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CONTENTS

 Introduction to Separation Process,

 Evaporation,
 Fluid Properties in Evaporation
 Types of Evaporators,
 Equipment of Evaporators
 Single and Multiple Effect Operation
 Performance of Tubular Evaporators

Introduction to Separation Processes

 To convert a mixture of substances into two or more distinct products.
 Depends on what chemicals are being separated.
 Separation takes place by exploiting differences in chemical or physical
properties of the components.

Eng: economical, large scale separation methods

 Consider product requirement, cost, environmental effects when selecting
separation process

Generally, substances are not found in pure form in nature.

 Pure material requirement for engineering applications

 Preparation of raw materials into their components
 Pure material requirement for use in the production of materials
 Remove unwanted components from solution
 To obtain ultrapure samples for testing

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Figure 1. Basic separation technique

**SEPARATION PROCESS PRINCIPLES Chemical and Biochemical Operations; J. D. Seader, Ernest J. Henley, D. Keith Roper THIRD EDITION 4

Evaporation
 In evaporation the vapor from a boiling liquid solution is removed.
 The aim of the evaporation is to obtain a more concentrated solution.
 By vaporizing solvent to produce a concentrated solution.
 The most common solvent in the evaporation systems is water.
 Sugar, sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide and orange juice.
 Evaporation is different from distillation, drying and crystallization processes.

In evaporation, the vapor consists of a single component,

(Even if) no action is taken to separate the vapor into their fractions.
The product of evaporation is concentrated solution (liquid).
But sometimes, the evaporated solvent is the main product. Ex: obtaining drinking
water by evaporating sea water.
Removing solution can continue until the solution is saturated. If this process
continues until the solution precipitates as a crystalline solid, this operation is called
"crystallization".
Evaporation is stopped before the solute starts to precipitate.
Separation in distillation is done according to relative volatility.
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Evaporation

 Consist of;
a heat exchanger (to boil the solution),
a device to separate the vapor phase from the boiling liquid.
 For continuous processes, the heat transfer surface is greatly increased,
boiling becomes too much, and vaporization rate is faster.
 Foam formation, scale formation, heat sensitivity and corrosion.
 May cause changes in the properties of the solution and change in
economic conditions in evaporator design.

Fluid Properties in Evaporation

During evaporation, some properties of the liquid change.
The most important properties of the fluid are:
 Concentration:
 The solutions to be evaporated are usually dilute.
 The concentration becomes more and more concentrated.
 The higher the concentration, the higher the viscosity and density of the solution.
 High concentration may not be suitable for heat transfer (it requires more heat
energy).
 As the solution becomes concentrated, its boiling point increases.

 Foaming: Some substances form a foam during evaporation. Foams can

escape with the steam. It is loss for the substance to be evaporated.

 Temperature sensitivity of materials: Many pure chemicals degrade in a short

time (even at medium temperature). Special technique is required.

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Figure 2: Solubility curves for some

typical salts in water (Christie J. Geankoplis,
“Transport Processes and Separation Process”,
Prentice Hall, 4th Edition, 2003.)

 Solubility:
 Concentration of the solute or salt increases with the heat.
 If the solubility limit is exceeded, crystals may form.
 In most cases the solubility of the salt increases with temperature.
 When a hot concentrated solution is cooled to the room temperature,
crystallization may occur.

 Scale: Some organic materials can form a scale on the heating tube surface. The
heat transfer decreases. The evaporator must be shut down, cleaned and
operated again.
 Materials of construction: Since many solutions oxidize iron, evaporators are
generally made of stainless steel in the food and dairy industry. Other metals may
be used in chemical evaporators.
 Pressure and temperature: The boiling point of the solution is affected by the
system pressure. The higher the operating pressure of the evaporator, the higher
the temperature at boiling. As the concentration increases, the boiling
temperature may rise (boiling-point rise or elevation)

 Many liquid properties should be taken into account in evaporator design.

 Specific heat
 Gas liberation
 Toxicity, Radioactivity….
 Vacuum

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TYPES OF EVAPORATORS
 Heat is added to a solution
 Heat is used to vaporize the solvent,
 The evaporating solvent is usually water.
 There are many types evaporators with different shapes, sizes and
types of heating units.
 The aim is to transfer heat from heat source to the product.

