Journal of Food Engineering 195 (2017) 21e30

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Journal of Food Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Distribution of juice heater surface for optimum performance of

evaporation process in raw sugar manufacturing
Somchart Chantasiriwan
Faculty of Engineering, Thammasat University, Pathum Thani 12121, Thailand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The evaporation process in raw sugar manufacturing turns diluted juice into granulated sugar. It consists
Received 13 November 2015 of three main components: juice heater, multiple-effect evaporator, and crystallizer. Previous studies are
Received in revised form concerned mostly with multiple-effect evaporator with the assumption that sugar juice entering the
13 September 2016
evaporator is at the saturation temperature. In fact, juice temperature must be raised to the saturation
Accepted 17 September 2016
temperature in juice heater using vapor bled from the evaporator. This study investigates a model of the
Available online 21 September 2016
evaporation process with the objective of determining the distribution of juice heater surface that results
in the optimum performance. The model takes into account mass and energy balances in the three
Keywords:
Multiple-effect evaporator
components of the evaporation process. If the total juice heater surface is fixed, it is shown that there is a
Juice heater unique distribution of juice heater surface when vapor is bled from the first and second effects of the
Optimization multiple-effect evaporator. However, if vapor is bled from the first, second, and third effects, many
Mathematical model surface distributions are possible, and one of which is the optimum distribution that maximizes either
the amount of granulated sugar produced from the process or the ratio of the amount of water evapo-
rated from the process to the amount of high-pressure steam required for the process. Increasing the
total juice heater surface increases both performance parameters. Results for two specific systems using
different quadruple-effect evaporators are shown to demonstrate the application of the proposed model.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The ideal raw sugar manufacturing process may be considered
as consisting of two processes: the juice extraction process and the
evaporation process. The first process extracts juice from sugar
cane using either diffuser or milling machinery. Since a substantial
amount of water is required in this process, the output from the
process is diluted juice. The second process evaporates water from
the diluted juice and produces granulated sugar as the final prod-
uct. Main components of this process are juice heater, multiple-
effect evaporator, and crystallizer. The juice heater increases the
diluted juice temperature to the boiling point. The multiple-effect
evaporator removes a substantial amount of water from saturated
diluted juice, and produces concentrated juice (Chantasiriwan,
2016). The crystallizer removes the remaining amount of water
from the concentrated juice, and produces granulated sugar as the
final product of the process.
All three components of the evaporation process require steam
E-mail address: somchart@engr.tu.ac.th.
for either juice heating or water evaporation. Most sugar factories
use bagasse, which is the by-product of the juice extraction process,
as the main fuel for boilers to produce high-pressure steam, which
is then used to run steam turbines. Although steam extracted or
exhausted from turbines at an absolute pressure of approximately
200 kPa may be used in all three components, it is more energy
efficient to use the steam for only the multiple-effect evaporator,
and to use vapor bled from the evaporator for the juice heater and
the crystallizer. A typical design of multiple-effect evaporator uses
vapor bleeding from the first effect for the crystallizer, and vapor
bleeding from the first two effects for the juice heater, which leads
to specification of larger surfaces of the first two effects compared
with the other effects. Pinch analysis has suggested that improved
energy efficiency can be achieved by using vapor bled from the
third effect (Higa et al., 2009). However, using vapor bled from the
third effect requires a special arrangement for removing conden-
sate and incondensable gases because the third-effect pressure is
sub-atmospheric. Moreover, there may be questions about using
third-effect vapor bleeding in an existing installation with a small
third-effect surface without adversely affecting the subsequent
effect that requires vapor from the third effect.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2016.09.014
0260-8774/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
22 S. Chantasiriwan / Journal of Food Engineering 195 (2017) 21e30
In this paper, a mathematical model of the evaporation process
is presented. A survey of the relevant literature indicates the lack of
such a model. Previous studies are mostly concerned with only
multiple-effect evaporator because of its large consumption of
thermal energy (Higa et al., 2009; Cortes et al., 2010) despite the
fact that juice heater is an indispensable component of an evapo-
ration process in raw sugar manufacturing. The model of the
evaporation process takes into account interaction between the
three components through mass and energy balances. The model is
capable of assessing the improved performance of the evaporation
process that results from increasing the total juice heater surface.
The performance parameters are the rate of raw sugar production
and the steam economy, which is defined as the ratio of the water
content of the diluted sugar juice to the amount of steam input to
the process. To demonstrate the use of this model, two cases of
evaporation process that are installed with quadruple-effect
evaporators are considered. The evaporator in the first case,
which is intended for vapor bleeding from the first effect, has a
large surface for the first effect, and smaller equal surfaces for the
other three effects. The evaporator in the second case, which is
intended for vapor bleeding from the first and second effects, has
large surfaces for the first and second effects, and smaller equal
surfaces for the other two effects.
2. Mathematical model
The schematic representation of the evaporation process is
shown in Fig. 1. The juice heater is of the indirect type consisting of
4 heat exchangers (HC, H1, H2, and H3). It receives diluted juice at a
flow rate of mf,in from the juice extraction process. After passing
through H3, H2, and H1, the juice temperature increases from Th,3 to
Th,0. The juice is assumed to be saturated, and its pressure is above
the atmospheric pressure. Dissolved gases in the juice are got rid of
by passing it through the flash tank (FC). Finally, the juice is passed
mgs
Th,0 Th,1
H1
mb,1
C
ma
E1
mv,0 mv,1
mc,1
FC mv,c
F1
HC
mf,0 mf,1
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of evaporation process.
through HC to increase its temperature to the boiling point using
exhaust steam from the turbine as the heating medium. Although
there has been suggestion of the elimination of HC (Peacock and
Love, 2003), it is still indispensable in most sugar factories due to
the fact that using part of the heating surface of the first effect of the
evaporator to heat the juice up to the boiling point is generally
considered inefficient. This argument, however, is based on the
assumption that installation cost depends on only heating surface
area. It should be noted that a practical optimum takes into account
other costs in addition to installation cost due to heating surface.
The quadruple-effect evaporator requires a supply of high-
pressure steam. The thermal energy released by the condensation
of the steam causes the evaporation of water in sugar juice at a
lower pressure p1 in the first effect (E1), resulting in vapor and more
concentrated sugar juice. The vapor leaving all effects (E1, E2, and
E3) except the last effect (E4) is used to evaporate water in sugar
juice in the succeeding effect. The arrangement in Fig. 1 makes use
of full condensate flash recovery in order to improve the efficiency
of the evaporator. A flash tank is placed after each effect except the
last one. The first flash tank (F1) receives condensate from the first
effect at pressure p0 to produce vapor and condensate at pressure
p1. Each of the other two flash tanks (F2 and F3) receives conden-
sate from the preceding effect and the preceding flash tank at
pressure pi to produce vapor and condensate at pressure piþ1.
Vapor is bled from all effects of the evaporator except the last
one. Vapor bled from the first, second, and third effects is used to
increase juice temperature in H1, H2, and H3, respectively. Addi-
tional vapor bled from the first effect is used to evaporate the
remaining water in the concentrated juice leaving the evaporator in
the crystallizer (C). The output of the crystallizer is granulated
sugar.
The mathematical model of the evaporation process consists of
3 sub-models for the juice heater, the quadruple-effect evaporator,
and the crystallizer. The evaporator sub-model is a modification of
Th,2 Th,3
H2 H3 mf,in
mb,2 mb,3
mv,4
E2 E3 E4
mv,2 mv,3
mc,2 c mc,3
F2 F3
mf,2 mf,3 mf,4
 S. Chantasiriwan / Journal of Food Engineering 195 (2017) 21e30 23

