EVAPORATORS

ADB Energy Efficiency Support Project

The Government of India and the Government of Netherlands have jointly launched a project entitled Energy Efficiency Support Project (EESP) to promote and accelerate the energy and environmental activities pertaining to the Indian industry. The project is sponsored by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ICICI Ltd. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), an apex industrial association, is one of the executing agency for the project and is responsible for carrying out promotional activities with the support of Energy Management Centre (EMC) and Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI). Under this promotional activity, CII will publish energy bulletins periodically and circulate among the industry. This bulletin will cover the energy conservation aspects in evaporators, specific to the sugar industry.

Energy Bulletin on

Classification of evaporators Short tube vertical evaporators

These are natural circulation evaporators and are commonly referred to as calandria or standard evaporators. These consist of short tubes, 4 - 6 ft long and 2 - 4" diamater, set between two horizontal tubesheets, arranged within the evaporator body. The tube bundle contains a large circular downcomer, which returns the concentrated juice from above the top tubesheet, to below the bottom tubesheet, for final product withdrawal. The driving force for flow of juice through the tubes is the difference in density between the liquid in the downcomer and the two-phase mixture in the tubes.

Introduction
Evaporation is the process of removal of volatile solvent by vaporization, from an aqueous solution consisting of non-volatile solute. In majority of the cases of evaporation, the solvent is water. Evaporation plays a major role in the manufacture of a variety of products in chemical process industries, including food processing, pulp & paper, pharmaceuticals, fertilisers etc. However, this bulletin will focus only on the evaporator applications in the sugar (food processing) industry. Of the various types of evaporators available, the most commonly used type of evaporator in a sugar industry, for the concentration of treated juice, are the short tube vertical evaporators. Short tube vertical evaporator Advantages These evaporators can be used even with liquids that have a tendency to scale, since evaporation takes place inside the tubes, which are accessible for cleaning, fairly high heat transfer coefficients are obtained with thin liquors (i.e., dilute solutions of 1-5 cP) and they are relatively inexpensive, provided that they are made of carbon steel or cast iron.

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Disadvantages A large heating area is required, since the units are broad, heat transfer coefficients are sensitive to the temperature difference and liquor viscosity, due to the large liquid hold-up, these evaporators cannot be used with heat sensitive materials and such evaporators are unsuitable for crystalline products, unless agitation is provided to produce forced circulation. Industrial applications : These short tube vertical evaporators are suitable for non-corrosive, clear and non-crystallising liquors, such as sugarcane juice.

Rising film evaporators

The rising film evaporators are more commonly referred in the sugar industry parlance as Kestner type evaporator. Steam condenses on the outside surfaces of vertical tubes. The liquid inside the tubes is brought to a boil, with the vapour generated occupying the core of the tube. As the fluid moves up the tube, more vapour is formed, resulting in a high core velocity. This forces the remaining liquid to the tube wall. This leads to a thinner and more rapidly moving liquid film. As the film moves more rapidly, heat transfer coefficients increase and residence time drops. Advantages Since feed enters at the bottom, the feed liquor is distributed evenly to all tubes, as a large heat transfer area can be packed into a given body, they occupy less floor space and heat transfer coefficients are high and are especially suited for foaming or frothing liquors. Disadvantages Heat transfer is difficult to predict, the hydrostatic head requirement may create a problem with heat sensitive products, pressure drop is higher than for falling film types and there is a tendency to scale. Rising film evaporator Industrial applications : Major applications include concentration of black liquor in paper plants, concentrating nitrates, spin-bath liquors, electrolytic tinning liquors etc.

Falling film evaporators

In this type, the feed liquor is introduced at the top tube sheet and flows down the tube wall as a thin film. Since the film moves by gravity, a thinner and faster moving film forms. This results in higher heat transfer coefficients and reduced contact times. In a typical sugar industry evaporator, the average contact time between juice and steam is about 30 seconds, as against 3 minutes in the Kestner type evaporator and 6 - 8 minutes in the conventional short tube vertical evaporators. This offers an excellent opportunity for using high temperature and pressure steam, as the risk of caramelization of syrup is avoided/ reduced. Hence, 1.5 kg/cm2 steam at a temperature of 120 C can be used in the I- effect of the evaporator.

