Wiegand: Falling-flm Evaporators and their Applications in the Food Industry
Falling-filrn Evaporators and their Applications
in the Food Industry*
by J. Wiegand
Wiegund Karlsriihe C.M.B.H.,Ettlingen, F.D.R.
(Manuscript received 20 July, 1971)
A general sitrvey is giveir of the history OIJthe falliitg-$li?i evaporator alitl its rises iir the food iiirlttstry.
Ati explanation of the reasoils ,fiir its proditctiori is given ard is ,followed by cletails of operation arid an
examination advantages am1 rlisaclvantages met itr its rise. Examples of specific desigir-types are
discussed arid illustrated.
THE principle of the falling-film evaporator was discovered at
the beginning of this century, but remained ignored for a long
time. Only in the course of the last 15 years have falling-film
evaporators become increasingly important in the chemical
and food industries. In many spheres falling-film evapora-
tors have almost entirely displaced the traditional type of
evaporators and this is particularly true in the case of the
dairy industry.
The reason for this sudden and surprising development
lies in the fact that by means of the falling-film principle it
was possible to build evaporators better suited to modern
requirements.
What are these modern requirements? Generally speaking,
there is a tendency for industry to concentrate: such con-
centration being practical for reasons of economy. A few
large works will take the place of many small ones. In these
modern, large works one wishes, if possible, to have only
one single plant for the whole range of production, because
modern technique makes available so many means of im-
proving every type of production that it would be uneco-
nomical to equip several plants with all these technical aids.
It is clear that the need for absolute reliability is much
greater where only one single large plant is available than
where the production is divided over several smaller plants
operating in parallel. There exists therefore a demand for
very large and absolutely reliable machines, apparatuses and
installations of every type and description.
I t is necessary to manufacture products on such equipment
of high, uniform quality, without production losses. Further-
more it is essential to have continuous production, with as
few interruptions as possible and with a minimum use of
i
x
Product
Heated steam
Heated body
Condensation and
ventilation
Separator
Concentrate
t difference between the heating and boiling chambers. The
Fig. 1. Sketch of a Wiegandfalling-film evaporator
*Presented at a symposium on 'The evaporation of heat sensitive foodstuff liquids' organised by the Food Engineering Panel of the Society
of Chemical Industry and held at the Zoological Society of London in January 1971.
J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1971, Vol. 21, December
35 1
manual labour. These requirements exist everywhere in the
modern world and therefore also in the food industry.
Let us now consider the falling-film evaporator in order
to see how far it is able to satisfy the requirements men-
tioned!
Figure 1 shows a schematic drawing of the falling-film
evaporating body normally in use. It consists of a steam
heated vertical bundle of tubes, a device for\ the even distri-
bution of the liquid over the tubes and a separator to divide
the evaporated liquid from the vapours produced. The liquid
flows down the inside wall of the heating tubes in form of a
thin film under the influence of the force of gravity as well as
under the influence of the descending vapours. Falling-film
evaporators are therefore thin-film evaporators operating in
parallel flow. The liquid content of such an evaporator is
extraordinarily small, operation is continuous and normally
arranged in a single pass, so that the residence time of the
product in the evaporator is very short.
On account of the short residence time, the falling-film
evaporator caters for a very sensitive evaporation. Further-
more, the small liquid content avoids foaming problems and
losses through this are avoided. In contrast with other
tubular evaporators, no mechanical or thermal energy is
required to make the liquid flow over the heating surface.
The traditional circulating evaporators, for instance operate
with thermal energy, i.e. the temperature difference between
the heating and boiling temperatures must necessarily be of a
certain degree, because otherwise circulation stops and heat
transfer and evaporation then practically cease. With the
falling-film evaporator on the other hand, it is theoretically
possible to operate, however small the temperature difference.
Several advantages result from this on the processing side.
With very sensitive products, contact with a substantially
hotter heating surface may be damaging even if the boiling
temperature is kept low. Moreover, in certain circumstances
it is useful to be able to vary the throughput over a wide
range without disturbing the flow of the product through the
plant. In sugar refineries this is particularly the case. HOW-
ever, the decisive advantage of the small temperature differ-
ences is operating efficiency. The smaller the temperature
difference, the better the utilisation of the heat, that is to say,
the smaller the specific heat consumption of the evaporating
plant.
Two well-known methods are used to save heating steam
in evaporators : steam jet vapour 'recompressors, called
thermo-compressors for short, and multi-effect operation.
With the steam jet vapour recompressor, a small tempera-
ture difference implies that there is only a small pressure
smaller this pressure difference, the larger the quantity of
352 Wiegund: Fullirrg-jilm Eiqmrutors arid their Applicutiotis in the Food h h l s t r y