the model proposed by Chantasiriwan (2015) with the inclusion of

vapor bleeding. This sub-model consists of mass and energy bal- hvl ðTÞ ¼ 2492:9  2:0523T  3:0752  103 T 2 (10)
ance equations in all effects of the evaporator.
It can be seen from Fig. 1 that the mass balance equation for the
hv ðTÞ ¼ 2502:04 þ 1:8125T þ 2:585  104 T 2  9:8  106 T 3
first effect is
(11)
mf ;1 þ mv;1 þ mb;1 þ ma ¼ mf ;0 (1)
where T is the saturated steam temperature, and is related to the
For other effects (i s 1), the mass balance equation is saturation pressure p by

mf ;i þ mv;i þ mb;i ¼ mf ;i1 (2) 3816:44

T ¼ 227:03 þ (12)
18:3036  lnð7:5pÞ
Note that mb,4 ¼ 0 because no vapor is bled from the fourth
effect. Eqs. (1) and (2) can be immediately solved for mf,i. Specific enthalpy at inlet and exit of effect i is the product of the
specific heat capacity of sugar juice and juice temperature
i   (hf ¼ cpfTf). Both quantities vary from inlet to exit of effect i. Tf is
X
mf ;i ¼ mf ;0  ma  mv;j þ mb;j (3) greater than the boiling point of saturated liquid water at the same
j¼1 pressure due to the concentration of dissolved solids in juice. Ac-
cording to a simple correlation by Honig (1963),
The energy balance equations are
  ðinÞ 2xi1
ðinÞ ðoutÞ Tf ;i ¼ Ti þ (13)
ð1  εÞmv;0 hvl;0 þ mf ;0 hf ;1  hf ;1 100  xi1
  ðoutÞ

