Evaporator

An evaporator is a device used to turn the liquid form of a chemical into its gaseous form. The liquid is evaporated, or vaporized, into a gas.

Uses

An evaporator is used in an air-conditioning system to allow a compressed cooling chemical, such as R-22 (Freon) or R-410A, to evaporate from liquid to gas while absorbing heat in the process.^[1] It can also be used to remove water or other liquids from mixtures. The process of evaporation is widely used to concentrate foods and chemicals as well as salvage solvents. In the concentration process, the goal of evaporation is to vaporize most of the water from a solution which contains the desired product. In the case of desalination of sea water or in Zero Liquid Discharge plants, the reverse purpose applies; evaporation removes the desirable drinking water from the undesired product, salt.

One of the most important applications of evaporation is in the food and beverage industry. Foods or beverages that need to last for a considerable amount of time or need to have certain consistency, like coffee, go through an evaporation step during processing.

In the pharmaceutical industry, the evaporation process is used to eliminate excess moisture, providing an easily handled product and improving product stability. Preservation of long-term activity or stabilization of enzymes in laboratories are greatly assisted by the evaporation process.

Another example of evaporation is in the recovery of sodium hydroxide in kraft pulping.^[2] Cutting down waste-handling cost is another major reason for large companies to use evaporation applications. Legally, all producers of waste must dispose of waste using methods compatible with environmental guidelines; these methods are costly. By removing moisture through vaporization, industry can greatly reduce the amount of waste product that must be processed.

Energetics

Water can be removed from solutions in ways other than evaporation, including membrane processes, liquid-liquid extractions, crystallization, and precipitation. Evaporation can be distinguished from some other drying methods in that the final product of evaporation is a concentrated liquid, not a solid. It is also relatively simple to use and understand since it has been widely used on a large scale, and many techniques are generally well known. In order to concentrate a product by water removal, an auxiliary phase is used which allows for easy transport of the solvent (water) rather than the solute. Water vapor is used as the auxiliary phase when concentrating non-volatile components, such as proteins and sugars. Heat is added to the solution, and part of the solvent is converted into vapor. Heat is the main tool in evaporation, and the process occurs more readily at high temperature and low pressures.

Heat is needed to provide enough energy for the molecules of the solvent to leave the solution and move into the air surrounding the solution. The energy needed can be expressed as an excess thermodynamic potential of the water in the solution. Leading to one of the biggest problems in industrial evaporation, the process requires enough energy to remove the water from the solution and to supply the heat of evaporation. When removing the water, more than 99% of the energy needed goes towards supplying the heat of evaporation. The need to overcome the surface tension of the solution also requires energy. The energy requirement of this process is very high because a phase transition must be caused; the water must go from a liquid to a vapor.

When designing evaporators, engineers must quantify the amount of steam needed for every mass unit of water removed when a concentration is given. An energy balance must be used based on an assumption that a negligible amount of heat is lost to the system's surroundings. The heat that needs to be supplied by the condensing steam will approximately equal the heat needed to vaporize the water. Another consideration is the size of the heat exchanger which affects the heat transfer rate.

Some common terms: A = heat transfer area, and q = overall heat transfer rate.

How an evaporator works

The solution containing the desired product is fed into the evaporator and passes across a heat source. The applied heat converts the water in the solution into vapor. The vapor is removed from the rest of the solution and is condensed while the now-concentrated solution is either fed into a second evaporator or is removed. The evaporator, as a machine, generally consists of four sections. The heating section contains the heating medium, which can vary. Steam is fed into this section. The most common medium consists of parallel tubes but others have plates or coils typically made from copper or aluminium. The concentrating and separating section removes the vapor being produced from the solution. The condenser condenses the separated vapor, then the vacuum or pump provides pressure to increase circulation.

Types of evaporators used today

Evaporator with SBT to eliminate bumping.