vapours that can be compressed into heating steam by the For bulk mass products like milk or sugar this is of para-
thermo-compressor with each pound of fresh steam. With mount importance. Four-stage falling-film evaporators with
temperature differences of 12 t o 15 d e g c one formerly thernio-recompression have steam consumption of less than
reckoned with a ratio of about 1 to 1, that is to say, with 1 Ib 20';/, of the quantity of water evaporated, or, expressed the
of fresh steam one could compress one pound of vapours and other way round, for each pound of fresh steam 5 Ib of water
in this way obtain a total of 2 Ib of heating steam. The result are evaporated. This low steam consumption means that the
was a specific steam consumption of 50% of the quantity of cooling water consumption is also corrcspondingly low.
water evaporated. Modern falling-film evaporators operate Cooling water is often scarce and expensive, therefore a low
with a temperature difference, for instance, of only about 8 cooling water consumption may be just as important as a low
deg c. Thereby a ratio of 1 to 2 is reached, 2 Ib of vapour are steam consumption, particularly where large capacities are
compressed with I Ib of fresh steam and a total of 3 Ib of involved.
heating steam is obtained. The specific steam consumption ?---I ,----I
I
is now reduced to 335%. I
I
With multi-effect operation, small temperature differences I
mean that a greater number of stages can be used within a I
given temperature range. The theoretical specific steam I
consumption is equal to the reciprocal value of the number I
of effects, it is therefore 100% with only one effect, 50% I
with two effects, 333% with three, 25% with four effects. In I
the food industry it is often necessary to avoid boiling tem- I
peratures above 60 to 70'c when dealing with sensitive I

products. On the other hand it is very costly to operate with I

I
boiling temperatures below 40"c. Lower temperatures not I
only result in a very great increase of the cooling water con- I
sumption, but also in a considerable increase of the measure- I
ments of the evaporator, for one reason because of the higher Product;
vacuum required and for another because of the higher
viscosity of the product with its lower heat transfer. Reckon-
ing therefore with a usable temperature range of, say, be-
--.-a I

tween 70 and ~ O ' C ,i.e. a range of 30 deg c and using within
this range four instead of only two effects, by reducing the
average temperature difference to 10 d e g c , then the theo-
retical specific steam consumption drops from 50 to 25%.
Fig. 2 . Skerdr of a tliree-blage ful/irrpfi/r~i evaporntirrg planr with
vapour coriipre.ssio/r
Wherever possible, vapour recompression and multi-
effect operation are used simultaneously, generally arranged

Fig. 3. Three-stage Wiegarirl fdlirig-filnz evaporatitlg stutiorl in a faclory processirig 8000 torrs of Dee/ silgar/ila.v (365 torrs
water evaporatioii/h)

