This document summarizes a new design for Roberts evaporators called the SRI evaporator. Trials of a large prototype SRI evaporator built in Nicaragua showed excellent heat transfer performance, with an average heat transfer coefficient 23% higher than standard Roberts evaporators under the same conditions. The SRI design aims to improve circulation patterns and heat transfer through modifications to the juice feed, removal systems, vapor flow, and other factors. Further testing and modifications are continuing with the goal of maintaining Roberts evaporators' popularity through improved performance.
Hydraulic Tables; The Elements Of Gagings And The Friction Of Water Flowing In Pipes, Aqueducts, Sewers, Etc., As Determined By The Hazen And Williams Formula And The Flow Of Water Over The Sharp-Edged And Irregular Weirs, And The Quantity Discharged
This document summarizes a new design for Roberts evaporators called the SRI evaporator. Trials of a large prototype SRI evaporator built in Nicaragua showed excellent heat transfer performance, with an average heat transfer coefficient 23% higher than standard Roberts evaporators under the same conditions. The SRI design aims to improve circulation patterns and heat transfer through modifications to the juice feed, removal systems, vapor flow, and other factors. Further testing and modifications are continuing with the goal of maintaining Roberts evaporators' popularity through improved performance.
This document summarizes a new design for Roberts evaporators called the SRI evaporator. Trials of a large prototype SRI evaporator built in Nicaragua showed excellent heat transfer performance, with an average heat transfer coefficient 23% higher than standard Roberts evaporators under the same conditions. The SRI design aims to improve circulation patterns and heat transfer through modifications to the juice feed, removal systems, vapor flow, and other factors. Further testing and modifications are continuing with the goal of maintaining Roberts evaporators' popularity through improved performance.
This document summarizes a new design for Roberts evaporators called the SRI evaporator. Trials of a large prototype SRI evaporator built in Nicaragua showed excellent heat transfer performance, with an average heat transfer coefficient 23% higher than standard Roberts evaporators under the same conditions. The SRI design aims to improve circulation patterns and heat transfer through modifications to the juice feed, removal systems, vapor flow, and other factors. Further testing and modifications are continuing with the goal of maintaining Roberts evaporators' popularity through improved performance.
THE SRI EVAPORATORA NEW ROBERTS DESIGN By P.G. WRIGHT 1 , TITO A. SILVA 2 and STEVEN N. PENNISI 3
1 SRI Associates, Australia 2 Ingenio San Antonio, Nicaragua 3 Sugar Research Institute, Mackay Qld
Email: peterw@a1.com.au KEYWORDS: Designs, Roberts, Evaporator, Juice, Heat Transfer. Abstract This paper reviews the performance of many Roberts evaporator designs, notes their shortcomings and presents a design that corrects them as a novel SRI design that may well maintain the popularity of the Roberts type. A very large (5300 m 2 ) new vessel was constructed by Ingenio San Antonio (ISA) staff from design drawings of the principal author in the second half of 2000. Its commissioning phase took place in JanuaryMarch, 2001. Trials carried out by SRI and ISA engineers during a testing period at the beginning of March 2001 are described. Observations of the boiling pattern and heat transfer performance were made. The heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and the heat transfer performance relative to standard Roberts HTC values at the same conditions (HTR), results were determined. The tests later in this series were run with higher operating juice levels and did not achieve the high HTR values found in the earlier tests where the juice level was being kept lower. Despite this, the performance is, in general, excellent, with an average HTC of 3014 W/(m 2 .K) for the whole 12-day operational test period. Initial tests averaged 23% above the typical heat transfer coefficient achieved in Australian evaporator bodies under the same juice outlet brix and temperature conditions, and later operational tests performed slightly better. These results are all the more remarkable because they were achieved at relatively low evaporation loadings and on juice prepared by the sulphitation process. Both of these factors usually retard the heat transfer performance. After observing the behaviour and noting the HTC results, some ideas for future design modifications were formulated, mainly concerned with the reduction in juice volume beneath the calandria, and in isolating the condensate removal line from the juice space. These have since been explored in variations of the basic design. Introduction
It remains current practice in the world raw sugar industry for the concentration of clear juice to use standard Roberts calandria evaporators with tube diameter 38 to 51 mm, and tube lengths of 1.5 to 3 m. Roberts vessels are relatively cheap and easy to manufacture in sizes up to 5500 m 2 in heat transfer area. They have some disadvantages, however, relative to the new technology plate Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________
and falling film types, in their higher juice residence time characteristics, lower heat transfer performance and lack of ability to work efficiently with low differential temperatures across their heating surfaces
A great deal of experience with evaporator matching simulation runs has found that the heat transfer performance of many Roberts evaporator vessels in Colombia and India are 20% to 40% lower than that typical of Australian multi-effect evaporator installations. This prompted a close examination of the physical differences in design practice and led to suggestions for practical modifications of the design to re-emphasise those design principles giving improved circulation patterns and improved heat transfer performance. The success of the new design was presented in a paper (in Spanish) to the ATAGUA Congress in Guatemala (Wright and Silva, 2001). The design considerations are outlined here under the headings:
! The juice feed entry systems. ! Juice removal systems and level control. ! The vapour entry to and vapour flow through the calandria. ! Condensate removal. ! Venting the calandria on non-condensable gases. ! Steam lanes in the calandria.
