CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
 INTRODUCTION
1-1General
The separation of a solvent from a solution is commonly effected by use
of the unit operation know as evaporation. Since energy is transferred in
an evaporator from a condensing vapor to boiling liquid, evaporation may
be regarded as a special case of the unit operation called heat transfer.
Evaporation may also be regarded as the special case of distillation in
which a solvent is separated from a mixture of the solvent and a non-
volatile solute. Consequently, only the special case of the separation of
solution of a solvent and a non-volatile solute is considered in the
following treatment of evaporation. Evaporators are commonly found in
the inorganic, organic paper, and sugar industries. Typical applications
include the concentration of sodium hydroxide, sodium chloride, brine,
organic colloids, and fruit juices, where the solvent is water. In this
project the following topics are considered: the design of evaporator
systems and the determination of the separations that may be effected by
and existing system of evaporators at a specified steady- state operating
conditions. The evaporation is normally stopped before the solute begins
to precipitate from solution. Basically, then, an evaporator must consist of
a heat exchanger capable of boiling the solution and a device to separate
the vapor phase from the boiling liquid. In its most simple from it might
be pan of liquid Sitting on a hot plate.

The surface of the hot plate is a simple heat exchanger , and vapor
disengaging is obtained by the large area for vapor flow and its
consequent flow rate of flow. In industrial operation the equipment is
usually arranged for continuous operation, the heat exchanger surface is
vastly increased, boiling is …..more violent, and vapor evolution is rapid.
Problems such as fuming, sca….. heat sensitivity, corrosion, and space
limitions are met. These problems resulted in variations and refinements
in evaporator design to meet different combinations of solution properties
and economic conditions.

The process of evaporation is used widely in the chemical and process

industry, and for a variety of purposes. These include the concentration of
solutions (often as a precursor to crystallization of the solute), re
vaporization of liquefied gases, refrigeration applications (cooling or
chilling), and generation of pure and mixed vapors for process
applications. The term evaporators is usually reserved vapors for the first
of these applications, namely the evaporation of the solvent from a
solution in order to concentrate the solution.

1-2 The Evaporating

Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid
as it changes into the gas phase.[1] The surrounding gas must not

be saturated with the evaporating substance. When the molecules of the

liquid collide, they transfer energy to each other based on how they
collide with each other. When a molecule near the surface absorbs
enough energy to overcome the vapor pressure, it will escape and enter

the surrounding air as a gas. When evaporation occurs, the energy

removed from the vaporized liquid will reduce the temperature of the

liquid, resulting in evaporative cooling.On average, only a fraction of the

molecules in a liquid have enough heat energy to escape from the liquid.
The evaporation will continue until an equilibrium is reached when the
evaporation of the liquid is equal to its condensation. In an enclosed
environment, a liquid will evaporate until the surrounding air is saturated.
Evaporation is an essential part of the water cycle. The sun (solar energy)
drives evaporation of water from oceans, lakes, moisture in the soil, and
other sources of water. In hydrology, evaporation and transpiration
(which involves evaporation within plant stomata) are collectively termed
evapotranspiration. Evaporation of water occurs when the surface of the
liquid is exposed, allowing molecules to escape and form water vapor;
this vapor can then rise up and form clouds. With sufficient energy, the
liquid will turn into vapor.For molecules of a liquid to evaporate, they
must be located near the surface, they have to be moving in the proper
direction, and have sufficient kinetic energy to overcome liquid-phase
intermolecular forces.[4] When only a small proportion of the molecules
meet these criteria, the rate of evaporation is low. Since the kinetic energy
of a molecule is proportional to its temperature, evaporation proceeds
more quickly at higher temperatures. As the faster-moving molecules
escape, the remaining molecules have lower average kinetic energy, and
the temperature of the liquid decreases. This phenomenon is also called

evaporative cooling. This is why evaporating sweat cools the human

body. Evaporation also tends to proceed more quickly with higher flow

rates between the gaseous and liquid phase and in liquids with higher

vapor pressure. For example, laundry on a clothes line will dry (by
evaporation) more rapidly on a windy day than on a still day. Three key

parts to evaporation are heat, atmospheric pressure (determines the

percent humidity), and air movement. On a molecular level, there is no

strict boundary between the liquid state and the vapor state. Instead, there
is a Knudsen layer, where the phase is undetermined. Because this layer
is only a few molecules thick, at a macroscopic scale a clear phase
transition interface cannot be seen .