J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1971, Vol. 21, December

 Wiegand: Falling-film Evaporators and their Applications in the Food Industry
as shown in Fig. 2 which illustrates a typical triple-effect
evaporating plant. In a plant of this type, a portion of the
vapours produced in the first stage is sucked in by the vapour
recompressor, mixed with the fresh steam and fed into the
heating chamber of the first stage, whilst the remainder of the
vapour heats the second stage. The vapour from the second
stage heats the third stage. Naturally, to make this possible,
the boiling temperature must drop from stage to stage. The
product to be evaporated is generally fed into the first stage
and withdrawn from the last stage in the form of the final
concentrate. However, depending on process requirements,
the product may pass through the evaporating bodies in any
other sequence.
Figures 1 and 2 reveal that the design and construction of a
falling-film evaporator is very simple. The evaporator has no
moving parts and only a few, simple gaskets. This not only
means a reliable operation, but is also advantageous from the
point of view of both hygiene and cleaning. The interior of
the evaporator is easily accessible, all that is necessary is to
open the two covers on the heating body in order to inspect
the distribution system and the heating tubes.
With the falling-film evaporator it is not only possible but
even advantageous to use tubes up to 8 m long (with diameters
between I$ and 2 in) and for this reason falling-film evapora-
tors of exceptionally large capacity can be built without
difficulties. An example of this is a falling-film evaporating
plant in a beet sugar factory (Fig. 3). Each one of the eva-
porating bodies has a heating surface of 1700mZ (= about
18,300 ft'). Every hour, 444 tons of sugar juice are evapora-
ted from 11*4 to 79" Brix, equalling a water evaporation of
365 tons/h. This output is far beyond any capacity found in
other fields of the food industry. This evaporator does not
work under vacuum, as is usual in the food industry, but
under pressure. Despite the fact that the boiling temperatures
are therefore above 1Oo"c and that all seven evaporating
bodies work in series, the process ensures the most careful
treatment of the liquor. The discoloration is less than with the
traditional Robert-evaporators. This evaporator operates in
three stages, the first and second stages have two bodies each,
whilst the third stage consists of three evaporating bodies.
The steam consumption is 39% of the quantity of water
evaporated, that is to say 142 tons/h.
It can therefore be seen that the falling-film evaporator
fully satisfies the demands of the food industry of today.
The possibility of large capacities, economical running, re-
liable operation, careful treatment of the product, continuous
operation, and the processing of as much as possible in single
pass are all fully satisfied, and hence the success of this
evaporator is easily explained. However, it should be men-
tioned that prerequisites to this success were the availability
of stainless steel, the special pumps, the modern control
techniques and the development of suitable devices for the
distribution of the liquid. All these requirements were far
from being available at the time when the falling-film eva-
porator was first invented. At that time it would therefore
hardly have been possible to use falling-film evaporators on a
large scale, but the abovementioned basic demands were, in
any case, not available.
In the following it shall be demonstrated what were the
deductions to be drawn from the principle of thin-film eva-
poration in connection with the design of falling-film eva-
porators, depending on the duty to be performed. To ex-
amine this in detail would take too long, therefore only two
of the most important aspects shall be considered: the eva-
poration ratio and the nature of the final concentrate in rela-
tion to its viscosity and solids content.
First, it is necessary to mention a basic condition for the
proper functioning of falling-film evaporators, a condition
valid generally, regardless of duty. It concerns the tempera-
ture at which the liquid to be evaporated enters into the
J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1971, Vol. 21, December
353
heating tubes of the falling-film evaporator. This feed tem-
perature must be nearly the same as, or little higher than the
boiling temperature in the evaporating body concerned. Only
if this condition is fulfilled, can the heating surface of the
evaporator be properly utilised. If it is not fulfilled, that is to
say if the temperature of the liquid is lower than the boiling
temperature, then no evaporation, but merely preheating
takes place in the top part of the heating tubes, and this
under very unfavourable conditions. The heat transfer is
relatively bad because the velocity of the falling film is lower
than in a special preheater, through which the liquid can be
pumped at high velocity. Moreover, the driving effect of the
vapours is absent. Too low a temperature in the upper part
of the evaporator may even result in vapours from the lower
parts of the tubes flowing upwards and condensing on the
cold liquid. Such a reversal of the vapour flow reduces the
efficiency of the evaporator under all circumstances. If the
vapour hunts up and down, momentarily holding up the
downward flow of the liquid in the tubes, chaos results!
A falling-film evaporator must therefore be provided with
a preheater, unless the liquid to be evaporated is fed in at
a temperature at least equal to the boiling temperature. As
far as possible, preheating should be effected by the vapours.
Preheaters simply consisting of a tubular coil, heated by the
vapours are particularly advantageous and favourable in
price. Contrary to apprehensions expressed initially, these
special coils have also proved to be successful in the food
industry. A particularly simple construction results building
these preheaters directly into the condensers and the heating
bodies of the evaporators, as shown in Fig. 4. Here we are
again dealing with a three-stage falling-film evaporator with
75%
Fig. 4. Sketch of a three-stage falling film evaporating plant with
pre-heating
thermo-recompression. Heating and boiling temperatures are
indicated. The liquid to be evaporated-in this case milk-is
pumped successively through a total of four preheaters and
heated, by stages, up to 75"c. This temperature is 5 deg c
higher than the boiling temperature in the f i s t stage, which is
70"c. This overheating is advantageous, because it ensures
that the liquid boils immediately it enters the heating tubes,
although the boiling temperature is a little higher at this point
than in the separator, due to the unavoidable pressure loss.
Even greater overheating is not harmful, on the contrary, it
may be desirable or even necessary. It brings into existence
a certain development of vapours by expansion, or even
before the liquid enters the heating tubes, so that the driving
effect of the vapour flow takes effect immediately and im-
proves the heat transfer.
Where the liquid flows through the evaporating plant in
order of the stages, as shown in Fig. 4, sufficient overheating
in all the stages following the first stage takes place in any
354 Wiegand: Fulling-filtir Eraporutors and their Applicuiiotis irr ttie Food Itithrsrry

