Evaporator Level Control

Evaporators are popular operating units for dewatering, concentration, and crystallization in various industries. If the density or the consistency of the
product is an important quality variable, the level control will be much more difficult.
For instance, tomato processing plants use evaporators to produce tomato paste. The density of the tomato paste is the most critical quality variable. It
is desirable to control the density within a small range. The manipulated variables are the inflow and outflow, which affect both the density and level at
the same time. The evaporator, by its nature, is a multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) process. When using single-loop controllers to control the level and
density separately, both loops can fight each other causing major problems.
A multivariable MFA controller can quickly and tightly control density and level by manipulating inflow and outflow simultaneously. An MFA constraint
controller protects the evaporator level from running too high or too low. Table 2 shows what a MIMO MFA controller can accomplish and the benefits
achieved by evaporator customers.
Table 2. MFA Control Benefits for Tomato Evaporator Control
Use of MFA Control
Manipulates inflow and outflow
simultaneously.
Reduces over-drying the paste.
Enables evaporator to be started and maintained in automatic
control.
Reduces product density variation.
Improves efficiency & productivity.

Benefits
Density control is improved by reducing variability by at least 50%.
Steam consumption is reduced.
Flexible production is enabled and load disturbances on the steam generation system
are reduced.
Product quality and production efficiency is improved for better profitability.
Full investment is returned in months if not weeks.

Summary
Based on the core MFA control method, various MFA controllers have been developed to solve specific control problems. This applies to level control
applications as well.
1. The Robust MFA controller is well suited to control the conventional level loops and provides a good protection from running too high or too low.
2. Anti-delay MFA with Feedforward MFA controllers can effectively control the steam drum level.
3. MIMO MFA can control the density and level for operating units like evaporators.