Liquids that do not evaporate visibly at a given temperature in a given

gas (e.g., cooking oil at room temperature) have molecules that do not

tend to transfer energy to each other in a pattern sufficient to frequently

give a molecule the heat energy necessary to turn into vapor. However,
these liquids are evaporating. It is just that the process is much slower

and thus significantly less visible.

1-3 Uses for Evaporation:

Evaporators are widely employed in most industries that depend on a
constant supply of fluids or chemicals. HVAC systems, for example use
evaporator coils to vaporize compressed cooling chemicals removing heat
in the process.These systems also use condenser coils to exhaust the heat
outside, making the entire process much more effective Heat recovery.
Evaporators are used to convert seawater into clean water in desalination
plants. Utility companies tend to prefer these evaporators over alternative
solutions because of their simplicity and minimal energy requirements.
The end result is lower operational costs .Evaporators are also used in oil
fields to separate water and various other compounds from crude oil. The

food industry employs evaporators to achieve product consistency,

Coffee is a case in point. Evaporation is also used to concentrate liquid
foods such as noodles and make condensed milk, the product of a process
that removes water from milk. Similarly, pharmaceutical companies use

evaporators to remove excess moisture from drugs, thus improving

product stability. Common applications for evaporators because of their
efficiency, evaporators are well-suited to an array of industrial
applications. They are particularly common in processing industries.
Food and dairy products such as tomato purees, milk, herbal extracts,
gelatin, coconut water, and whey and milk proteins are all processed with
the help of evaporators. The same is true for chemicals such as dyes,
ammonium nitrate, glycerin, sodium nitrate, paints, and pigments.
Evaporators are also ideal for very low temperature applications in the
food and pharmaceutical industries. These include the production of
plasma, fermented products, coffee extracts, fruit juices, bulk drugs,
glycerin, sweet water, yeast extract, protein hydrolysate, Whey, gelatin,
malt extracts, glucose, fructose, dextrose, sorbitol, and maltodextrin are
all produced with evaporators, as well.

Another field in which evaporators are widely used is waste management.

Waste management providers rely on them to treat effluents, or
wastewater, from various plants, including distilleries, grain mills,
abattoirs, textile plants, chemical reactors, and storage tanks. Designed to
serve a variety of practical uses, evaporators are a versatile solution to
many common industrial challenges.

1-4Types of evaporator
The main types of steam- heated tubular evaporators in use today are

1.long-tube vertical evaporators.

a. Upward flow (climbing-film)

Long-tube evaporators with upward flow. Atypical long- tube vertical

Evaporator with upward flow of the liquid shown in Fig.1.1(a) the

essential parts are.

1- a tubular exchanger with steam in the shell and liquid to be

Concentrated in the tubes.

2- a separator or vapor space removing entrained liquid from the vapor.

3- When operated as a circulation unit, a return leg for the liquid from

, the separator to the bottom of the exchanger.

Inlets are provided for feed liquid and steam, and outlets are provided

for vapor, thick liquor, steam condensate.

Figure 1.1(a) Climbing –film long-tube vertical evaporator.
b. Downward flow (filling- film)

Concentration of highly heat-sensitive materials such as orange

juce requires a minimum time of exposure to a heated surface
and a falling film evaporator is built to solve the problems rising
film evaporator faces. This can be done in once-through falling-
film evaporators, in which the liquid enters at the top, flows
downstream inside the heated tubes as a film , and leaves from
the bottom is shown in Fig.1.1(b). The tubes are large, 50 to
25mm (2to 10in) in diameter. Vapor evolved from the liquid is
usually carried downward with the liquid and leaves from the
bottom and a distributor for the liquid at the top.