¼ ma þ mv;1 þ mb;1 hv;1  hf ;1 (4) 2xi
ðoutÞ
Tf ;i ¼ Ti þ (14)
100  xi

       
ðinÞ ðoutÞ ðoutÞ
ð1  εÞ mv;1 þ mc;1 hvl;1 þ mf ;0  ma  mv;1  mb;1 hf ;2  hf ;2 ¼ mv;2 þ mb;2 hv;2  hf ;2 (5)

       
ðinÞ ðoutÞ ðoutÞ
ð1  εÞ mv;2 þ mc;2 hvl;2 þ mf ;0  ma  mv;1  mb;1  mv;2  mb;2 hf ;3  hf ;3 ¼ mv;3 þ mb;3 hv;3  hf ;3 (6)

      
ðinÞ ðoutÞ ðoutÞ
ð1  εÞ mv;3 þ mc;3 hvl;3 þ mf ;0  ma  mv;1  mb;1  mv;2  mb;2  mv;3  mb;3 hf ;4  hf ;4 ¼ mv;4 hv;4  hf ;4 (7)

where hvl,i is the latent heat of evaporation at the saturation tem- It should be noted that boiling temperature rise due to hydro-
perature Ti, hv,i is the saturated steam enthalpy at Ti, and hf,i is the static pressure head is not taken into account in this model because
sugar juice enthalpy in effect i. It is assumed that a fraction ε of heat the evaporator is assumed to be of a design in which the effect of
is lost in each vessel. Rein (2007) suggested that ε ¼ 0.015. hydrostatic pressure head on boiling temperature rise is negligible.
The mass flow rate of vapor from each flash tank (mc,i) is Mass balance of dissolved solids yields the equation for xi as
determined from the mass balance and energy balance of the flash follows.
tank, which results in
mf ;0 x0
0 1
xi ¼ Pi   (15)
mf ;0  ma  mv;j þ mb;j
X
i1 j¼1
mc;i ¼ @ mv;j Af ðTi1 ; Ti Þ (8)
j¼0
Finally, the equation for specific heat capacity of sugar juice is
obtained from Bubnik et al. (1995):
where  
cpf Tf ; x ¼ 4:1868  0:0297x þ 7:5  105 xTf (16)
hv ðTi1 Þ  hv ðTi Þ  hvl ðTi1 Þ þ hvl ðTi Þ In addition to equations of mass and energy balances, there is
f ðTi1 ; Ti Þ ¼ (9)
hvl ðTi1 Þ heat transfer equation in each effect, which is
In order for the analysis to be possible, equations for hvl, hv, and h i  
ðoutÞ
hf are needed. Equations for latent heat of evaporation of water and Ui Ai Ti1  Tf ;i ¼ ð1  εÞ mv;i1 þ mc;i1 hvl;i1 (17)
enthalpy of saturated steam are obtained from Rein (2007):
24 S. Chantasiriwan / Journal of Food Engineering 195 (2017) 21e30