event, because of the drop in the boiling temperature from liquid remains high despite the large size of the heating
stage to stage. Where the sequence of the flow is in a different surface. With increasing end-concentration the product
order, intermediate preheaters must be provided, becomes more viscous, this causes a greater heat transfer
The design of the preheaters is a relatively simple problem. resistance, so that it may also be necessary to operate with
To determine the correct heating surfaces of falling-film heating tubes arranged in series in the last stage.
evaporators, on the other hand, presents some difficulties. I t
is not merely a question of calculating the size of the heating
surface. In thin film evaporation, the geometry of the
heating surface plays a special role and must therefore be
taken into consideration.
Starting from the basic idea of thin film evaporation,
where a boiling liquid streams continuously over the heating
surface, it is first of all clear that the size of this surface, re-
quired for a predetermined evaporating output, is pro-
portionate to the temperature difference. However, if we
imagine this surface to be rectangle, then one and the same
size may have very different side measurements, broad and
short, o r long and narrow. The narrower the surface, the
greater the so-called 'liquid load' measured in gallons/h/in.
It is evident that this liquid load must never be too small, as
otherwise there is a danger of dry spots forming on the
heating surface, with consequent burning of the liquid and in-
crustations on the tubes. Moreover, higher liquid loads
result i n a better heat transfer from the heating surface to the
liquid to be evaporated. If very high concentrations are to be achieved, it is best
The decisive value for the heat transfer in thin film eva- to provide separate heating for the evaporating body through
porators is Reynold's number, which defines the state of which the product last flows (Fig, 6). Such a n evaporating
movement of the film a s the ratio between the forces of in- body is called a 'high concentrator'. High concentrators are
ertia and the forccs of viscosity. The heat transfer coefficient operated with great temperature differences, in order to ob-
increases with increasing Reynold's number and this all the tain a good output despite the high heat transfer resistance.
more if the movement of the film is turbulent. If with the Separate heating allows a very accurate automatic control
Reynold's number, the thickness of the film is introduced as of the final concentration.
the defining length, the result is that the Reynold's number is
proportionated to the liquid load. These relations explain c---.
the fact that higher liquid loads improve the heat transfer. -1
With falling-film evaporators the heating surface consists
of a number of tubes onto which the liquid to be evaporated
is evenly distributed. The sum of the tube circumferences
therefore represents the width of the heating surface, from
which the liquid load is calculated. The length of the tubes
represents of course, the length of the heating surface, in the
sense of the previously mentioned geometrical considerations.
In order to achieve a high liquid load, the number of tubes
must therefore be small and the length of the tubes must be
great. I i I
If it is desired to operate with smaller temperature differ-
ence, in order to save steam, the heating surface must be
correspondingly increased. But because it would be dis-
advantageous to reduce the liquid load, an increase in the
number of tubes cannot be considered. The solution of the Fig. 6 . Skeicli of a three-stahre cwporciiiti,q plmcit wiih high-coti-
problem lies in lengthening the heating surface over which cetiirciior
the liquid to beevaporated has to flow, that is to say in making
the tubes as long as possible or, in certain cases, in passing The design of the malt extract evaporator shown in Fig. 7
the liquid through several tubes in succession. This last- corresponds, in principle, to the previous illustration. A
mentioned possibility is very important where high evapora- final concentration of 8 3 % is obtained. The high final con-
tion ratios come into question (by evaporation ratio is centration and the high evaporation ratio demand a fully
meant the ratio between the feed quantity and the concentrate automgtic control.
quantity.) The higher the evaporation ratio, the greater is the The high concentrator operates with an effective tempera-
reduction of the liquid quantity, as it flows through the eva- ture difference of 34 deg c, with a water evaporation of 1750
porator. In the design of an evaporator one must keep in lb/h, equal t o 12% of the total water evaporation, is obtained
mind that at no point can the liquid load be allowed to despite the very high end-concentration. The steam con-
become too small. This requirement can also be catered for, sumption is only 34% of the quantity of water evaporated.
by arranging a number of heating tubes in succession. In other words, 1 Ib of steam evaporates nearly 3 Ib of water.
Figure 5 shows a three-stage evaporating plant: its first Even so, it is possible to concentrate a mixture of malt extract
stage has two evaporating bodies, much water can therefore and diastase malt extract, without damage to the diastatic
be evaporated with small temperature difference. Because strength. However, in this evaporation, the highly sensitive
of the small temperature difference, the thermo-recompressor diastase malt extract must not be exposed t o the boiling
operates with a low steam consumption. The length of the temperature of the first stage.
heating surface in the first stage is equal t o twice the tube This evaporator serves as a good example to show that
length, because there are two bodies, and therefore the with the falling-film evaporator it is possible to evaporate
J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1971, Vol. 21, December
 Wiegand: Falling-film Evaporators and their Applications in the Food Indirstr)'
large quantities of sensitive products most carefully and eco-
nomically to the highest concentration. Similarly, it is
possible to concentrate, for instance, glucose to the high
concentrations demanded by trade.
Fig. 7 . Tliree-stage Wiegaiid vaciiiim falliiig-$liii evaporating plaiit
with high cuiiceiitraturfor malt extract (6440kg water evaporatioiilli)
In the dairy industry, where a particularly large number of
falling-film evaporators are in use, very high final concentra-
tions and high evaporating ratios only occur in the evaporation
of whey. In this case too, the evaporation takes place in two
steps, that is to say in a multi-stage evaporator followed by a
separate high concentrator.
In the concentration of milk this is normally not required.
However, high fluid loads and a very long path of the milk
over the heating surface are two decisive factors if a low
steam consumption is to be obtained and the running time
20 h, demanded today, is to be guaranteed. Running time
means the length of time the evaporator is running between
two cleaning operations, the cleaning being effected entirely
by rinsing, without a n y manual labour. It is a fortunate
circumstance that the same factors that ensure a low steam
consumption simultaneously result in a particularly careful
treatment of the sensitive milk albumen.
Recognition of the significance of the liquid load and the
length of the path over the heating surface only came about
gradually. The first falling-film evaporators were two-stage
evaporators fitted with heating tubes only 3 to 4 m long. The
length of the path was therefore 6 to 8 m. With only this
J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1971, Vol. 21, December
355
length single-pass operation was impossible. Therefore the
second stage had to operate with recirculation of the con-
centrate, in order to achieve the necessary liquid load and the
concentration demanded. For the last few years, tubes 6 to 8
8 m long have therefore been used. With three- or four-stage
plants, in which up to 6 sets of tubes are arranged in series,
the length of the path over the heating surface reaches a total
length of 40 m or 131 ft and more.
If, in an evaporating stage, two tube bundles are to be
arranged in series, it is not necessary to provide each bundle
with its own separator, on the contrary, one common separa-
tor is sufficient, as long as the necessary guiding devices for
the liquid are provided. Finally, it is even possible to fit into
one coninion heating jacket groups of tubes arranged in
series.
Fig. 8. Fuirr-stage Wiegaiid vaciiiiiii fullitig-film evaporating plaiit
J ~ J Yinilk (14,400 k g water evaporatiuri/li)
Figure 8 shows a four-stage evaporating plant for milk with
five heating bodies, but only four separators. The milk flows
through the plant in the following sequence fourth, first,
second, third stages. In the third stage a relatively high final
concentration of 48 % solids is reached, therefore the heat
resistance is strongest in this stage, so that a relatively large
heating surface is required. On the other hand, the liquid
quantity is already considerably reduced. For this reason the
third stage has two heating bodies through which the milk
flows in succession, but only one common separator for both.
The specific heat consumption of this plant is only 19.5% of
the water evaporated, in other words, each pound of steam
evaporates more than 5 Ib of water!
Three- and four-stage falling-film evaporators, with all
their pumps, preheater and other accessories, demand a large
capital outlay which is only justified if large outputs are in-
volved, and where it is essential to reduce operating costs to a
minimum. Often it is possible to do without single-pass
operation in which case the geometry of the heating surface
plays a considerably reduced role, because the required
356 Wiegand: Falling-film Eraporators and their Applications in the Food Industrj-