Falling-film evaporators, with no recirculation and short

residence times, handle sensitive products that can be
concentrated in no other way. They are also well adapted to
concentrating viscous liquids.
Film evaporator working, the co-current vapor flow serves to
augment the downward movement of the liquid,
 Figure 1.1(b) falling –film, long-tube vertical evaporator.

c. Rising film

The rising film evaporator is essentially a shell and tube type heat
exchanger. The liquid to be evaporated is fed into the evaporator from the
bottom of the tube. There is a condensation of steam on the outer surface
of the vertical tubes, and the liquid within the evaporator boils up into
vapor is shown in Fig.1.1(c). As the liquid progresses up the tube, the
volume of vapor being generated increases leading to a higher central
core velocity. This velocity in turn forces the liquid to the remaining tube
wall, creating a thin liquid film which moves rapidly. The rapid
movement of the film leads to high heat transfer coefficient and reduction
in residence time of the material. Rising film evaporators are best suited
to process materials that have mild scaling tendencies, but they cannot
handle heavy scaling and heat sensitive materials.

Figure 1.1(c) Rising film evaporator

d. Forced circulation

The heat -transfer coefficients from condensing. Steam are high, so that
major resistance to heat flow in an evaporator is usually in the liquid film.
Tubes re generally made of metals with a high thermal conductivity,
though scale formation may occur on the tubes which reduce the tubes
conductance.

The liquid- film coefficients can be increased by improving the

circulation of the liquid and by increasing its velocity of flow across the

heating surfaces pumps, or impellers, can be fitted in the liquid circuit

to help with this. Using pump circulation, the heat-exchanger surface can
be divorced from the boiling and separating sections of the evaporator as
shown in Fig.1.1(d).

Alternatively, impeller blades may be inserted into flow passages such

as the down comer of a calandria-type evaporator. Forced circulation is

used particularly with viscous liquids: it may also be worth consideration

for expensive heat-exchange surface when these are required because of
corrosion or hygiene requirements. In this case it pays to obtain the
greatest possible heat flow through each square .metre of heat-exchange
surface.

Also under the heading of forced-circulation evaporators are various

scraped surface and agitated film evaporators. In one type the material

to be evaporated passes down over the interior walls of a heated cylinder

and it is scraped by rotating scrape blades to maintain a thin film, high
heat .transfer and a short and controlled residence time exposed to heat.

‫لم يتم مقلرنتهم‬:Forced circulation evaporators-1

Forced circulation evaporators consist of tubular heat

exchangers for concentrating a feed. Forced circulation

 evaporator is deployed in cases where there is a high chance

of feed or product liquor slating or scaling, or when the feed

has high viscosity and the thermal and flow properties of the

process liquor are poor, rendering forced circulation

,necessary. In the forced circulation evaporator mechanism

the feed is pumped at high velocity through the tubes to

ensure high heat transfer coefficient. Forced circulation

evaporator working is best suited for crystallization of slurries

.and other solutions

The working of forced circulation evaporator achieves high

velocities and low residence time in a small space due to high

heat transfer. This prevents the feed from reacting with the

vessel of the forced circulation evaporator. Thus, forced

circulation evaporator mechanism greatly reduces or

.eliminates altogether, the possibility of scaling

Rapid evaporation makes forced circulation evaporators

suitable for processing thermonuclear substances. . The use

of pumping in forced circulation evaporator mechanism also

makes forced circulation evaporators the best fit for viscous

preparation. is given in Fig 1-1

 Figure 1.1(d) Forced-circulation evaporator with separate two-pass
horizontal heating element.