The correlation for heat transfer coefficient in effects 1e3 is According to Peacock and Love (2003), Uh,c is approximately
provided by Guo et al. (1983). 1.0 kW/m2 K. It may be assumed that the steam pressure in HC (pc)
is controlled so that the juice temperature at the exit of HC is
Ui ¼ 0:16ð100  xi Þ0:4 Ti0:25 (18) exactly T1. The surface of HC (Ah,c) is assumed to be large enough so
that pc does not exceed p0.
Rein (2007) pointed out that this correlation over-predicted the
Although it is suggested that the amount of bled vapor is pro-
heat transfer coefficient in the last vessel (U4). Smith and Taylor
portional to the amount of dissolved solids in syrup (Broadfoot,
(1981) observed that U4 correlated with T4 as follows.
2001), the amount of bled vapor is more realistically determined
from the assumption that the crystallizer is a single-effect evapo-
U4 ¼ 0:034T4  1:13 (19)
rator. Vapor bled from the first effect is used to evaporate the
If there is no heat loss in the juice heater, the requirement that remaining water in the syrup leaving the evaporator. Ideally, the
the latent heat of condensation of the bled vapor equals the in- amount of water to be evaporated is the water content of the syrup.
crease in enthalpy of the juice in H1, H2, and H3 yields In practice, however, crystallization is usually carried out in three
  stages (Rein, 2007). In each stage, water is added, and heat loss
mb;i hvl;i ¼ mf ;i cp;i Th;i1  Th;i (20) occurs. Therefore, the ideal amount of vapor bleeding required for
crystallization must be multiplied by a correction factor to obtained
where cp,i is the average heat capacity of the juice between Th,i and the actual amount of vapor bleeding.
Th,i1.
Cmf ;4 ð1  x4 =100Þhvl;4
1h    i ma ¼
hvl;1
(30)
cp;i ¼ cpf Th;i ; xin þ cpf Th;i1 ; xin (21)
2
Previous investigations by Reid and Rein (1983) and Rein (2007)
In addition, the requirement that the heat transfer across the
suggest that C varies in the range of 2.0e2.2. It is assumed that C
heat exchanger surfaces in H1, H2, and H3 equals the increase in the
depends on the juice concentration leaving the final effect (x4); C
juice enthalpy yields
decreases as x4 increases. In the present model, C is 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2
! when x4 is 70%, 65%, and 60%, respectively.
  Uh;i Ah;i
Th;i1 ¼ Ti  Ti  Th;i exp (22)
mf ;in cp;i
3. Determination of juice heater surface distribution
Hugot (1986) proposed the following equation for the overall
heat transfer coefficient of the juice heater. It should be noted that, because the juice temperature at the exit
of HC is assumed to be T1, HC is uncoupled from the rest of the
 u 0:8
Uh;i ¼ 0:007Ti (23) system as far as the solution to the system is concerned. For the rest
1:8 of the system, if the concentration of inlet sugar juice (xin) and the
surfaces of the multiple-effect evaporator (A1  A4) are specified,
If the juice velocity (u) is assumed to be 2.5 m/s, the above equation there are 24 unknown variables, which are x4, mf,in, mf,0, ma,
becomes mb,1  mb,3, mv,0  mv,4, T0  T4, Th,0  Th,3, and Ah,1  Ah,3. The sugar
industry uses boilers to produce high-pressure steam, which is fed
Uh;i ¼ 0:0091Ti (24)
to either back-pressure or extraction-condensing steam turbines.
After leaving H1, the juice pressure (pin) is a little above the Saturated steam at a specified pressure p0 from turbines is then
atmospheric pressure (pout). The juice is allowed to flash in FC, used as an input to the multiple-effect evaporator. Vapor pressure
resulting in a reduced mass flow rate (mf,0) that is determined from at the exit of the fourth effect (p4) is also fixed because the tem-
perature of sugar juice in the vessel is controlled at a low temper-
mf ;0 ¼ mf ;in ½1  f ðTin ; Tout Þ (25) ature to prevent color formation and sucrose degradation losses.
Since both p0 and p4 are fixed, and steam is saturated at inlet and
where Tin and Tout are saturation temperatures corresponding to pin exit, T0 and T4 are also fixed according to Eq. (12).
and pout. Consequently, the juice concentration at the inlet to the Sugar juice that enters the evaporation process comes from a
first effect (x0) is related to the juice concentration at the inlet to the juice extraction process using sugar milling machinery. The tem-
juice heater (xin) as follows. perature of juice leaving the milling unit is equal to the ambient
temperature. Therefore, Th,3 may be assumed to be 30  C. The
mf ;in xin
x0 ¼ (26) temperature of sugar juice leaving the juice heater (Th,0) is assumed
mf ;0 to be 103  C (Rein, 2007). The sugar juice is also assumed to be
saturated, which means that the juice pressure is above the at-
The juice pressure is raised from pout to p1 before entering the
mospheric pressure. The juice is allowed to flash in FC in order to
first effect of the evaporator. In addition, the juice temperature is
get rid of dissolved gases, and its temperature is raised to T1 in HC
raised from Tout to T1 in HC using the exhaust steam as the heating
before entering the first effect of the evaporator.
medium. The model for HC is similar to that for H1, H2, and H3.
With p0, p4, Th,0, and Th,3 specified, there are 20 remaining un-
mv;c hvl;c ¼ mf ;0 cp;c ðT1  Tout Þ (27) knowns. Eqs. (4)e(7) and (15) and (17) and (20) and (22) and (25)
and (30) represent 17 equations. Therefore, 3 more variables must
1h i be specified. If the juice heater surfaces (Ah,1, Ah,2, and Ah,3) are
cp;c ¼ cpf ðTout ; x0 Þ þ cpf ðT1 ; x0 Þ (28) specified, the system of equations can be solved. It is found that
2 increasing juice heater surfaces leads to decreasing x4. It is usual for
! sugar factories to control x4 to a value between 60% and 70%. If x4 is
Uh;c Ah;c specified, only 2 of the heater surfaces may be specified. The
T1 ¼ Tc  ðTc  Tout Þexp (29)
mf ;0 cp;c remaining surface is obtained from the solution of the system. The
specification of x4 results in the following expression for mf,0 as
 S. Chantasiriwan / Journal of Food Engineering 195 (2017) 21e30 25

