Experiment No. 5 Evaporation Queenie Gene Gadong January 27, 2012 February 11, 2012 I.

Introduction

We have discussed in the previous experiments drying, which is the removal of water from food materials. Drying however generally considers solid products as materials. In this experiment removal of water from a liquid will be considered, that is Evaporation. In evaporation the vapor from a boiling liquid solution is removed and a more concentrated solution remains. (Geankoplis, 1995) The liquid is heated to boiling to enable a change of phase for the water from liquid to gas and the gas is either left to evaporate or is separated from the original solution by condensing. (Earle, 1983) Examples of evaporation products are concentrated sugar solutions, milk, orange juices, and even glue. In some special cases evaporation is used to form crystals, such as in the making of common table salt, this is referred to as crystallization. (Geankoplis, 1995) There are several factors that affect the rate of evaporation and are considerations in the processing of a liquid material through evaporation. 1. Concentration in the liquid. Initially the liquid is diluted and has low viscosity. However as evaporation proceeds the present water in the liquid evaporates leaving the solution to become more concentrated. The increased concentration in the solution leads to a reduction in the heat-transfer coefficient. The heat transfer coefficient is the reciprocal of the thermal resistance of a material; thereby its reduction would indicate an increase in the boiling point of the solution to evaporate it. (www.spiraxsarco.com) To be able to accommodate this change in the solution and to prevent local overheating, adequate circulation is recommended. (Geankoplis, 1995) 2. Solubility. During the course of the evaporation process the concentration of the liquid material increases and the solubility decreases. Further evaporation may lead to crystallization due to the super saturation of the solution. To be able to counter this effect an increase in temperature is recommended since the solubility is directly related to temperature. (Geankoplis, 1995) 3. Temperature sensitivity of materials. There are products which have a low tolerance for temperatures. That is they degrade upon introduction to high temperatures at a given length of time. Such products that have a compromised quality when thoughtlessly placed in a high temperature environment are mostly milk, juices and vegetable extract. Also there are nutrients in a food material which are very volatile, it easily evaporates from the food material. (Geankoplis, 1995) 4. Foaming or frothing. The capability of the liquid to froth or foam can also be a consideration in the evaporation process. When the liquid froths, the foam can accompany the vapor evaporating and therefore there will be reduction in the final volume of the product. (Geankoplis, 1995) 1

5. Pressure and temperature. There is a direct relationship in the concentration of the solutes in a solution to the boiling point of the liquid. As the concentration of the solutes increases the boiling point of the solution also increases. Also the boiling point of the liquid is related to the pressure of the environment. At low pressure of the evaporator the boiling point of the solution decreases. These characteristics of a solution can be used to improve the evaporation process and to protect the integrity of the product by using vacuum pressure for heat sensitive materials. (Geankoplis, 1995) 6. Scale deposition and materials of construction. Scales are deposited products in the solution, caused by fluid impurities, rust formation and other reactions of the wall which cling to the surface of the heaters. The scales in turn create a thin insulation between the liquid material and the heating surface, thereby reducing the over-all heat transfer coefficient. (Geankoplis, 1995) A typical evaporator has three functional parts, the heat exchanger, evaporating section, and the separator. A heat exchanger usually transfers heat by coating with pressurized steam the tubes containing the solution. The evaporating section is the inside of the tubes wherein the solutions are boiled and subsequently evaporates. The separator is usually found on top of the machine wherein the vapour passes thru and proceeds to a condenser. (Earle, 1983) The type of evaporator in the CFOS sued in this experiment is the open kettle or pan evaporator. It is the simplest form of evaporator which uses coils or in our case a jacket to boil the liquid solution. Pan evaporators are easy to use and inexpensive although steam economy is very poor. (Geankoplis, 1995) Machine evaporators generally work in two ways through the Single-effect evaporator and Multipleeffect evaporator. A single effect evaporator usually only have a single unit wherein all the functional parts is present, heat exchanger, evaporator, and separator. In this process the feed enters in a separate pipe from the pressurized steam. The steam would condense as drips or condensate. Then the solution is boiled and the vapor separates from the solution leaving a concentrated product. In a single effect evaporating the process ends here. (Geankoplis, 1995) A multiple effect evaporator on the other hand makes use of the latent heat of the leaving vapor. The boiling point of a liquid is achieved only when the vapor pressure of the solution is in equilibrium with the environment. Assuming that the solution is properly mixed we can infer that the temperatures of both the solution and the leaving vapor are the same. The latent heat of the vapor serves as the heating medium for another effect of evaporation. (Geankoplis, 1995) The efficiency of an evaporator in removing the water from a liquid solution can be measured through Steam Economy. Efficiency is concerned with the maximization of outputs from the inputs provided. Determining the steam economy follows this equation:

.
Determining for the efficiency of the evaporating system should also consider the following: a. Model of the evaporation process b. The heat and material balance c. Heat transfer coefficients d. Flow of solution as a function of pressure (www.eng.fsu.edu.com)

Heat transfer coefficient is almost synonymous to the capability of the material to absorb heat. A high heat transfer coefficient indicates that the material is able to absorb the heat transferred effectively. Total heat transfer coefficient is the reciprocal of the overall resistance to heat transfer of all individual resistances. The total heat transfer coefficient (U) is a combination of both conductive and convective resistance between the solution and the steam separated by the metal wall, and even the solid scales inside the pipes. An accurate calculation of the total heat transfer coefficient is hard to produce since its magnitude depends on several different factors such as nature of heat transfer process, physical property of the solution, flow rate and the layout of the evaporator. (www.spiraxsarco.com) A general equation used for determining the total heat transfer coefficient is: (Earle, 1983) Sugar, (sucrose C12H22O11) is the term used for the crystalline form of the carbohydrates which are readily soluble in water and are sweet. Sugar is obtained from plant extracts mainly in sugarcane, processed through photosynthesis of the plant. (Encarta, 2009) Being a biological material a sugar solution has a low tolerance for temperature. The compromise in the quality of the product is a function of high temperature at a lengthy time. Sugar solutions specifically react to heating resulting to color shifts, from colorless to a golden brown, and alteration of flavor, as a result of the breakdown of the glycosidic bonds in the sugar. (BeMiller, 2010) The objective of this experiment is to compare and analyze the performance and efficiency of a single-effect evaporator at normal pressure under different steam pressure through steam economy. Also this experiment will teach the students to be able to determine the overall heat transfer coefficient (U) from experimental data. II. Methodology

For each group a 10 Liter 10% w/v sugar solution was dissolved in a plastic pail. This was done by dissolving 1 kg of sugar crystal, bought from the Miagao Market, in a 10 L of tap water. The temperature and specific gravity of the solution was determined using a thermometer and hydrometer respectively. Also the weight of the solution inside the pail was measured. The solution was then divided into 2 equal portions in plastic pails. The group then proceeded to the CFOS canning laboratory where they have 2pan evaporators and a boiler system. The dimensions of the pan evaporators were measured, such as the width of the mouth and its depth to allow the group to calculate for the surface area of the solution directly exposed to the steam provided. The solutions were poured inside the evaporators and the height of the solution inside was measured. On one of the evaporator the steam pressure was set at 5 psi, and on the other was at 10 psi, therefore the boiler was run at a total of 15psi. Using the Ellab the group then monitored the temperatures of the two (2) steam condensate and the two (2) the sugar solutions, with a five (5) minute interval, for 30 minutes, only after the desired steam pressure was obtained. After the 30 minutes was up the boiler was immediately shutdown and the product and condensate were withdrawn immediately. The temperature of both the products and steam condensate was taken immediately and consequently weighed.

III.

Results

Table 1: Tabulated results of evaporation process at 10 psi and 5 psi. U 10 psi 5 psi Steam (%) 63.58 50.3 Economy q, Heat T gained 4779.34 21324.29 115.2 8.53 A U=q/AT 249.47 1761.62

1.4191

Table 2: Amount of water evaporated from evaporation process. Water evaporated 10 psi 5 psi wt. solution, g 2475.3 2475.3 wt. product, g 418 1481.3 Water evaporated, g 2057.3 994

IV.

