Dr.

Shina Gautam
Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering,
Shroff S. R. Rotary Institute of Chemical Technology
Evaporation
 Purpose of Evaporation
• To concentrate solution by removing the vapor from a boiling liquid
solution
• In the majority of cases, evaporation refers to the removal of water
from an aqueous solution.
• Example: concentration of aqueous solutions of sugar, sodium chloride,
sodium hydroxide, glycerol, glue, milk, and orange juice.
• In these cases the concentrated solution is the desired product and the
evaporated water is normally discarded.
• In a few cases, water, which contains a small amount of minerals, is
evaporated to give a solids-free water to be used as boiler feed, for
special chemical processes.
• Evaporation processes to evaporate seawater to provide drinking water
have been developed and used.
 Processing Factors
1. Concentration in the liquid
- low viscosity: high mass transfer coefficient
- high viscosity: low mass transfer coefficient
-adequate circulation and/or turbulence must be present to keep
the coeffeicient from becoming too low

2. Solubility
- solubility increases with temperature
- crystallization may occur when a hot concentrated solution is
cooled to room temperature

3. Temperature sensitivity of materials

- food and biological materials may be temperature sensitive and
degrade at higher temperature or after prolonged heating.
4. Foaming or frothing
- food solution such as skim milk and some fatty-acid solution form a
foam or froth during boiling.

5. Pressure and temperature

- high operating pressure: high boiling point

6. Scale deposition and materials of construction

- Some solutions deposit solid materials called scale on the heating
surfaces.
- results in the overall heat-transfer coefficient decreases and
evaporator must be cleaned.
TYPES OF EVAPORATORS
 TYPES OF EVAPORATION
EQUIPMENT
1. Open kettle or pan
2. Horizontal-tube natural circulation evaporator
3. Vertical-type natural circulation evaporator
4. Long-tube vertical-type evaporator
5. Falling-film-type evaporator
6. Forced-circulation-type evaporator
7. Agitated-film evaporator
8. Open-pan solar evaporator
 Open Kettle or Pan Evaporator

Steam is supplied to the jacketed kettle in

which the aqueous extract is placed. Heat is
transferred to the extract by conduction and
convection.

Construction
Copper is the excellent material for the
kettle because of its conductivity. Iron is
used for construction of jackets since it has
minimum conductivity.
 Open Kettle or Pan Evaporator
Working
Aqueous extract to be evaporated is placed in the kettle. Steam is
supplied through inlet. Steam gives out its heat to the contents and
condensates leaves through the outlet.

Advantages

 Used for both small scale and large scale operation

 Simple in construction and easy to operate.
 Low maintenance.
 Low installation cost.
 Wide variety of materials
 Cheap
 Solar energy can be used to evaporate
the solvent from the solution
 Open Kettle or Pan Evaporator
Disadvantages

 Heat economy is less

 Not suitable for heat sensitive materials
 Since, open type so vapor passes to atmosphere
 Low scale evaporation

Uses
Concentrating aqueous and thermo-stable liquors. Eg. Cooking
pickels, liquorice extract etc.
 Horizontal-tube natural circulation
evaporator
Steam is passed through the
horizontal tubes, which are
immersed in a pool of liquid to be
evaporated. Heat transfers through
the tubes and the solvent
evaporates. Concentrated liquid is
collected.

Construction
Large cylindrical body with doomed
shaped at the top and bottom, made
of cast iron or plate steel. Stainless
steel tubes are used in steam
compartments.
 Horizontal-tube natural circulation
evaporator
Working
Feed is introduced into the
evaporator until the steam
compartment is immersed. The
horizontal tubes receives the heat
and conduct it to the liquid. The
feed absorbs heat and solvent gets
evaporated. Concentrated liquid is
collected.

Uses
Best suited for non-viscous solution.
E.g. Cascara extract.
 Horizontal-tube natural circulation
evaporator

 Not good for foamy liquid

 Not good for liquids that deposit on the
surface
 The liquor circulation is poor, and for this
reason such units are unsuitable for viscous
liquors
Vertical tube natural circulation
evaporator
 Vertical tube natural circulation evaporator

• Liquid is passed through the

vertical tubes and steam is
supplied from outside tubes.
• Heat transfer takes place
though the tubes and the
liquid gets heated.
• The solvent evaporates,
vapor escapes from the top
and concentrated liquid is
collected from the bottom.
• The liquid flows up because
of the prevailing density
gradient.
• Liquid-vapor disengagement occurs above the upper tube
sheet.