obtained from Eq. (15). Table 1

Surfaces (in m2) of multiple-effect evaporators in two cases under consideration.
" # 
X
4   x4 Effect Case 1 Case 2
mf ;0 ¼ ma þ mv;i þ mb;i (31)
i¼1
x4  x0 1 6.60  103 6.00  103
2 2.42  103 4.50  103
After eliminating mf,0 from Eqs. (4)e(7), the remaining 5 un- 3 2.42  103 1.72  103
4 2.42  103 1.72  103
knowns in these equations are mv,0  mv,4.
Since this system of equations is nonlinear, the solution must be
obtained by iteration. The iteration procedure is the following.
the first and second effects, whereas three-effect vapor bleeding
1. Set mb,i ¼ ma ¼ 0. scheme requires vapor bleeding from the first, second, and third
2. Assume values of T1  T3, which may be obtained from linear effects. In one-effect vapor bleeding scheme, Ah,2 ¼ Ah,3 ¼ 0, and the
interpolation between known values of T0 and T4. total surface is the surface of H1. In two-effect vapor bleeding
3. Assume values of x1  x3, which may be obtained from linear scheme, Ah,3 ¼ 0, and there is a unique distribution of total surface
interpolation between known values of x0 and x4. between H1 and H2. In three-effect vapor bleeding scheme, how-
4. Assume values of Th,1 and Th,2, which may be obtained from ever, there are several distributions of total surface among H1, H2,
linear interpolation between known values of Th,0 and Th,3. and H3 that satisfy a specified juice heating requirement. Since the
5. Solve the linear system of 5 equations, consisting of Eqs. (4)e(7) two performance parameters depend on how the total surface is
and Eq. (17) with i ¼ 4, for mv,0  mv,4. distributed, there exist two optimum surface distributions corre-
6. Determine T1  T3 from Eq. (17), which is rewritten as sponding to maximum values of mgs and SE.

  hvl;i1 2xi 4. Results and discussion

Ti ¼ Ti1  ð1  εÞ mv;i1 þ mc;i1 
Ui A i 100  xi
The juice concentration at inlet of the evaporation process is
12%. The pressure of exhaust steam supplied to the quadruple-
7. Compute mf,0 from Eq. (31). effect evaporator is 200 kPa (T0 ¼ 120.22  C), and the vapor pres-
8. Compute x1, x2, and x3 from Eq. (15). sure at the outlet of the evaporator is 16 kPa (T4 ¼ 55.33  C). Two
9. Repeat steps 5e8 until the converged solution is obtained. cases are considered. The surface areas of the four effects of the
10. Compute mf,in and x0 from Eqs. (25) and (26). evaporator for both cases are listed in Table 1. Total evaporator
11. Fix a value for the total juice heater surface surfaces for case 1 and case 2 are, respectively, 1.386  104 and
(Ah,t ¼ Ah,1 þ Ah,2 þ Ah,3). 1.394  104 m2. Case 1 with a large surface in the first effect is
12. Fix a value for Ah,3. It may be set to zero if vapor bleeding designed for vapor bleeding from the first effect, whereas case 2
occurs from only the first and second effects. with large surfaces in the first and second effects is designed for
13. Determine Th,2 and Th,1 from Eq. (22) with i ¼ 3 and 2, vapor bleeding from both effects.
respectively. If vapor is bled from only the first effect, the total juice heater
14. Determine mb,i from Eq. (20). surface (Ah,t) is equal to that the surface of H1. Note that the total
15. Determine Ah,1 from Eq. (22) with i ¼ 1. surface excludes the surface of HC, which is 900 m2 for case 1 or
16. Determine Ah,2 from Ah,2 ¼ Ah,t  Ah,1  Ah,3. 800 m2 for case 2. The total surface depends on the juice concen-
17. Determine ma from Eq. (30). tration at the outlet of the evaporator (x4). Table 2 shows the values
18. Repeat steps 5e17 until the converged solution is obtained. of the total surfaces for cases 1 and 2 when x4 is fixed at 60%, 65%,
and 70%. It can be seen that total surfaces in both cases decrease as
Two important performance parameters are computed from the x4 increases. It is interesting to note that case 1 has larger total juice
solution: the amount of granulated sugar produced by the evapo- heater surfaces than case 2 although it has a smaller total evapo-
ration process (mgs) and the steam economy (SE). The former is the rator surface.
product of juice concentration and the amount of juice at the inlet If both Ah,t and x4 are fixed, and vapor is bled from the first and
to the evaporation process. second effects, there is a unique distribution of the total surface
between H1 and H2 in each case. Figs. 2 and 3 show how Ah,1 and
xin mf ;in
mgs ¼ (32) Ah,2 vary with Ah,t for 3 values of x4 in the case 1 and case 2,
100 respectively. It can be seen that, as Ah,t increases, Ah,1 decreases,
The latter is defined as the water content of the sugar juice whereas Ah,2 increases. Furthermore, increasing x4 results in
divided by the amount of steam used to drive the evaporation decreasing Ah,1 and increasing Ah,2.
process. If Ah,t and x4 are fixed, and vapor is bled from the first, second,
and third effects, there are many distributions of the total surface
ð1  0:01xin Þmf ;in among H1, H2, and H3 in each case. Fig. 4 shows distributions that
SE ¼ (33)
mv;0 þ mv;c maximize mgs for x4 ¼ 60%, 65%, and 70% in case 1. It can be seen