Natural/forced circulation evaporator

Natural circulation evaporators are based on the natural circulation of the product caused by the density differences that arise from heating. In an evaporator using tubing, after the water begins to boil, bubbles will rise and cause circulation, facilitating the separation of the liquid and the vapor at the top of the heating tubes. The amount of evaporation that takes place depends on the temperature difference between the steam and the solution.

Problems can arise if the tubes are not well-immersed in the solution. If this occurs, the system will be dried out and circulation compromised. In order to avoid this, forced circulation can be used by inserting a pump to increase pressure and circulation. Forced circulation occurs when hydrostatic head prevents boiling at the heating surface. A pump can also be used to avoid fouling that is caused by the boiling of liquid on the tubes; the pump suppresses bubble formation. Other problems are that the residing time is undefined and the consumption of steam is very high, but at high temperatures, good circulation is easily achieved.

Falling film evaporator

This type of evaporator is generally made of 4–8 m (13–26 ft) tubes enclosed by steam jackets. The uniform distribution of the solution is important when using this type of evaporator. The solution enters and gains velocity as it flows downward. This gain in velocity is attributed to the vapor being evolved against the heating medium, which flows downward as well. This evaporator is usually applied to highly viscous solutions, so it is frequently used in the chemical, food, and fermentation industries.

Rising film (Long Tube Vertical) evaporator

A rising film evaporator

In this type of evaporator, boiling takes place inside the tubes, due to heating made (usually by steam) outside the same. Submergence is therefore not desired; the creation of water vapor bubbles inside the tube creates an ascensional flow enhancing the heat transfer coefficient. This type of evaporator is therefore quite efficient, the disadvantage being to be prone to quick scaling of the internal surface of the tubes. This design is then usually applied to clear, non-salting solutions. Tubes are usually quite long, typically 4+ meters (13+ ft). Sometimes a small recycle is provided. Sizing this type of evaporator is usually a delicate task, since it requires a precise evaluation of the actual level of the process liquor inside the tubes. Recent applications tend to favor the falling-film pattern rather than rising-film.

Climbing and falling-film plate evaporator

Climbing and falling-film plate evaporators have a relatively large surface area. The plates are usually corrugated and are supported by frame. During evaporation, steam flows through the channels formed by the free spaces between the plates. The steam alternately climbs and falls parallel to the concentrated liquid. The steam follows a co-current, counter-current path in relation to the liquid. The concentrate and the vapor are both fed into the separation stage where the vapor is sent to a condenser. This type of plate evaporator is frequently applied in the dairy and fermentation industries since they have spatial flexibility. A negative point of this type of evaporator is that it is limited in its ability to treat viscous or solid-containing products. There are other types of plate evaporators, which work with only climbing film.

Multiple-effect evaporators

Unlike single-stage evaporators, these evaporators can be composed of up to seven evaporator stages (effects). The energy consumption for single-effect evaporators is very high and is most of the cost for an evaporation system. Putting together evaporators saves heat and thus requires less energy. Adding one evaporator to the original decreases energy consumption to 50%. Adding another effect reduces it to 33% and so on. A heat-saving-percent equation can be used to estimate how much one will save by adding a certain amount of effects.

The number of effects in a multiple-effect evaporator is usually restricted to seven because after that, the equipment cost approaches the cost savings of the energy-requirement drop.

There are two types of feeding that can be used when dealing with multiple-effect evaporators. Forward feeding takes place when the product enters the system through the first effect, which is at the highest temperature. The product is then partially concentrated as some of the water is transformed into vapor and carried away. It is then fed into the second effect which is slightly lower in temperature. The second effect uses the heated vapor created in the first stage as its heat source (hence the saving in energy expenditure). The combination of lower temperatures and higher viscosities in subsequent effects provides good conditions for treating heat-sensitive products, such as enzymes and proteins. In this system, an increase in the heating surface area of subsequent effects is required.