2-Agitated-film evaporators

The principal resistance to overall heat transfer from the steam to the
boiling liquid an evaporators is on the liquid side. One way of reducing
this resistance , especially with viscous liquid , is by mechanical agitation
of the liquid film, as in evaporator shown in Fig.1.1(e) this is modified

falling- film evaporator with a single jacketed tube containing an

internal agitator. Feed enters at the top of the jacketed section and is

spread out into a thin, highly turbulent film by the vertical blades of the

agitator. Concentrate leaves from the bottom of the jacketed section;

vapor rises from the vaporizing zone an un jacketed separator, which is

Somewhat larger in diameter than the evaporating tube. In the separator

the agitator blades throw entrained liquid outward against stationary

vertical plates. The droplets coalesce on these plates and return to the

evaporating section. Liquid-free vapor escapes through outlets at the top

of the unit. The chief advantage of an agitated –film evaporator is its
ability to give high rates of heat transfer with viscous liquid. The product
may have a viscosity as high as 1000P at the evaporation temperature. As
in other evaporators, the overall coefficient falls as the viscosity rises, but
in this design the decrease is slow. With highly viscous materials the
coefficient is appreciably greater than in forced-circulation evaporators
and much greater than in natural-circulation units. The agitated-film
evaporates is particularly effective with such viscous heat-sensitive
products as gelatin, rubber latex, antibiotics, and fruit juices. Its
disadvantage are high cost; the internal moving parts, which may need
considerable maintenance; and the small capacity of single units, which is
far below that of multi tubular evaporators.
 Figure 1.1(e)Agitated-film evaporator

-5 Self-cleaning evaporator ‫ مرجعته يضاف او ال‬:

The operating principle of the self-cleaning evaporator is

based on the circulation of solid cleaning particles through

the tubes of a vertical shell and tube heat exchanger. The

fouling liquid flows upward through the tube bundle of the

heat exchanger which incorporates specially designed inlet

and outlet channels. Solid particles are fed to the fluid

through the inlet channel.A proprietary distribution system is

employed to ensure a uniform division of particles over all the

tubes. The particles are fluidized by the upward flow of liquid,

where they create the mild scouring effect on the wall of the

heat exchanger tubes, thereby removing any deposit at an

early stage of fouling formation. After the tube bundle the

particles disengage from the liquid in the separator and are

returned to the inlet channel and the cycle is repeated. is given

in Fig 1-5

1-5 Heat transfer in evaporators

Heat transfer in evaporators is governed by the equations for

heat transfer to boiling liquids and by the convection and

conduction equations. The heat must be provided from a

source at a suitable temperature and this is condensing

steam in most cases. The steam comes either directly from a

boiler or from a previous stage of evaporation in another

evaporator. Major objections to other forms of heating, such

as direct firing or electric resistance heaters, arise because of

the need to avoid local high temperatures and because of the

high costs in the case of electricity. In some cases the

temperatures of condensing steam may be too high for the

product and hot water may be used. Low-pressure steam can

also be used but the large volumes create design problems.

Calculations on evaporators can be carried out combining

mass and energy balances with the principles of heat transfer.

1-6 Single effect evaporator

The typical evaporator is made up of three functional sections: the

heat exchanger, the evaporating section, where the liquid boils and

evaporates, and the separator in which the vapour leaves the liquid and
passes off to the condenser or to other equipment. In many evaporators,
all three sections are contained in a single vertical cylinder. In the center
of the cylinder there is a steam-heating section, with pipes passing
through it in which the evaporating liquors rise. At the top of the cylinder,
there are baffles, which allow the vapors to escape but check liquid

.droplets that may accompany the vapors from the liquid surface A
diagram of this type of evaporator, which may be called the conventional
evaporator, is given in Fig 2-1In the heat exchanger section, called a
calandria in this type of evaporator, steam condenses in the outer jacket
and the liquid being evaporated boils on the inside of the tubes and in

the space above the upper tube plate. The resistance to heat flow is
imposed by the steam and liquid film coefficients and by the material of
the tube walls. The circulation of the liquid greatly affects evaporation
rates, but circulation rates and patterns are very difficult to predict in any
detail. Values of overall heat transfer coefficients that have been reported
for evaporators are of the order of 1800-5000 J m-2 s-1 °C-1 for the

evaporation of distilled water in a vertical-tube evaporator with heat

supplied by condensing steam. However, with dissolved solids in
increasing quantities as evaporation proceeds leading to increased
viscosity and poorer circulation, heat transfer coefficients in practice may
be much lower than this.

As evaporation proceeds, the remaining liquors become more

concentrated and because of this the boiling temperatures rise. The rise in
the temperature of boiling reduces the available temperature drop,
assuming no change in the heat source. And so the total rate of heat
transfer will drop accordingly. Also, with increasing solute concentration,
the viscosity of the liquid will increase, often quite substantially, and this
affects circulation and the heat transfer coefficients leading again to lower
rates of boiling. Yet another complication is that measured, overall, heat
transfer coefficients have been found to vary with the actual temperature
drop, so that the design of an evaporator on theoretical grounds is
inevitably subject to wide margins of uncertainty .Perhaps because of this
uncertainty, many evaporator designs have tended to follow traditional
patterns of which the calandria type of Fig. 2-1 is a typical example

1-7 multiple-effect evaporator :

Multiple Effect Evaporator (MEE) is a system consists of a sequence of
heat exchangers –VLSs (vapor-liquid separators) used widely for many
applications in industries to achieve evaporation and obtain desired
concentration as output by using an efficient amount of heat source such
as steam or hot water to evaporate water. Evaporation is normally stopped

before the solute starts to precipitate in the operation of an evaporator.

Most of the industrial evaporators have tubular heating surfaces. The
tubes may be horizontal or vertical, long or short and the liquid may be
inside or outside the tubes . A typical feeding method of multi-effect
evaporators is forward feed, where both feed and steam are introduced in
the first effect and the feed passed from effect to effect parallel to the
vapor from the earlier effect. Feeding the steam results in the formation
of a small amount of water vapor, which is used to heat the second effect.
The vapor releases its latent heat and condense. The released latent heat
would result in the formation of a smaller amount of vapor in the second
effect. This process is repeated in subsequent effects, until the

vapor temperature becomes close to the feed sea water temperature.

The forward configuration requires a pump for feeding of the dilute feed
to the first effect. Since a vacuum usually maintained on the last effect,
the liquid from one effect to the next effect could be transferred without a
pump as the flow occurs in the direction of decreasing pressure.
However, a pump is required to remove the concentrated product from

the last effect. Forward feeding operation is helpful when the thick liquor
or concentrated product may degenerate if exposed to high temperature.
is given in Fig 3-1

1-8 types feed arrangement

In multiple effect evaporators is the principle means in use for
economizing consumption, and used when the required capacity is large.

1-8-1 Forward Feed arrangement:

Advantage:
- Feed moves from high pressure to low pressure, so pumping of feed is

not required.

- Product is obtained at lowest temperature .

- This method is suitable for scale forming liquids because

concentrated product is subjected to lowest temperature.

Disadvantages:
- It is not suitable for cold feed ,because the steam input in effect-1 raises

temperature of feed. and a small amount of heat is supplied as latent

heat of vaporization. Therefore the amount of vapor produced will be

less than the amount of steam supplied. Lower amount of vapor in

effect-I produces lower amount of vapor in subsequent effect. Therefore

overall economy is lower.

Figure () forward feed evaporators

1-8-2 backward feed arrangement :

Advantage:
- It is suitable for cold feed. It will give more economy.

-This method is suitable for viscous products, because highly

concentrated product is at highest temperature , hence lower viscosity.

Disadvantages:
- As liquid moves from low pressure side to high pressure side to high -

pressure side, so pumping is required.

Figure () backward feed evaporators

1-8-3 mixed feed arrangement :

Advantage :
- Pumping of liquid requires only where liquid moves from low -

pressure to high pressure.

-Product is obtained from highest temperature, hence lowest -

Viscosity.
Disadvantage :
- As liquid moves from low pressure side to high pressure side, so -

pumping is required.

Figure () mixed feed evaporators

1-8-4 parallel feed arrangement :

Advantages :
- Advanced System .

- Easy Operation and Maintenance .

- Cost Effective Operations( less steam requirement) .

Figure () parallel feed evaporators