Both parameters may be increased by increasing the total juice

heater surface. The cost of the juice heater is assumed to depend on Table 2
Total juice heater surfaces (in m2) when vapor is bled from only the first effect in
its size. If this cost is fixed, the total surface of the juice heater is also
case 1 and case 2 for three values of juice concentration at outlet of multiple-
fixed. Imposing a fixed total surface adds another constraint to the effect evaporator.
system of equations, which implies that only one of Ah,1, Ah,2, and
x4 Case 1 Case 2
Ah,3 may be specified.
Three vapor bleeding schemes are considered. In one-effect 60% 1919.72 1475.60
vapor bleeding scheme, vapor is bled from only the first effect. 65% 1616.39 1253.34
70% 1416.92 1104.32
Two-effect vapor bleeding scheme requires vapor bleeding from
26 S. Chantasiriwan / Journal of Food Engineering 195 (2017) 21e30

3000
x4 (%) 1600 (a)
2500 60
65
70 Ah,2 1200 Ah,1
2000 Ah,2
Ah,3
Ah,i (m2) 1500 Ah,i (m2)
800

1000
400
500
Ah,1
0 0
1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 3000 1900 2100 2300 2500 2700 2900
Total surface (m2) Total surface (m2)
Fig. 2. Distribution of the total juice heater surface between H1 and H2 in case 1. 1600
1400 (b)
2500 1200
x4 (%)
60 1000
2000 65
70 Ah,i (m2) 800
1500 Ah,2
600
2
Ah,i (m )
400
1000
200

500 0
Ah,1 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 3000

0 Total surface (m2)

1100 1300 1500 1700 1900 2100 2300 2500
Total surface (m2)
1600 (c)
Fig. 3. Distribution of the total juice heater surface between H1 and H2 in case 2.

1200
that increasing Ah,t or x4 results in decreasing Ah,1 and increasing
Ah,2 and Ah,3. In case 1, juice heater surface distributions that
Ah,i (m2)
maximize SE are found to be very close to those that maximize mgs 800
as shown in Fig. 4. Figs. 5 and 6 show that the same trend appears in
case 2 as in case 1, Unlike case 1, however, distributions that
maximize mgs are markedly different from distributions that 400
maximize SE in case 2.
Figs. 7 and 8 show that, for a given total juice heater surface in
case 1, more granulated sugar and larger steam economy are ob- 0
tained by using vapor bleeding from the first three effects and 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 3000
optimally distributing the total surface among H1, H2, and H3 than
those obtained by using vapor bleeding from the first two effects. Total surface (m2)
The total surface must, however, be at least 1970 m2, 1660 m2, and
Fig. 4. Distribution of the total juice heater surface among H1, H2, and H3 that max-
1457 m2, respectively, for x4 ¼ 60%, 65%, and 70% in order for the
imizes mgs in case 1 for (a) x4 ¼ 60%, (b) x4 ¼ 65%, and (c) x4 ¼ 70%.
optimal three-effect vapor bleeding scheme to be possible. The
differences between the amount of granulated sugar and the steam
economy produced by the optimal three-effect vapor bleeding optimal three-effect vapor bleeding scheme in case 2 does not
scheme and those produced by the two-effect vapor bleeding appear to produce noticeably more granulated sugar than the two-
scheme increase with the total surface. Results for case 2 are shown effect vapor bleeding scheme. However, the optimal three-effect
in Figs. 9 and 10. It can be seen from Fig. 9 that the three-effect vapor bleeding scheme for maximizing steam economy in case 2
vapor bleeding scheme for maximizing the amount of granulated results in significantly more steam economy than the two-effect
sugar requires the total surface to be at least 1845 m2, 1580 m2, and vapor bleeding scheme, as can be seen in Fig. 10. The three-effect
1397 m2, respectively, for x4 ¼ 60%, 65%, and 70%. Unlike case 1, the vapor bleeding scheme requires the total surface to be at least
 S. Chantasiriwan / Journal of Food Engineering 195 (2017) 21e30 27