Design features of Roberts vessels The juice feed entry systems Emil Hugot (Hugot, 1972) gives a full discussion of practical alternatives for feeding juice to Roberts evaporator vessels. He noted several methods of feeding juice to the successive vessels:
! From the bottom of one vessel to the top of the calandria of the following one; this is easy but has disadvantages such as: o flash ebullition does not drive the circulation; o short circuiting of juice is easier; o more fogging of juice and more tendency for entrainment; o extra head loss between vessels (equivalent to 2/3rd the height of the tubes). ! From the bottom to the bottom: o input juice should be distributed by a ring pipe and holes that direct the juice towards the periphery; o dimensions of the juice pipes should be such that the cross-section reduces the theoretical velocity of the juice feed below 0.9 m/s for a quintuple effect. ! From the bottom to the bottom, with a level regulator: o Hugot (1972) refers to a mechanical float regulator, but the same level control function is now better performed by a dP cell sensor and level control loop, operating on a valve regulating the juice flow either into or out of the vessel. ! From the bottom with Chapman circulation: o The Chapman system consists in closing off the lower opening of a small central centre well by a funnel which forms the outlet point for the juice passing to the following vessel. o The only juice that leaves this vessel is that which flows down into the centre well. Consequently, if it is arranged that the entering juice be directed towards the bottom Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________
of the tubes near the periphery of the calandria, there is a good chance that it will pass several times before reaching the centre well. o This system has given excellent results and was recommended by Hugot. He also considers that a bottom to bottom feed in conjunction with a Chapman feed system works relatively well.
Two commonly used feed systems of Roberts vessels are shown in Figure 1. The Chapman feed system (1a) is usual in Central America, while Australia uses an under-under feed system (1b) with no central downtake.
Fig. 1Two common arrangements for Roberts evaporator vessels. Present Australian practice is to have the feed introduced through three to six inlets on a pitch circle diameter about 2/3 rd of the outer diameter of the calandria. Usually the juice outlet is close to the bottom centreline of the vessel. Australian research based on computational fluid dynamics modelling (Steindl, 2003) has shown that substantial improvements to the juice flow pattern could be made. These would achieve a better approach to an ideal flow pattern, viz. plug flow of juice, with a steady rise in juice concentration from inlet to outlet. This is particularly important in the later stages of the set, where the rise in the concentration of the juice is larger, and hence variations in heat transfer rate due to concentration changes are more significant.
Extensive experience has shown that, when feeding juice which is coming from a previous evaporator stage and hence superheated relative to the boiling point of the receiving vessel, the extra boiling action due to the flash must be managed to aid the circulation of the juice upwards through the calandria and to avoid entrainment or erosion problems.
Australia Louvre or channel type arrester South America & India dP Control Exit Entrance Entrance Exit Cyclone type arrester a b Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________
The choice of feed system modifications depends on the cost and practicality of the modifications involved in each system, as well as on considerations of the preferred juice removal system.
J uice removal systems and level control The Chapman removal system (Figure 1a), presently widely used in the Americas, positions a cone in a small central downtake of the calandria, with the juice takeoff pipe fed directly from this cone. Sometimes the cone is sealed to fix the operating level conditions to the point where just sufficient juice boils over into the downtake, and sometimes a gap is arranged around the cone so that the cone position controls the operating juice level. The Australian system has no central downtake and uses bottom feed with bottom removal and has conventional automatic control of juice level. The downtake/cone system probably has a slight advantage in that it tends to prevent the short-circuiting of juice from inlet to outlet as observed by Jones and Pozzetti (2000). However, the automatic level control may be the bigger advantage, as it allows the optimum juice level for maximising heat transfer to be selected.
The vapour entry to and vapour flow through the calandria The pressure loss in the vapour entry to the calandria of some vessels can be unusually high. The pressure drop in the vapour entering the tubes can be the main problem where there is an inadequate transfer section to diffuse the vapour into a wide area of the external tubes. In some cases, the removal of some of the outermost external tubes at the steam entry point can lower the pressure drop in the tube entry, and have an overall beneficial effect on the heat transfer.
Condensate removal, and venting the calandria of non-condensable gases The positioning of spears or removal points to remove incondensable gas (sometimes termed air or ammonia) accumulation in the calandria has not been an exact science. The position should be at the extreme end of the steam path, and the removal should be at both the top and the bottom of the calandria. The method of air removal from the evaporator calandrias is often not logical.
Jenkins (1966) states that continuous removal of non-condensable gases is essential to maintain heat transfer, and gassing pipes are provided from the calandria to the vapour space of the same vessel, or preferably from each vessel to the final vapour pipe to the condenser: in the latter case gases do not enter the following calandria.
Perry (1950) states in the Chemical Engineers Handbook the location of vent connections is not always easily determined. The general guide is that the air will collect at the end of the steam path, if the steam has a positive velocity in any particular direction. However, steam in the standard vertical tube evaporator has no positive velocity in any particular direction. Air vents are usually located around the outside edge of the steam space, and this is also true for the vertical basket type. Air vents should be provided on both the top and bottom tube sheets of these types.
The fact that air is heavier than steam at the same pressure and temperature has no bearing on air removal, because circulation in the steam space is probably more than sufficient to keep the two gases well mixed unless there is a positive velocity tending to force the air in a particular direction. Baffles inside the steam space, for directing the steam flow or segregating the air at a particular point, are not likely to be of much value in most evaporators. Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________
The method of air removal from the evaporator calandrias has been examined through many vessel and calandria observations. A number of different types of gas removal arrangements were seen. Some of those seen at San Antonio are shown in Figure 2. The large vessel had a double steam entry, with internal baffles as shown. Other smaller vessels have combined gas/condensate removal points in external boxes.
Fig. 2Some arrangement for gas venting in Roberts calandrias at San Antonio. In many cases, external boxes are fitted as a combined condensate removal and non- condensable gas removal facility. Air is collected both from the top and the bottom (the latter along with the condensate flow) and piped through a valve to the vent gas line. Sometimes gas spears are used. The spears are often 50 mm tubes of full calandria depth drilled with many holes and piped from the top into the vent gas removal system.
It is considered that there are some real deficiencies in the present gas venting arrangements, as there are regions in the calandria that would be subject to gas accumulation. This could be alleviated in all the arrangements by adding extra gas spears, though this strategy does incur extra steam loss.
Condensate removal is usually from the bottom of the calandria. Often condensate is required to flow counter to the vapour flow, causing some accumulation of condensate in the calandria, thus lowering the efficiency of heat transfer in that region. Ideally, removal should be co-current with the vapour flow, and the accumulation of condensate minimised.
Steam lanes Steam lanes are often specified in an attempt to reduce the pressure drop on vapour entry, and to provide a defined path for the vapour flow into the inner regions of the calandria. Unfortunately, however, they result in a considerable loss of tubed area, and they often cause difficulty in determining the appropriate locations of gassing points.
existing gas spears suggested new gas spears combined condensate and gas removal
combined condensate and gas removal suggested new gas spear suggested new gas spears Vessel Pre-evaporator #6 Some small vessels Some small vessels combined condensate and gas removal
Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________
A new approachthe SRI Roberts type design A new cogeneration project at the San Antonio factory required the design, manufacture and installation of a 5300 m 2 Roberts calandria style evaporator along with other associated works to increase the capacity of the station to the levels required for a high process steam economy. The new vessel was to be set up in series with the existing vessels of the #2 evaporator stage, and receive #1 vapour at ~70 kPag, and receive juice from the outlet of the #1 evaporator bodies. Vapour from the new vessel was to be passed to the vacuum pan stage and juice heaters, as well as to the #3 stages of the sets.
After consideration of the many design problems with existing Roberts designs, a new arrangement was designed to overcome many of the previously described problems with juice, vapour, condensate and gas flows in the vessel.
All flows are arranged to move uniformly from the outer diameter to the inner diameter of the vessel. In accordance with modern Australian practice (Quinan et al., 1985), a small number of 150 mm mild steel downcomer tubes were dispersed around the calandria among the stainless steel heating tubes. These act as stay bars, and, as well, provide a recirculation return path for the juice.
In addition, a larger central downcomer was provided, with a sealed pipe outlet for the juice through the bottom cone. The use of the central downtake feature was an option and was not considered essential to the SRI design. Arrangements were made for the controlled bypass of juice from the lowest point in the vessel to the outlet pipe, as this feature was required for the purposes of level control.
Proprietary LSEAII louvre entrainment devices were installed in the vapour discharge area at the top of the vessel. The design was considered to have distinct technical advantages over existing designs.
Figures 3 shows a photograph of the exterior of the evaporator taken just before commissioning in January, 2001. Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________
Fig. 3View of the vessel exterior during construction.
The new vessel was constructed by San Antonio staff in the second half of 2000. The commissioning phase took place in January-March, 2001. Early trials were made with the outlet juice bypass closed. Under this condition, it was found that the juice operating control level had to be set quite high to ensure that sufficient juice entered the central downtake tube and flowed to the outlet pump. In spite of this, the pressure differential across the calandria was observed to be quite low, and the performance good.
During a testing period at the beginning of March 2001, SRI and ISA engineers set up measuring instruments provided by SRI, and experimented with the juice level control settings. It was found that, if the control level was set low (at what was considered a more optimal splash level above the tube plate), insufficient juice flowed to the central outlet downtake and it had to be supplemented by juice bypass. Initially an existing single pipe juice bypass system was used but this proved insufficient. San Antonio staff then installed an extra two bypass pipes, and these allowed the optimum level control to be achieved.
A magnetic flow meter was available to measure the condensate flow, and, because a condensate flash system had been installed on the vessel, this meter could be check calibrated by using the measured time interval for the level in the condensate tank to rise between two marks (the condensate pumps were temporarily stopped during this calibration test). Other measurements of vapour pressure (using an accurate digital pressure gauge), juice temperature and exit concentration were made during each test. A small spreadsheet program (incorporating functions for saturated Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________
steam pressure/temperature conversion, vapour enthalpy, boiling point elevation, and for standard Roberts heat transfer coefficient values) was written and used to assist with calculations and aid in the interpretation of the experimental trials.
Results and discussion The heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and the heat transfer performance relative to standard Roberts HTC values at the same conditions (HTR), results were determined. The standard Roberts HTC values were calculated from the correlation of HTC with outlet juice temperature and brix given by Wright (1998). ]
The initial results taken by SRI over two days with a range of outlet concentrations are shown in Table 1. There is some variability in performance, with some excellent HTC values. The results of the 21 operational tests, taken over the following 12 days, are given in Table 2. These showed somewhat higher evaporation loadings.
The HTR values from these tests are plotted in Figure 4. The tests later in the second week of this series were run with higher operating juice levels and did not achieve the high HTR values found in the earlier tests where the juice level was being kept lower. However, the performance is, in general, excellent, with an average HTC of 3014 W/(m 2 K) for the whole 12-day test period.
This is well above the typical heat transfer coefficient typically achieved in Australian evaporator bodies under the same juice brix and temperature conditions, and is all the more remarkable because it was achieved at the relatively low evaporation loadings (below 25 kg/m 2 h) and on juice prepared by the sulphitation process.