Another method is using backward feeding. In this process, the dilute products are fed into the last effect which has the lowest temperature and are transferred from effect to effect, with the temperature increasing. The final concentrate is collected in the hottest effect, which provides an advantage in that the product is highly viscous in the last stages, and so the heat transfer is better. Since some years there are also in operation multiple-effect vacuum evaporators with heat pump, well known to be energetically and technically more effective than systems with mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) because due to the lower boiling temperature they can handle highly corrosive liquids or which may form incrustations.^[3]

Agitated Thin / Wiped Film Evaporator Diagram

Agitated thin film evaporators

Agitated thin-film evaporation has been very successful with difficult-to-handle products. Simply stated, the method quickly separates the volatile from the less volatile components using indirect heat transfer and mechanical agitation of the flowing product film under controlled conditions. The separation is normally made under vacuum conditions to maximize ∆T while maintaining the most favorable product temperature, and to maximize volatile stripping and recovery.

Problems

Technical problems can arise during evaporation, especially when the process is applied to the food industry. Some evaporators are sensitive to differences in viscosity and consistency of the dilute solution. These evaporators could work inefficiently because of a loss of circulation. The pump of an evaporator may need to be changed if the evaporator needs to be used to concentrate a highly viscous solution.

Fouling also occurs when hard deposits form on the surfaces of the heating mediums in the evaporators. In foods, proteins and polysaccharides can create such deposits that reduce the efficiency of heat transfer. Foaming can also create a problem since dealing with the excess foam can be costly in time and efficiency. Antifoam agents are to be used, but only a few can be used when food is being processed.

Corrosion can also occur when acidic solutions such as citrus juices are concentrated. The surface damage caused can shorten the long-life of evaporators. Quality and flavor of food can also suffer during evaporation. Overall, when choosing an evaporator, the qualities of the product solution need to be taken into careful consideration.

Marine use

Large ships usually carry evaporating plants to produce fresh water, thus reducing their reliance on shore-based supplies. Steam ships must be able to produce high-quality distillate in order to maintain boiler-water levels. Diesel-engined ships often utilise waste heat as an energy source for producing fresh water. In this system, the engine-cooling water is passed through a heat exchanger, where it is cooled by concentrated seawater (brine). Because the cooling water (which is chemically treated fresh water) is at a temperature of 70–80 °C (158–176 °F), it would not be possible to flash off any water vapour unless the pressure in the heat exhanger vessel was dropped.

To alleviate this problem, a brine-air ejector venturi pump is used to create a vacuum inside the vessel. Partial evaporation is achieved, and the vapour passes through a demister before reaching the condenser section. Seawater is pumped through the condenser section to cool the vapour sufficiently to precipitate it. The distillate gathers in a tray, from where it is pumped to the storage tanks. A salinometer monitors salt content and diverts the flow of distillate from the storage tanks if the salt content exceeds the alarm limit. Sterilisation is carried out after the evaporator.

Evaporators are usually of the shell-and-tube type (known as an Atlas Plant) or of the plate type (such as the type designed by Alfa Laval). Temperature, production and vacuum are controlled by regulating the system valves. Seawater temperature can interfere with production, as can fluctuations in engine load. For this reason, the evaporator is adjusted as seawater temperature changes, and shut down altogether when the ship is manoeuvring. An alternative in some vessels, such as naval ships and passenger ships, is the use of the reverse osmosis principle for fresh-water production, instead of using evaporators.

See also

• Flash evaporation
• Vacuum evaporation
• Centrifugal evaporator
• Rotary evaporator
• Vapor-compression evaporator
• Evaporative cooler
• Pumpable ice technology
• Circulation evaporator

References

1. "How Does an Air Conditioner Work?". Retrieved 27 April 2012.
2. Smook, G.A. (1990), Handbook of pulp and paper technology. Angus Wilde Publications.
3. multiple-effect evaporators with heat pump

Sources

• Fennema, Owen R., Marcus Karel, and Daryl B. Lund. Physical Principles of Food Preservation. Marcel Deker, Inc. New York and Basel, 1975.
• Krijgsman, Ir J., Principal Scientist and Research Project Manager, Gist-brocades, Delft and Delft University of Technology, Delft, and The Netherlands. Product Recovery in Bioprocess Technology. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1992.