IMPROVING

EFFICIENCY AND
ENERGY
CONSERVATION
IN EVAPORATION Farha Firosh
19-BDM-22
 EVAPORATION
• A widely used method for the concentration of aqueous solutions

• It involves the removal of water from a solution by boiling the

liquor in a suitable vessel, an evaporator, and withdrawing the
vapour

• If the solution contains dissolved solids, the resulting strong liquor

may become saturated to that crystals are deposited
 FACTORS AFFECTING
EVAPORATION
01 02
TEMPERATURE VAPOUR PRESSURE

03 04
SURFACE AREA DENSITY
 05 06
TYPE OF PRODUCT AGITATION

07 08
TIME OF ECONOMIC
EVAPORATION FACTORS
09
MOISTURE CONTENT
 ENERGY
EFFICIENCY
MEASURES
FOR EVAPORATION
 Some of the methods applied for increasing the
efficiency and minimizing the energy consumption
of the evaporation plants include

MULTIPLE EFFECT
ARRANGEMENT

USAGE OF WASTE MEMBRANE

ENERGY FILTRATION

THERMAL
MECHANICAL VAPOUR
VAPOUR
RECOMPRESSION
RECOMPRESSION
 01
MAINTENANC
E
 Common sources of inefficiency and
heat loss in evaporators include
• Excessive venting
• Radiation and convective losses
• Poor vacuum system performance
• Air and water leakage
• Fouling
• Poor separator efficiency

An ongoing maintenance program for evaporators

can help minimize and avoid many of these sources
of energy loss
In general, a solid maintenance program should include the
following
• Inspection and prevention of air leaks into evaporators to
minimize venting rates (air is non condensable and thus must
be vented from the system)
• Cleaning of heat transfer surfaces to allow efficient transfer of
energy
• Inspection and replacement of wet, damaged, or decayed
insulation
• Cleaning of vapor separation vessels to maintain
product yields and pressure profiles
• Inspection and prevention of water leaks into
the system to avoid diluting the product streams
• Maintaining the optimum pressure profile in the
evaporator per the manufacturer’s specifications
(excess pressure inhibits evaporation by raising
the boiling point)
 MULTIPLE

02 EFFECT
EVAPORATOR
S
• In multiple effect evaporators, the hot vapor
that boils out of the liquid in one evaporator
(effect) is used as the heating medium in
another effect, which is operated at a lower
pressure
• By using multiple effects, the amount of water
evaporated per pound of steam supplied to the
evaporator system can be increased
• The first effect has the
highest boiling
temperature, while the
last effect has the
lowest
• Each successive effect
uses the vapor from the
previous effect as a
heat source
• There is practical limit to the number of effects
that can be used for any given product
application
• In practice, up to five effects might be feasible
for evaporator systems used in dairy processing
• For whey production, a good rule of thumb is
that each additional effect increases investment
cost by 15% and decreases steam consumption
by 25%
VAPOR
RECOMPRESSION
03
 Energy efficiencies higher than that of multiple
effect evaporator systems can be realized using
Vapor recompression systems, in which the vapors
exiting the evaporator are compressed and
reintroduced into the evaporator as a heating
medium

There are two types of vapor

recompression systems available
• Thermal Vapor Recompression
(TVR) systems
• Mechanical Vapor Recompression
(MVR) systems
 THERMAL VAPOR
RECOMPRESSION
• The vapors exiting the evaporator are compressed in a steam
ejector using high pressure steam (0.8-2.1 MPa)
• The mixture is reintroduced into the same evaporator unit as a
heating medium
• Part of the vapors exiting the evaporator must be removed in
order to maintain the proper mass balance of steam entering
the evaporator unit
 A Thermo compressor
raises the saturation
temperature of the
vapor exiting an effect
to be reused to heat the
next effect
 MECHANICAL VAPOR
RECOMPRESSION
• The vapors exiting the evaporator are compressed
mechanically typically using centrifugal compressors or
turbo fans
• Then reintroduced into the evaporator unit as a heating
medium
• A small amount of heating steam is added to the
system to make up the condensate formed during
compression of water vapors
 MVR improves steam
economy by compressing low
pressure steam exiting the
evaporator and recycling it as
the heat source
• Because of compression limitations and
the high costs of evaporation under
vacuum, vapor recompression units are
mainly applicable where the product is
not too concentrated and can be boiled
under atmospheric or moderate vacuum
conditions
• TVR systems are most economical when
high-pressure steam is available at low
cost, while MVR systems are most
economical when electricity is available at
low cost
 STEAM ECONOMY
TYPE OF EVAPORATOR
(Kg Water/Kg Steam)
Single Effect 0.90-0.98
Double Effect 1.7-2.0
Triple Effect 2.4-2.8
Six Effect 4.6-4.9
Triple Effect with TVR 4-8
Single Effect MVR 10-30
CONCENTRATION USING
MEMBRANE FILTRATION

04
• It is a more energy efficient option
for moisture removal than
traditional steam based evaporation
methods
• Membrane filtration systems have
been successfully applied to the
concentration of dairy products
• Most common types of membrane
filtration systems used in the dairy
processing industry are Reverse
Osmosis and Ultra Filtration systems
 CONCLUSION
• The primary means of increasing the steam economy of an evaporator is to
reuse the latent heat of the water vapor

• A multiple-effect evaporator uses the water vapor from one effect as the
heating medium for the next effect, which operates at a lower boiling point

• The latent heat in water vapor can also be reused by thermally or mechanically
compressing the vapor to a higher pressure and temperature

• These methods of improving efficiency have their limits, however, which are
specific to the physical properties of the liquid feed being evaporated
THANK
YOU