Table 1Initial heat transfer performance of the SRI evaporator at San Antonio (February 28 and March 1, 2001). Test No. Heat transfer coefft. overall [W/(m 2 K)] Standard Roberts heat transfer coefft. [W/(m 2 K)] Outlet juice brix Calc. HTR Pressure difference [kPa] Effective temperature pressure difference [ K] Evap. Load [kg/h m 2 ] 6 2284 2278 31.1 1.00 22.8 4.21 15.4 5 2492 2210 33.9 1.13 23.9 4.07 16.3 2 2520 2303 34.3 1.09 29.3 4.34 17.6 10 2541 2235 35.6 1.14 42.9 6.80 27.7 9 2048 2143 36.3 0.96 36.8 6.34 20.7 4 3284 2183 38.6 1.50 27.3 3.40 18.0 3 3227 2148 38.9 1.50 28.4 3.78 19.6 8 3134 2117 39.3 1.48 30.0 4.15 20.9 Av. 2691 2202 36.0 1.23 30.2 4.6 19.5
Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________
Table 2Operational heat transfer performance of the SRI evaporator at San Antonio (March 314, 2001).
In Tables 1 and 2, it is seen that the pressure difference between the vapour in the calandria and vapour in the vapour space of the vessel is relatively small, averaging 30.5 kPa. Usually, the difference for a quin set is around 45 kPa, and the low value is an indicator of excellent performance.
Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________
Fig. 4SRI evaporator heat transfer performance, March 314, 2001.
The boiling pattern above the calandria was observed through special angled sight glasses around the sides of the body. At optimal level, the boiling circulation moved uniformly from the outside throwing towards the centre well. Some instability and rotary cyclic waves were observed when the boiling level was set at a high level. This behaviour has also been observed in conventional Roberts evaporators (Quinan et al., 1985). Cyclic behaviour was also observed at low boiling levels. The best operation was with a level that allowed just enough juice to flow over into the central downtake, occasionally showing bare tube plate for a few seconds before surging again.
After observing the behaviour and noting the HTC results, some ideas for future design modifications were formulated, mainly concerned with the reduction in juice volume beneath the calandria, and in isolating the condensate removal line from the juice space. These have been explored in later variations of the basic SRI design.
Conclusions Shortcomings in the performance of many Roberts evaporator designs have been studied, and design principles that correct these have been embodied in a novel SRI design. The opportunity to design, commission and test a large implementation of this design has been taken up at San Antonio factory, Nicaragua. Its general performance and heat transfer results have been well above expectations. The new design, with variations in the arrangement of its bottom shape, is recommended as a basis for future development of the Roberts-type evaporator in the sugar industry.
0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Test Number H e a t
T r a n s f e r
R a t i o
( t o
t y p i c a l ) Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________
Acknowledgments
The writers are grateful to the management of Ingenio San Antonio (ISA), Nicaragua, for accepting the risks of a new design in such a large evaporator, Ing. Xavier Arana and the engineering staff of ISA, who constructed the evaporator vessel on site, and the helpful assistance of Ings Karina Amador and Hector Sanchez (ISA) in the commissioning and evaluation phase of the project. Thanks are also due to SRI for funding the evaluation trials on the San Antonio site.
REFERENCES
Hugot, E. (1972). Handbook of Cane Sugar Engineering, 382387.
Jenkins, G.H. (1966). Introduction to Cane Sugar Technology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p 228.
Jones, A. and Pozzetti, C. (2000). Evaporator performance monitoring at Farleigh Mill. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., 22, 334340.
Perry, J.H. ed. (1950). Chemical Engineers Handbook, 3 rd Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, p 511.
Quinan, P.G., Degnian, J.P. and Wainwright, D.N. (1985). Design, construction and performance of a large evaporator at Fairymead Mill. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., 7: 241246.
Steindl, R.J. (2003). Improved Roberts evaporator performance through circulation modelling with CFD. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., 25: (These Proceedings).
Wright, P.G. (1998). Sugar Processing R&D in AustraliaDevelopments over 40 years. 26 th
Australasian Chemical Engineering Conference, Port Douglas, Queensland 2830 September 1998.
Wright, P.G. and Silva, T.A. (2001). El Evaporador SRIUn diseno Roberts de Flujo Radial. Proc. 10th Congreso Nacional de la Cana de Azucarr, ATAGUA, Guatemala, August, 2001 (in Spanish).
Hydraulic Tables; The Elements Of Gagings And The Friction Of Water Flowing In Pipes, Aqueducts, Sewers, Etc., As Determined By The Hazen And Williams Formula And The Flow Of Water Over The Sharp-Edged And Irregular Weirs, And The Quantity Discharged