Reboiler, Vaporator,

Evaporator
Boiling Heat Transfer

• Important for design of reboilers, vaporizers

• A reboiler is a heat exchanger that is used to generate the vapor supplied
to the bottom tray of a distillation column. The liquid from the bottom of
the column is partially vaporized in the exchanger, which is usually of the
shell-and-tube type. The heating medium is most often condensing steam,
but commercial heat-transfer fluids and other process streams are also
used.
• Boiling takes place either in the tubes or in the shell, depending on the
type of reboilers
Reboiler design guidelines

1. Fouling -Tube-side is easier to clean than shell-

side.
2. Corrosion - corrosion or process cleanliness
may dictate the use of expensive alloys;
therefore, these fluids are placed inside tubes in
order to save the cost of an alloy shell.
3. Pressure - high pressure fluids are placed on
tube side to avoid the expense of thick walled
shells. For very low pressures (vacuum) other
factors involved in the selection of reboiler type
determines the tube-side fluid.
4. Temperatures - very hot fluids are placed
inside tube to reduce shell costs. The lower
stress limits at high temperatures affect shell
design the same as high pressures.
5. Heating medium requirements may be more
important than the boiling liquid requirements.
6. Boiling fluid characteristics: Temperature
sensitive liquids require low hold up design.
Boiling range and mixture concentration
together with available ΔT affect circulation
requirements to avoid stagnation. Foaming can
be better handled inside tubes.
7. Temperature difference and type of boiling
(film or nucleate) affects the selection.
8. Space constraints; e.g., if head room is limited
then vertical units would be inappropriate or the
limitation of space for internal reboilers.
9. Enhanced surfaces are suitable only for some
types.
Boiling Heat Transfer
Pool Boiling
• Agitation by bubbles and
natural convection
• Occurs in kettle reboilers
Flow Boiling
• Agitation by bubbles and
forced convection
• Occurs in thermosiphon
reboilers
• High fluid velocity
Boiling Heat Transfer

• Partial reboiler
• Bottom product is
liquid, boil up is vapor
• Very common
• There is another
equilibrium stage
• Total reboiler
• All liquid is turned
back to vapor
Thermosiphon Reboilers
• If we set the reboiler below the liquid
level in the column sump then the static
head drives liquid into the reboiler
• The difference in density caused by
vaporization then sets up a circulation,
limited by pressure drop
Two-phase • Typically design for about 25 to 33%
return
vaporization per pass
Hot • Thermosiphon orientation can be
Utility vertical (tubeside flow) or horizontal
(shellside flow)
• Horizontal is usually cheaper, but
vertical handles dirty fluids better

Saturated liquid
 Thermosiphon Reboilers

Source: UOP

• Double reboilers in each case

• Note large vapor return pipes
Flow Regimes in Thermosiphon Tubes

• Different flow regimes occur

as vapor/liquid ratio increases
• Slug flow is undesirable as it
causes noise and vibration, but
is also unavoidable in vertical
thermosiphons
• Annular flow is avoided by
designing for < 33%
vaporization
• See section on hydraulics for
calculation of pressure drop in
two-phase flow
 Kettle Reboilers
• More expensive than
vapor

heating
disengaging
space
vapor
out
horizontal
medium in
weir
thermosiphon
• Larger diameter shell
for same duty
• Additional liquid outlet
nozzle allows for
blowdown
• TEMA types are (A or B)
bubble
point K (T or U)
heating liquid in liquid
medium out • Often used as steam
out
generator because of
built in separator for
vapor and allowance
for blowdown
Design of kettle reboiler