Discussion

Efficiency of an evaporator in removing water from a solution can be determined by the ratio of the output steam to the input steam. From Table 1 it can be noticed that between the two different pressures the, 10 psi and 5 psi, there is a significant difference in the efficiency of both pressures. Assuming all conditions between the two set-up are equal we can assume that the a higher steam pressure would generate a more effective evaporation process for using a open kettle or pan evaporator. There is a 13.28 difference in the percent yield between the two pressures. Calculation for the U, Over all Heat Transfer Coefficient seem complicated and too long at first, however when the values needed have already been found, integration and final calculations are easy to follow. Over all Heat Transfer Coefficient (U) is the reciprocal of the resistance of a solution to heat transfer and is therefore an indication of the effectiveness of an evaporation process. The greater the U, the harder it is to evaporate. From Table 1 it would be noted that there is a significant difference in the U, at both the 10 and 5 psi steam pressure. There is a 1512.15 difference between the values of U for 10 and 5 psi. From this big difference in the values we can infer that at steam pressure 10 psi evaporation is more effective than at 5 psi. And this is manifested by the Steam economy values we have obtained from Table 1. The lower value of U at 10 psi steam pressure may be caused by the agitation brought about by the more violent boiling of the solution inside of the pan evaporator. Transfer of heat through the solution was aided by the constant movement of the molecules in the sugar solution. The reduced amount of agitation at 5 psi steam pressure could have added for the increase in U for this set-up. V. Conclusion

From this experiment we can infer that for an open kettle or pan evaporator a greater steam pressure would yield a greater Steam Economy. The overall heat transfer coefficient can predict the efficiency of an evaporation set-up.

VI.

References BeMiller, J. N. (2010). Carbohydrate Analysis. In S. S. Nielsen, Food Analysis 4th Ed. . Earle, R. (1983). Unit Operations in Food Processing. The New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology Inc. . Geankoplis, C. J. (1995). Transport Processes and Unit Operations 3rd Ed. University of Minnesota: Prentice-Hall International, Inc. Spirax-Sarco Limited. (2012) Heat Transfer. http://www.spiraxsarco.com/resources/steamengineering-tutorials/steam-engineering-principles-and-heat-transfer/heat-transfer.asp, accessed on 02/9/2012. FAMU.College of Engineering. 2002. Steam Economy. http://eng.fsu.edu/me/senior_design/2002/folder16/steam_economy.html Microsoft Encarta. 2008. Sugar. Microsoft Corporation .

VII.

Annex

Table 3: Temperature raw data from Ellab probes T (C) Condensate @ 10 psi 79.4 77.4 Condensate @ 5 psi 78.4 78.1

t, min

10 psi

5 psi

0 5 10

28.8 100.4 100.5

28.8 96.7 100.4

15 20 25 30 Ave.

100.7 101.1 102.1 105.4 101.7

100.4 100.3 100.4 100.4 99.77

72.4 73 71.7 74.2

74.7 76 77.2 82.5

Table 4: Evaporator Dimensions evaporator dimensions (cm) height 69.342 diameter 48.26 height of sample 5.08

Table 5: Weight sugar solution and specific gravity. Sugar Solution 10 psi 5 psi ave. wt. container, wt. cont.+sol'n, g g 523.9 525.5 3000 3000 wt. sol'n, g 2476.1 2474.5 2475.3 Specific Gravity 1.035

Table 6: Weight of concentrated product, after evaporation, and specific gravity. product wt., specific Concentrated Product wt. container, g wt. container+prod., g g gravity 10 psi 166.9 584.9 418 1.31 5 psi 171.6 1752.9 1581.3 1.055 Table 7: Weight of steam used, condensate. wt. wt. wt. Condensate container, cont+cond, condensate, g g g 10 psi 187.4 3423 3235.6 5 psi 246.7 2223 1976.3 Sample calculations: