Evaporation

Downstream Processing
Short Course
May 2007
Kevin Street
Gavin Duffy
Learning Outcomes
After this lecture you should be able to…

Explain how an evaporator works

Describe some film evaporators
Calculate the heat transfer area of an evaporator for a
given specification
Falling Film Evaporator
Short residence time at
high temperature
Feed pre heated to b.p.
A: Product
Flows down tubes B: Vapor
C: Concentrate
Hot vapour flows down D: Heating Steam
E: Condensate
also 1: Head
2: Calandria

Vaporisation occurs 3: Calandria, Lower part

4: Mixing Channel
5: Vapor Separator
Concentrate and
vapours separated on
exit from base
Vapour condensate
removed at base

http://www.niroinc.com/html/evaporator/falling_film_evaporators.html
Falling Film Evaporator
Liquid must be evenly distributed to tubes
A continuous wet film is needed all the way down –
feed is concentrated and is removed as liquid
Dry patches cause fouling or blockage
Thin Film Evaporator
Mechanically assisted to
create a thin film on inside
surface of evaporator
Heat transfer from jacket on
evaporator
Film flows under gravity and
becomes concentrated
Evaporated fluid leaves
through top
Variation is to wipe the film if
gravity is not enough – i.e.
fouling is possible or liquid is
viscous

http://www.technica.net/en/water/pollutants.htm
Activity – Size an evaporator
What heat transfer area is needed to concentrate a
mixture from 10% to 50% solids at a flowrate of 7
kg/s using steam at 205 kPa with evaporator working
under a vacuum of 13.5 kPa?

 Specific heat capacity of 10% mixture 3.76 kJ/kg K

 Specific heat capacity of 50% mixture 3.14 kJ/kg K
 Temperature of steam at 205 kPa 394 K
 Enthalpy of Steam at 205 kPa 2530 kJ/kg
 Boiling point of water at 13.5 kPa 52 ºC
 heat transfer coefficient 3 kW/m2 K

Taken from Chemical Engineering Vol 2, 5th ed., Coulson and Richardson, example
14.1