1. The shell diameter is typically 40% greater than

the bundle diameter.
2. The height of the tube bundle is usually 40-60%
of the shell ID.
3. Kettle reboilers are typically designed with an
overflow weir, which creates a separate liquid
product compartment within the exchanger
shell.
4. The submergence of the tube bundle is assured
by an overflow weir at height of typically 5-15
cm from the upper surface of top most tubes.
5. “Kettle designs with overflow weirs must have
removable tube bundles (U-tube bundles or
TEMA “S” or “T” type return heads).
6. If there are no overflow weirs, fixed tube
sheets (non-removable tube bundles) may be
used. The liquid bath is maintained via level
control.
7. Kettle reboiler should be used in very specific
applications where it has a distinct advantage.
Advantages of kettle reboiler
1. Kettle reboilers achieve a full theoretical stage
of separation.
2. The bottom of the tower does not require
baffles.
3. “The tower internals do not need to separate
mixed phase fluids nor absorb large fluid forces.
4. “Kettle reboilers with removable tube bundles
are relatively easy to inspect and clean.”
5. Kettle reboilers can utilize higher percent
vaporization than vertical or
horizontalthermosiphon reboilers, while
remaining in a stable flow regime.
Stab-in Reboilers

• The tube bundle can

sometimes be fitted
inside the column sump:
this saves a shell
• The behavior is similar to
kettle reboilers
• The designer has to make
sure there is enough
sump height to give good
level control and pump
NPSH without exposing
tubes
 Boiling Heat Transfer
Coefficient • As ΔT between wall and
I II III IV V fluid increases, h
h increases at first due to
bubbles, but then vapor
blankets the surface and
the heat transfer
coefficient falls
• For fired boilers this can
lead to tube failure
• Avoid film boiling by
0.1 1.0 10
limiting design to
100 1000
maximum “critical flux”
ΔT = Twall - Tfluid
• See, Chapter 19, Perry’s
I: Natural convection heat transfer Handbook or good heat
II: Nucleate boiling with agitation by bubbles transfer references for
correlation of critical
III: Nucleate boiling with unstable film flux
IV: Stable film boiling
V: Radiant heat transfer
 Approximate h Values for
Boiling
Liquid Boiling (Shell Side or Tube Side) h (Btu/(hr.ft2.F))

Water 1500
Water solutions, 50% water or more 600
Light Hydrocarbons 300
Medium Hydrocarbons 200
Freon 400
Ammonia 700
Propane 400
Butane 400
Amines 300
Alcohols 300
Glycols 200
Benzene, Toluene 200

Note: Coefficients are based on 3/4 inch diameter tubes. For Tube side flows, correct by
multiplying by 0.75/Actual OD.
Enhancement of Boiling Heat
Transfer: UOP High Flux
Tubing
Porous metal coating applied to ID or OD

Porous
Coating

Tube Wall
Source: UOP
• Porous boiling surface
• Coating thickness 0.127mm - 0.381 mm
• Strong metallurgical bond
• Interconnecting Channels or “Re-entrant Sites”
• Boiling performance ~ 10x greater than bare tube
• Overall performance ~ 2-5x greater than bare tube
Magnification of High Flux Tube
Surface

Cavity Coating

Source: UOP
500x Mag
 Experimental Pool Boiling
Curves
High Flux Tube Bare Tube
1000000
Heat Flux (W/m²)

Water Water
100000

Propylene Propylene

10000
0.1 1 10 100
DT (°C)

• Enables closer temperature approaches

High Flux Tube Products

• ID Coated
– OD Bare or Fluted
• OD Coated
– ID Bare or Finned

Source: UOP
 Applications of High Flux

• Reboilers
• Thermosyphons (TEMA type H, J or X)
• Kettles
• Stab-in Bundles
• Condensers (Kettles)
• Boiling Refrigerant

Source: UOP
Vaporizer
• Secara umum digunakan untuk menguapkan
cairan, uap yang dihasilkan digunakan untuk
proses kimia, bukan sebagai sumber panas
seperti halnya steam
• Jenis-Jenis Vaporizer
Vaporizer dengan sirkulasi paksa
• Cairan diumpankan ke dalam vaporizer dengan menggunakan
pompa.
Vaporizer dengan sirkulasi alamiah
• Cairan umpan dapat mengalir sendiri dalam vaporizer dengan
bantuan gaya gravitasi.
Prinsip kerja vaporizer

• Cairan diumpankan ke dalam vaporizer

kemudian dipanaskan dengan suatu media
pemanas (umpan tidak kontak langsung dengan
media pemanas). Biasanya tidak semua umpan
dapat teruapkan dengan sempurna. Produk yang
dihasilkan (uap dan cairan) dipisahkan dalam
suatu tangki pemisah. Uap yang dihasilkan
kemudian digunakan untuk proses selanjutnya,
cairan yang tidak menguap di recycle kembali.
Evaporation
• Evaporation is the removal of solvent as a vapor
from a solution or slurry
• Evaporation is used for concentration of aqueous
solutions, it involves removal of water from
solution by boiling the liquor in suitable vessel
called evaporator and withdrawing the vapor
• In evaporation thick liquor is a valuable product
and vapor is usually wasted e.g. concentration
of fruit juices or urea concentration
• In rare cases, vapor is valuable product, e.g.
Mineral-bearing water evaporation to get boiler
feed water, or sea water evaporation to get
portable water.
Evaporation vs
boiling/drying/distillation/crystalization
• Evaporation occurs at liquid-vapor interface when vapor pressure
is less than saturation pressure of the liquid at a given
temperature
• Boiling occurs at solid-liquid interface when liquid is brought into
contact with a surface at temp Ts
• Evaporation differs from drying b/c residue is always a liquid
• It differs from distillation b/c vapor is a single component and
even if it is a mixture, no attempt is made to split it into
fractions
• It differs from crystallization b/c we want to concentrate the
solution rather than forming and building crystals
 Classification of liquids to be Evaporated

A) Those which can be heated to high temp without decomposition and

those which can only be heated to 330 K

B) Those which yield solids on concentration and those which do not

C) Those which, at a given pressure, boil at same temp as water, and

those which have much higher boiling point
 Evaporator

• Exchanger which is used to concentrate a solution consisting of a

non-volatile solute and a volatile solvent, is called an evaporator

Evaporator Main Parts

• Feed Inlet, Concentrate outlet, Steam jacket, steam condensate
outlet, sight glass, vapor head & vapor outlet, heating section etc
 Evaporator Types/Classification

• A) based on heating media

B) Based on Effect

1. Single effect evaporators

2. Multiple effect evaporators

C) Based on circulation of liquor over heating surface

1. Natural Circulation Units

2. Forced Circulation Units

3. Film type (wiped film) evaporators

Different Evaporators
 Batch Pan
• Oldest type and used for limited application
• Either jacketed/internal coils/heaters
• Product residence time is many hours
• Boil at low temp and high pressure for heat sensitive materials
• heat transfer area and coefficients are low under natural
circulation
• Evaporation capacities are low
• Large temp differences not achieved b/c of rapid fouling of
heating surface
• Used for concentration of Jams and Jellies, also for some
pharmaceutical products
 Natural Circulation Units

Circulation is obtained by convection currents arising from heating

surface

A) Tubes are horizontal with steam inside

solution to be evaporated boils outside the tubes and steam

condenses inside of tubes. These tubes interfere with natural
circulation and minimize liquid agitation. Overall heat transfer
coefficients are lower

B) Tubes are vertical with steam outside

a. Tubes are horizontal with steam inside
• Cylindrical section above heating portion is used to separate vapor
from liquid
• vapor leaves through de-entraining device to prevent carry over of
liquid droplets with vapor
• Steam enters through one side chest and leaves through opposite
chest
• Steam condensate out via steam trap
Advantages

1. Cheap

2. Easy to install

3. Require less space for installation

4. Suitable for liquids that not crystallize

5. Can be used for batch/continuous operation

Disadvantages

1. Not suitable for viscous liquids b/c of poor circulation

 B) Tubes are vertical with steam outside

• Solution boils inside vertical tubes with heating media, usually

steam, held in steam chest, through which tubes pass.
• Boiling of liquid in tubes, causes liquid flow upward through tubes
and un-evaporated liquid flows downward through central hole
• These overcome disadvantages of horizontal tube evaporators

1. natural circulation is promoted(1-3 ft/s)

2. heat transfer coefficients are higher

3. solid built inside tubes is removed by mechanical cleaning

4. Viscous liquids can be used, but circulation is slow

5. Used in sugar and salt industries

• These are impractical when solution is very viscous or form foams

or is heat sensitive