• The liquid flows down through the central open space of

the calandria called the downtake or the downcomer.

• Thus a continuous recirculation of the solution occurs.

 Vertical tube natural circulation
evaporator
Construction
A short tube vertical evaporator has
a short tube bundle enclosed in a
shell. This is called a calandria. The
calandria is of annular construction,
there is an open cylindrical region
at the centre.

Consist of long cylindrical body

which is made up of cast iron with
dome shaped top and bottom.
Calandria is fitted at the bottom.
Calandria consist of number of
vertical tubes with diameter 0.05-
0.075 meters and length of 1-2
meters.
 Vertical tube natural circulation
evaporator
Construction

About 100 such tubes are fitted in

the body of 2.5 meters. Inlets are
provided for steam and feed.
Outlets are provided for vapor,
concentrated products, non-
condensed gases and condensate.
 Vertical tube natural circulation
evaporator
Advantages
 Increases the heating surface 10 – 15 times than steam jacketed
kettle.
 Vigorous circulation enhances rate of heat transfer.
 More units can be joined.

Disadvantages
 Liquid to be maintained above calandria
 Complicated
 Installation cost is more
 Cleaning and maintenance is difficult.

Uses: Manufacture of cascara extract, sugar salt, caustic soda, etc

 Long-tube vertical-type evaporator

• This is another widely used

natural circulation evaporator.
• It has a long vertical tube bundle
fitted with a shell.
• The shell is projected into a larger
diameter chamber or vapor head
at the top.
• The feed enters the tube bundle at the bottom, flows
through the tubes once, while undergoing vigorous
boiling, and discharges into the vapor head and
impinges on a deflector plate above the free top end
of the tube bundle.
• The concentrated liquor leaves the vapor chamber
through a pipe and is withdrawn.
 Long-tube vertical-type evaporator
Advantages:
 Large heating surface area in one body
 Low holdup
 Small floor surface
 Good heat transfer coefficients at reasonable temperature
differences
( Rising film)
 Good heat transfer coefficients at all temperature
differences (falling film)
 Long-tube vertical-type evaporator
Disadvantages:
 High head room
 Generally not suitable for salting and severely scaling
liquids
 Poor heat transfer coefficients of rising film version at low
temperature differences
 Circulation usually required for falling film.
 Poor feed distribution in falling film
 Long-tube vertical-type evaporator
Applications:
 Clear Liquids
 Foaming liquids
 Corrosive solutions
 Large evaporation loads
 Low temperature operation – falling film
 Film-type evaporator

There are two types of film evaporators:

Falling-film evaporator

Climbing-film evaporator
 Falling-film-type evaporator
 Liquid is fed from top and
flow down as a thin film.
 Vapor liquid separation
usually takes place at the
bottom.
 Widely used for
concentrating heat sensitive
materials such as orange
juice and other fruits juice.
 Holdup time is very small
 High heat transfer
coefficient (due to high
velocity)
 Problem with Falling-film-type
evaporator

The chief problem in a

fall-film evaporator is
non uniform
distribution of liquid
as a film inside tubes.
 Distribution Problem is solved
This is done by
inserting the metal
plate in the tube ends to
cause the liquid to flow
evenly into each tube,
or by spraying the feed
on the inside surface of
each tube with the
“spider” distributors
 Falling-film-type evaporator
For good heat transfer the Reynolds number
of the falling film should be greater than 2000
at all point in the tube.

During evaporation the amount of liquid is

continuously reduced as it flows downward.
 Falling-film-type evaporator
Too great a reduction can lead to dry spots
near the bottom of the tube.

Falling-film evaporators can be used in

concentrating sensitive products. They are
also well adapted to concentrating viscous
liquids.
Methods of Operation of Evaporators

1. Single-effect evaporators
2. Forward-feed multiple-effect
evaporators
3. Backward-feed multiple-effect
evaporators
4. Parallel-feed multiple-effect
evaporators
1.Single-effect evaporators

FIGURE 8.2-2. Simplified diagram of single-effect evaporator

• The feed enters at TF

• Saturated steam at TS enters the heat- exchange section.

• Condensed steam leaves as condensate or drips.

