8.

4 Design of a Multiple-Effect Evaporator 561

Calculate the steam requirements of a double-effect forward-feed evapora- Example 8.3

tor (Fig. E8.2) to concentrate a liquid food from 11% total solids to 50% total
solids concentrate. The feed rate is 10,000 kg/h at 20°C. The boiling of liq-
uid inside the second effect takes place under vacuum at 70°C. The steam
is being supplied to the first effect at 198.5 kPa. The condensate from the
first effect is discarded at 95°C and from the second effect at 70°C. The over-
all heat-transfer coefficient in the first effect is 1000 W/(m2 °C); in the second
effect it is 800 W/(m2 °C). The specific heats of the liquid food are 3.8, 3.0, and
2.5 kJ/(kg °C) at initial, intermediate, and final concentrations. Assume the
areas and temperature gradients are equal in each effect.

Given
.
Mass flow rate of feed  mf  10,000 kg/h  2.78 kg/s
Concentration of feed xf  0.11
Concentration of product xp  0.5
Steam pressure  198.5 kPa
Feed temperature  20°C
Boiling temperature T2 in second effect  70°C
Overall heat-transfer coefficient U1 in first effect  1000 W/(m2 °C)
Overall heat-transfer coefficient U2 in second effect  800 W/(m2 °C)
Specific heat of dilute feed cpf  3.8 kJ/(kg °C)
Specific heat of feed at intermediate concentration c
pf  3.0 kJ/(kg °C)
Specific heat of concentrated food product cpp  2.5 kJ/(kg °C)

System ■ Figure E8.2 Schematic diagram of a

boundary double-effect evaporator.
m· v, T2
·
· mv1
ms, Ts

T1 T2

U1, A1 U2, A2

·
mf1 ·
xf1 mp, T2, xp
·
mf, xf, Tf
562 CHAPTER 8 Evaporation

Approach
Since this is a double-effect evaporator, we will use modified forms of Equations
(8.8), (8.9), (8.10), (8.11), (8.13), and (8.14). Enthalpy values of steam and vapors will
be obtained from steam tables.

Solution
1. From Equation (8.9),

p
( 0.11)( 2.78 kg/s )  ( 0.75 )m

mp  0.61 kg/s

2. From Equation (8.8),

 v1  m
2.78  m  v2  0.61

Thus, the total amount of water evaporating is

 v1  m
m  v2  2.17 kg/s

3. Steam is being supplied at 198.5 kPa or 120°C, the temperature in the second
effect is 70°C, and thus the total temperature gradient is 50°C.

T1 T2  50°C

Assuming equal temperature gradient in each evaporator effect,

T1  T2  25°C

4. The area of heat transfer in the first and second effects are the same. Thus,
from Equations (8.13) and (8.14),

q1 q2

U1( Ts  T1 ) U2 ( T1  T2 )

or
 sHvs  m
m  sHcs m H m  v1Hc1
 v1 v1
U1( Ts  T1 ) U2 ( T1  T2 )

5. To use Equations (8.10) and (8.11), we need values for enthalpy of product.

Hf  c pf ( Tf  0 )  ( 3.8 kJ/[kg °C])(20 °C 0 °C)  76 kJ/kg

Hf1 = c
pf ( T1 0 )  ( 3.0 kJ / [ kg °C])(95 °C 0 °C)  285 kJ/kg

Hf 2  c pp ( T2 0 )  ( 2.5 kJ/[kg °C])(70 °C 0 °C) 175 kJ/kg

 8.4 Design of a Multiple-Effect Evaporator 563

In addition, from steam tables,

At Ts 120 °C Hvs  2706.3 kJ/kg

Hcs  503.71 kJ/kg
At T1  95 °C Hv1  2668.1 kJ/kg
Hc1  397.96 kJ/kg
At T2  70 °C Hv2  2626.8 kJ/kg
Hc2  292.98 kJ/kg

6. Thus, substituting enthalpy values from step (5) in the equation given in step (4),

 s kg/s( 2706.3 kJ/kg )  ( m

[( m  s kg/s)( 503.71 kJ/kg )](1000 J/kJ )
(1000 W/[m °C] )(120 °C  95 °C )
2

 v1 kg/s( 2668.1 kJ/kg )  ( m

[( m  v1 kg/s)( 397.96 kJ/kg )](1000 J/kJ )

( 800 W/[m °C] )( 95 °C  70 °C )
2

or
2205.59 ms 2270.14m  v1

25 , 000 20 , 000

7. Using Equations (8.10) and (8.11),

( 2.78 )( 76 )  ( m  s )( 2706.3 )
(m  v1 )( 2668.1)  ( m  f 1 )( 285 )  ( m
 s )( 503.71)
(m f 1 )( 285 )  ( m  v1 )( 2668.1)
(m  v 2 )( 2626.8 )  ( m p )(175 )  ( m  v1 )( 397.96 )

8. Let us assemble all equations representing mass flow rates of product, feed,
vapor, and steam.

From step (1): m p  0.61

From step (2): m v1  m v 2  2.17
From step (6): 
0.088 ms  0.114m  v1
From step (7):

 s  2668.1m
2202.59 m  v1  285 m
 f1  211.28
2270.14m v1  2626.8 m
 v 2 175 m
 p  285 m f1

9. In step (8), we have five equations with five unknowns, namely, m p , m v1 ,

 v2 , m
m  s , and m
 f1 . We will solve these equations using a spreadsheet proce-
dure to solve simultaneous equations. The method described in the following
was executed on Excel™ .
10. The simultaneous equations are rewritten so that all unknown variables
are collected on the right-hand side. The equations are rewritten so that the