquid and to produce the
rising film.
The length of the boiling tubes will typically not
exceed 23 ft.
This type of evaporator is often used with product
recirculation, where some of the formed
concentrate is reintroduced back to the feed inlet
in order to produce sufficient liquid loading inside
the boiling tubes.
Forced Circulation Evaporator
Forced circulation evaporators are used if boiling of
the product on the heating surfaces is to be avoided
due to the fouling characteristics of the product, or
to avoid crystallization.
The flow velocity in the tubes must be high, and
high-capacity pumps are required.
The circulating liquid is heated when it flows
through the heat exchanger and then partially
evaporated when the pressure is reduced in the
separator, cooling the liquid to the boiling
temperature corresponding to this pressure.
The liquid is typically heated only a few degrees for
each pass through the heat exchanger, which means
the recirculation flow rate has to be high.
This type of evaporator is also used in crystallizing
applications because no evaporation, and therefore
no concentration increase, takes place on the heat
transfer surface.
Evaporation occurs as the liquid is flash evaporated in
the separator/flash vessel. In crystallizer applications
this is then where the crystals form, and special
separator designs are used to separate crystals from
the recirculated crystal slurry.
The heat exchanger (in evaporator parlance
sometimes called the "calandria") can be arranged
either horizontally or vertically depending on the
specific requirements in each case.
Forced Circulation Evaporation