• The solution in the evaporator is assumed to be completely

mixed

• Hence, the concentrated product and the solution in the

evaporator have the same composition.

• Temperature T1 is the boiling point of the solution.

• The temperature of the vapor is also T1, since it is in equilibrium

with the boiling solution.

• The pressure is P1, which is the vapor pressure of the solution at

T.
• If the solution to be evaporated is assumed to be dilute and like
water, then 1 kg of steam condensing will evaporate approximately 1
kg of vapor (if the feed entering has TF near the boiling point)
• The concept of an overall heat-transfer coefficient is used in the
calculation of the rate of heat transfer in an evaporator
• The general equation can be written

Where:
q is the rate of heat transfer in W (btu/h),
U is the overall heat-transfer coefficient in W/m2. K (btu/h ft. °F),
A is the heat-transfer area in m2 (ft2),
TS is the temperature of the condensing steam in K (°F),
T1 is the boiling point of the liquid in K (°F).
• Single-effect evaporators are often used when the required capacity of
operation is relatively small and/or the cost of steam is relatively cheap
compared to the evaporator cost.

• However, for large-capacity operation, using more than one effect will
markedly reduce steam costs.
2. Forward-feed multiple-effect evaporators

• A single-effect evaporator as shown in Fig. 8.2-2 is wasteful of energy.

• The latent heat of the vapor leaving is not used but is discarded.

• Much of this latent heat, however, can be recovered and reused by

employing a multiple - effect evaporator.

• A simplified diagram of a forward-feed triple-effect evaporation system

is shown in Fig. 8.2-3.
FIGURE 8.2-3. Simplified diagram of forward -feed triple-effect evaporator.
• If the feed to the first effect is near the boiling point at the pressure in
the first effect, 1kg of steam will evaporate almost 1 kg of water.

• The first effect operates at a temperature that is high enough that the
evaporated water serves as the heating medium to the second effect.

• Here, again, almost another kg of water is evaporated, which can then

be used as the heating medium to the third effect.

• As a very rough approximation, almost 3 kg of water will be

evaporated for 1 kg of steam in a three-effect evaporator.

• Hence, the steam economy, which is kg vapor evaporated/kg steam

used, is increased.

• This also holds approximately for more than three effects.

• However, the increased steam economy of a multiple-effect evaporator

is gained at the expense of the original first cost of these evaporators.
• In forward-feed operation as shown in Fig. 8.2-3, the fresh
feed is added to the first effect and flows to the next in the
same direction as the vapor flow.

• This method of operation is used when the feed is hot or

when the final concentrated product might be damaged at
high temperatures.

• The boiling temperatures decrease from effect to effect. This

means that if the first effect is at P1 = 1 atm abs pressure, the
last effect will be under vacuum at a pressure P3.
3. Backward-feed multiple-effect evaporators

• In the backward-feed operation shown in Fig. 8.2-4 for a triple-effect

evaporator, the fresh feed enters the last and coldest effect continues
until the concentrated product leaves the first effect.

FIGURE 8.2-4. Simplified diagram of backward-feed triple-effect evaporator.

• This method of reverse feed is advantageous when the fresh
feed is cold, since a smaller amount of liquid must be heated
to the higher temperatures in the second and first effects.

• However, liquid pumps must be used in each effect, since the

flow is from low to high pressure.

• This reverse-feed method is also used when the concentrated

product is highly viscous.

• The high temperatures in the early effects reduce the

viscosity and give reasonable heat-transfer coefficients.
4. Parallel-feed multiple-effect evaporators

• Parallel-feed in multiple-effect evaporators involves the adding of

fresh feed and withdrawal of concentrated product from each effect.

• The vapor from each effect is still used to heat the next effect.

• This method of operation is mainly used when the feed is almost

saturated and solid crystals are the product, as in the evaporation of
brine to make salt.
Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient in Evaporators
The overall heat-transfer coefficient U in an evaporator is composed of:
1. The steam-side condensing coefficient, which has a value of
about 5700 W/m2.K (1000 btu/h ft2.°F);

- The steam-side condensing coefficient outside the tubes can be

estimated using basic heat transfer equations.

2. The metal wall which has a high thermal conductivity and

usually a negligible resistance.

3. The resistance of the scale is on the liquid side and on the liquid
film coefficient, which is usually inside the tubes.
Thank You