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material to be evaporated flows inside the tubes. Usually, the steam is at a low pressure and the boiling liquid is under moderate vacuum. Reducing the boiling temperature of the liquid, increases the temperature difference between the steam and the boiling liquid, thereby increasing the heat transfer rate. Single effect evaporators : Evaporation by heating with steam in a single vessel is called evaporation in a single effect. They are used when the required capacity is small, steam is cheap and are operated in batch, semi-batch or continuous modes. This method of operation is rarely used, since it requires that the body be large enough to hold the entire charge of feed. Falling film evaporator Advantages Heat transfer coefficients are high, there is no elevation in boiling point, due to the absence of hydrostatic pressure, satisfactory operation at low temperature driving forces, concentration of heat sensitive products can be achieved, due to the very short contact time of about 30 seconds, temperature driving force is not limiting and a broader range of applications is possible and vapour bubble obstruction is avoided, as the vapour is entrained with the juice filling the interior of the tube. Disadvantages Heat transfer is difficult to predict, there is a tendency to scale at higher concentrations and uniform feed distribution is a major problem Industrial applications : These evaporators are Multiple effect evaporators : If the vapour from the first evaporator is taken for heating in a second evaporator, we have a double effect. The heat in the original steam is reused in the second effect. The evaporation achieved by a unit mass of steam fed to the first effect is approximately doubled. Additional effects can be added in the same manner. Thus, with three vessels, we have a triple effect and so on like a quadruple, quintuple or a sextuple effect. There are thus as many evaporator vessels as the effects. The most common evaporators encountered in practise are the triple, quadruple and quintuple effects.

Steam economy
Evaporator performance is rated on the basis of steam economy. Steam economy is defined as the kilograms of the solvent evaporated per kilogram of steam used. The greatest increase in steam economy is achieved in a multiple effect evaporator, by using the vapour from one effect as the heating medium for the next effect, in which boiling takes place at a lower temperature and pressure. The steam economy of a multiple effect evaporator will increase in proportion to the number of effects.

finding increasing use in the sugar industry. In addition, they are used for concentration of urea, phosphoric acid in fertiliser industries and black liquor in paper industries. They are used, especially, for applications handling foaming or frothing liquors.

Evaporator arrangements
Most evaporators are heated by steam condensing on the outer surface of tubes and nearly always the

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Evaporator performance
The evaporator is the major steam consumer in a sugar plant. The evaporator concentrates the juice from a level of 14 16 Brix to a level of 60 65 Brix. The exhaust steam is used for this purpose as it offers the leas steam consumption. Steam economies of 3 to 5 can be achieved, depending on the number of effects. Several types of evaporators are used in the sugar industry. The commonly used are the quadruple and quintuple effect evaporators. Typically, the steam enters the first effect at a pressure 1.1 kg/ cm2 and a temperature of 105oC. The vacuum in the last effect is maintained around 650 mm Hg. The installation of a falling film evaporator (FFE) can be considered for the first three effects of a multiple effect evaporator system. FFE cannot be used for the IV- effect and V- effects, as the possibility of thick and sticky scale formation is high with thickened sulphited juice. This type of configuration has possibilities for extensive vapour bleeding, with only marginal vapour going to the condenser. The vapour bleeding can be as shown below:
PANS 22 TPH SJH 7 TPH 31 TPH 9 TPH RJH 7 TPH 2 TPH 2 TPH 2 TPH

Such a configuration will offer the maximum steam savings in the evaporator system (up to 36% reduction can be achieved). Another very important aspect, which needs to be taken care of in an evaporator, is the effective utilisation of the area available in the evaporator. It is recommended to raise the clear juice temperature, very close to the boiling point, at the pressure prevailing in the first effect. The heating can be done by use of exhaust steam in a platetype heat exchanger. Condensate recovery The recovery of the condensate from the evaporator section is very important, for attaining higher levels of thermal efficiency of the system. Generally, among the Indian sugar plants, the exhaust condensate is directly taken to the boiler house and reused as boiler feed water. On the other hand, the later effect condensate (vapourcondensate) is utilised as hot water for imbibition, cleaning, centrifuge washing etc.).

Conclusion
Evaporator is a major steam consuming equipment in a sugar industry. The evaporator performance has a direct bearing on the steam consumption of the sugar plant. The installation of falling film evaporators for the first few effects, combined with the practice

EVPR 38 TPH

FFE I 120C

FFE II III IV V

of extensive vapor bleeding, can result in major reduction of steam consumption.

CJH 3 TPH

Condensate 38 TPH

31 TPH

9 TPH

2 TPH 2 TPH Total Condensate - 82 TPH (78%)

For further details, please contact :

DS Water 4 TPH

To miscellaneous - 3 TPH

Losses - 1 TPH

Clear Juice Syrup Evaporation Cane Steam

Conditions - 105 TPH, 14 Brix - 23 TPH, 64 Brix - 82 TPH (78%) - 100 PH - 40% on Cane

Confederation of Indian Industry

Energy Management Cell
#35/1 Abhiramapuram 3rd Street, Alwarpet, Chennai 600 018 Tel: 4661311/0570/0430(D) Fax: 4660312 Email: emc.south@ciionline.org/gbc@ciionline.org

Exh + Live 40 TPH

A typical multiple effect evaporator system for 2400 TCD Sugar Plant

Issue Sponsored By:

ICICI LTD.

Asian Development Bank

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