1600
1600 (a)
1400 (a) Ah,1
Ah,2
1200 Ah,3
1200
Ah,1
1000
Ah,2
Ah,i (m2) Ah,3 2
800 Ah,i (m ) 800
600
400 400
200
0
1800 1900 2000 2100 2200 2300 2400 2500 0
1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
Total surface (m2)
Total surface (m2)
2000
1400
(b) (b)
1600 1200

1000
Ah,i (m2) 1200 2
Ah,i (m ) 800

800 600

400
400
200
0
1500 1700 1900 2100 2300 2500 0
1300 1500 1700 1900 2100 2300 2500
Total surface (m2)
Total surface (m2)

1600
1600 (c)
1400 (c)
1200 1200
Ah,i (m2)
1000
Ah,i (m2)
800 800
600
400
400
200
0
1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 0
2
1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
Total surface (m )
Total surface (m2)
Fig. 5. Distribution of the total juice heater surface among H1, H2, and H3 that max-
imizes mgs in case 2 for (a) x4 ¼ 60%, (b) x4 ¼ 65%, and (c) x4 ¼ 70%. Fig. 6. Distribution of the total juice heater surface among H1, H2, and H3 that max-
imizes SE in case 2 for (a) x4 ¼ 60%, (b) x4 ¼ 65%, and (c) x4 ¼ 70%.

1602 m2, 1327 m2, and 1162 m2, respectively, for x4 ¼ 60%, 65%, and
70%. For x4 ¼ 70%, the two-effect vapor bleeding scheme is not as the total surface increases.
possible when Ah exceeds 2150 m2 because Ah,1 drops to zero, as
shown in Fig. 5(c). It is interesting to note that all curves exhibit the
trend of diminishing returns. This means that, although mgs and SE 5. Conclusion
can be increased by installing more juice heater surface, the return
for the cost of installing additional surface decreases monotonically The evaporation process in raw sugar manufacturing consists of
juice heater, multiple-effect evaporator, and crystallizer. High-
28 S. Chantasiriwan / Journal of Food Engineering 195 (2017) 21e30

25.4 2.2
(a)
25.2 (a)
25
24.8 2.1
mgs (kg/s)
24.6 SE
24.4
24.2 2
24
1900 2100 2300 2500 2700 2900
2
Total surface (m ) 1.9
1900 2100 2300 2500 2700 2900
23.6
2
(b) Total surface (m )
23.4
23.2 2.3
23 (b)
mgs (kg/s) 22.8
22.6 2.2
22.4 SE
22.2
22 2.1
1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 3000
Total surface (m2)
21.8
(c) 2
21.6 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 3000
21.4 Total surface (m2)
21.2 2.5
mgs (kg/s)
21 (c)
20.8 2.4
20.6
SE
20.4 2.3
1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 3000
Total surface (m2)
Fig. 7. Comparison of distribution of the total juice heater surface between H1 and H2 2.2
(solid line) and distribution of the total juice heater surface among H1, H2, and H3
(dashed line) that maximizes mgs in case 1 for (a) x4 ¼ 60%, (b) x4 ¼ 65%, and (c)
x4 ¼ 70%.

2.1
1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 3000
pressure steam is used to run the multiple-effect evaporator, and
vapor bled from the evaporator is used to run the juice heater and Total surface (m2)
the crystallizer. Juice heater surface distribution affects the per-
formance of the evaporation process, of which two performance Fig. 8. Comparison of distribution of the total juice heater surface between H1 and H2
parameters are the amount of raw sugar and the steam economy. A (solid line) and distribution of the total juice heater surface among H1, H2, and H3
(dashed line) that maximizes SE in case 1 for (a) x4 ¼ 60%, (b) x4 ¼ 65%, and (c)
model of the process has been developed. It takes into account
x4 ¼ 70%.
 S. Chantasiriwan / Journal of Food Engineering 195 (2017) 21e30 29

22.4
(a) 2.2
(a)
21.6

mgs (kg/s) 2.1

20.8
SE

20
2

1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400

Total surface (m2)
1.9
1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
20.3 (b) Total surface (m ) 2

2.4
19.6
(b)
mgs (kg/s)
2.3
18.9

SE
18.2 2.2

1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400

Total surface (m2) 2.1

(c) 2
18.6 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
Total surface (m2)
18
mgs (kg/s) 2.5
(c)
17.4
2.4

16.8
SE
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2.3
Total surface (m2)
Fig. 9. Comparison of distribution of the total juice heater surface between H1 and H2
(solid line) and distribution of the total juice heater surface among H1, H2, and H3
2.2
(dashed line) that maximizes mgs in case 2 for (a) x4 ¼ 60%, (b) x4 ¼ 65%, and (c)
x4 ¼ 70%.

2.1
interactions between the components through mass and energy 1100 1300 1500 1700 1900 2100 2300 2500
balances. Results from the model indicate that, for a fixed total juice
heater surface and a specified concentration of juice leaving the Total surface (m2)
evaporator, there is a unique distribution of surface if vapor is bled
Fig. 10. Comparison of distribution of the total juice heater surface between H1 and H2
from the first two effects of the evaporator. However, if vapor is (solid line) and distribution of the total juice heater surface among H1, H2, and H3
bled from three effects of the evaporator, there are many distri- (dashed line) that maximizes SE in case 2 for (a) x4 ¼ 60%, (b) x4 ¼ 65%, and (c)
butions of surface. An optimum distribution may be found that x4 ¼ 70%.
30 S. Chantasiriwan / Journal of Food Engineering 195 (2017) 21e30

maximizes the amount of raw sugar produced or the steam econ- gs granulated sugar
omy. Both parameters increase with the total juice heater surface, h juice heater
but the rates of increase are slower as the total juice heater surface i effect number
increases. Two cases of different distributions of multiple-effect in inlet to the evaporation process
evaporator surface are considered. Both cases yield very different t total
results although the total evaporator surfaces are not very different, v vapor
which suggests that the performance of the evaporation process is vl vapor-to-liquid
significantly affected by the distribution of evaporator surface.
However, it can be seen in both cases that even though the Superscripts
multiple-effect evaporator is not designed for vapor bleeding from (in) inlet to an effect
the third effect, improved performance of the evaporation process (out) outlet from an effect
can be obtained by using bled vapor from the third effect.
References
Nomenclature
Broadfoot, R., 2001. Planning changes to the process sections of raw sugar factories
A heat transfer surface of evaporator, m2 for increased cogeneration. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol. 23, 395e402.
Bubnik, Z., Kadlec, P., Urban, D., Bruhns, M., 1995. Sugar Technologists Manual,
Ah heat transfer surface of juice heater, m2 eighth ed. Bartens, Berlin.
C correction factor in the crystallizer model Chantasiriwan, S., 2015. Optimum surface area distribution in co-current multiple-
cp specific heat capacity, kJ/kg. C effect evaporator. J. Food Eng. 161, 48e54.
Chantasiriwan, S., 2016. Optimum imbibition for cogeneration in sugar factories.
h enthalpy, kJ/kg Appl. Therm. Eng. 103, 1031e1038.
m mass flow rate, kg/s Cortes, M.G., Verelst, H., Suarez, E.G., 2010. Energy integration of multiple effect
p pressure, kPa evaporators in sugar process production. Chem. Eng. Trans. 21, 277e282.
Guo, S.Y., White, E.T., Wright, P.G., 1983. Heat transfer coefficients for natural cir-
SE steam economy culation evaporators. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol. 5, 237e244.
T temperature,  C Higa, M., Freitas, A.J., Bannwart, A.C., Zemp, R.J., 2009. Thermal integration of
U heat transfer coefficient of evaporator, kW/m2. C multiple effect evaporator in sugar plant. Appl. Therm. Eng. 29, 515e522.
Honig, P., 1963. Principles of Sugar Technology, vol. III. Elsevier, New York.
Uh heat transfer coefficient of juice heater, kW/m2. C Hugot, E., 1986. Handbook of Cane Sugar Engineering, third ed. Elsevier,
x concentration of sugar juice, % Amsterdam.
Peacock, S.D., Love, D.J., 2003. Clear juice heaters e do we need them?. In: Pro-
ceedings of the South African Sugar Technologists’ Association, vol. 77,
Subscripts
pp. 452e462.
0 inlet to evaporator Reid, M.J., Rein, P., 1983. Steam balance for the new Felixton II mill. In: Proceedings
a bled vapor to crystallizer of the South African Sugar Technologists’ Association, vol. 57, pp. 85e91.
b bled vapor to juice heater Rein, P., 2007. Cane Sugar Engineering. Verlag, Berlin.
Smith, I.A., Taylor, L.A.W., 1981. Some data on heat transfer in multiple effect
c vapor leaving flash tank evaporators. In: Proceedings of the South African Sugar Technologists’ Associ-
f sugar juice ation, vol. 55, pp. 51e55.