liquid load can then be obtained by means of recirculation. of the fruit juices. The design of evaporators for the evapora-
Because of the very small liquid content of the evaporator, the tion of fruit juices varies greatly, depending on the type of
average residence time of the product still remains short, even juice to be concentrated and on the output required.
if some liquid particles are recirculated a little longer. The
elimination of single-pass operation results in a considerable
reduction in the cost of a plant because it is then possible t o
operate with shorter tubes and without the subdivision of the
heating surface over successive tube bundles.
The investment cost can still be further reduced if the
evaporating plant is built with two stages only (Fig. 9). In
this case, of course, the steam consumption rises and this is
usually only acceptable when the selling price of the product
is not unduly dependent on the cost of evaporation. Apart
from the question of cost, factors connected with the process
may force a limitation in the number of stages, for instance
the necessity of avoiding higher boiling temperatures.

Fig. 10. Tliree-stage Wiegaiitl vacriani falling-filni evaporating plant

with aronia recovery, tlesirlprilirisarioii and cotirerrtrate-c'o~~liri~~
tnr
grape juice antl orange juice (4600 kg water e~~aporatioti/li)

Figure 10 shows a relatively large and complicated plant

for the treatment of orange juice and grape juice. The plant
operates with three stages followed by a high concentrator
in which a concentration of 72" Brix is reached. The rectifica-
tion column for the aroma carrying vapours is directly super-
imposed on the separator of the first stage. In addition the
plant is equipped with a device to desulphonale the incoming
juices, as well as a steam jet cooling plant to cool the con-
Fig. 9. Two /ic~)-stage Wiegarirl variiiini .fallitig-filni evaporatiiig centrate down to a temperature of 1O"c.
p1arit.s ./br yeast milk (3000 antl I800 kg water evaporatioii/li) T h e examples so far mentioned, have already revealed
that, by choosing a suitable design and arrangement and by
equipping the plant with diverse equipment, the falling-film
These two-stage plants are used for the evaporation of
yeast suspensions. Here a special problem arises, because
after a short time the heating surfaces of the preheaters, as
well as the evaporating bodies, are covered with a layer that
restricts the heat transfer. The plants are therefore specially
arranged in such a way that one evaporating body and one of
the two double preheaters may be cleaned, whilst the rest of
the plant remains in full operation. The steam consumption-
including heating of the product-amounts to 60% of the
water evaporated. Although the evaporation ratio is very
small, the evaporators still operate with recirculation, be-
cause of the special characteristics of the product.
Heat-sensitive products which are advantageously con-
centrated on the falling-film evaporators include fruit juices
of the most varied kind. However, even the most careful
evaporating process cannot prevent the loss of valuable
volatile aroma. Evaporators for the concentration of fruit
juices are therefore invariably provided with aroma recovery
equipment if the natural aroma is to be contained in the final
product. As far as the evaporation proper is concerned, it .
Fig. 1 1 One-stage Wiegaritt vaciiiinz .fallitrg-filtnevaporatiig plarit
is merely a question of preventing a deterioration of the taste for the production of 5000 I yuglirirt tniik/lz

J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1971, Vol. 21, December

 Wiegand: Falling-jlm Evaporators and their Applications in the Food Indi4str)’ 357

Fig. 12. Wiegatirl laboratory atid pilot falling-film evaporating plants

Fig. 13. Wiegariti falling-film evaporating plants with normal tubes and long tribes driring erection as photographed in the workshop
J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1971, Vol. 21, December
358 Wiegand: Falling,film Evaporators and their Applications in the Food Industry
evaporator can be adapted to the most varied duties. Fur-
thermore, it has been demonstrated that a particular ad-
vantage of the falling-film evaporator is the possibility of
evaporating very carefully and at the same time economically
any desired quantity, including very large ones.
Figures 11 to 13 show that the falling-film evaporator can
be constructed with short tubes, to suit low building sites,
and that it can also be built on Laboratory scale.
Figure I I shows a single-stage falling-film short tube
evaporator for the evaporation of yoghurt. The evaporation
ratio being extremely small (1.1 : l ) , a short passage of the
product over the heating surface is sufficient. The evaporator
is combined with a heating plant and a steam jet cooling
plant for the end product.
Laboratory and pilot evaporators shown in Figure 12 are
destined for large factories in the food industry. The eva-
porating capacity of the laboratory evaporator shown on the
left ranges from 10 to 50kg/h, whilst the two-stage pilot
plant in the middle has a capacity up to 800 kg water evapora-
tion/h.
In Fig. 13 the difference between the normal falling-film
evaporator, with long tubes and the short tube construction
is particularly evident. The short tube evaporator, here shown
in the course of erection, has four stages. The floor space
required is very small and it requires a ceiling height of only
4 m (about 13 ft).
J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1971, Vol. 21, December