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Source of heat,
General Classification

Position of tubes for heating

of Evaporators

Length of tube
Direction of flow of film of product
Method of circulation of product
Number of passes
Location of steam

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General Types of Evaporators

Open kettle or pan:
 The simplest form of evaporator.
 There is an open pan or kettle in which the liquid is boiled.
 The heat is supplied by condensation of steam in a jacket or in coils
immersed in the liquid.
 Low capital cost
 Flexible for different applications
 Heat rate is low (disadvantage)
 Energy efficiency is low (disadvantage)
 Not suitable for heat sensitive foods.
 It is cheap and simple to operate.
 May be agitated.

Figure 3 Open kettle or pan evaporator

(http://blog.ub.ac.id/jatmikoekotbp/files/2014/02/Evaporation.pdf)

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 Horizontal-tube natura/ circulation evaporator:

 Horizontal bundle of heating tubes (similar to the bundle of
tubes in a heat exchanger.)
 The steam enters into the tubes, where it condenses.
 The steam condensate leaves at the other end of the
tubes.
 The tubes are covered with the boiling liquid solution
 Agitation is provided by the movement of the bubbles.
 Operates continiously.
 It is suitable for low-viscosity solutions that do not deposit
scale on the heat-transfer surfaces.
 If a corrosive liquid is to be evaporated, it will have to
placed on the shell side (Disadvantage)

Figure 4 Horizontal-tube type

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• Short-vertical-tube evaporator:
 Vertical tubes are used.
 The liquid is inside the tubes and the steam condenses outside the tubes.
 Boiling decreases the density of the solution, the liquid rises in the tubes.
 It is not suitable for viscous liquids.

Figure 5 Vertical-tube type

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 Long-vertical-tube evaporator:
 Since the heat-transfer coefficient on the
steam side is very high compared to that
on the evaporating liquid side, high liquid
velocities are desirable.
 The liquid is inside the tubes. (3 to 10 m
long)
 The formation of vapor bubbles inside the
tubes causes a pumping action giving quite
high liquid velocities.
 It is widely used to produce condensed
milk.
 The liquid does not recirculate.

Figure 6 Long-tube Vertical type

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 Falling-film-type evaporator:
 Liquid is fed to the top of the tubes and flows down the walls as a thin film.
 Vapor-liquid separation usually takes place at the bottom.
 Used for heat sensitive materials (orange juice).
 The great advantage of the falling film is the short time the product remains
inside the tube.
 This gives better quality product with minimum changes or damage to the
product.
 High heat-transfer coefficients.

Figure 7 Falling-film-type evaporator

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 Forced-circulation-type evaporator:
 The heat-transfer coefficient can be increased by pumping.
 If you add pipe connections to long-tube vertical-type evaporator, you can obtain
forced-circulation type evaporator.
 a high rate of recirculation within the heat exchanger and separation vessel.
 for viscous liquids.

Figure 8 Forced-circulation-type

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 Agitated-film evaporator:
 The main resistance to heat transfer is on the liquid side.
 To increase turbulence in this film, apply mechanical agitation.
 It can be done in a modified falling-film evaporator.
 You will use a single large jacketed tube containing an internal agitator.
 Liquid enters at the top of the tube and as it flows downward, it is spread out into
a turbulent film by the vertical agitator blades.
 The concentrated solution leaves at the bottom.
 Vapor leaves through a separator and out the top.
 Useful for highly viscous materials,

Figure 9 Agitated-film evaporator

(Warren McCabe, Julian Smith, Peter Harriott, “Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering”, McGraw-Hill, 7th Edition, 2005

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 Open Pan Solar evaporator:

 A very old process,
 Salt water is put in shallow open pans
 Water evaporates slowly in the sun.

The major types of steam-heated evaporators

1. Long-tube vertical evaporators.

a) Upward flow (climbing film) for foaming solutions
b) Downward flow (falling-film) for solutions with high thermal sensitivity
c) Forced circulation , for viscous solutions

2. Agitated-film evaporators.

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Equipment of Evaporators
1. Conderser for Evaporators;

 In multiple-effect avaporators, the vapors are usually leaving under the vacuum.

 Vapor is condensed and discharged as liquid at atmospheric pressure

 Conderser is used to condensate the vapor into liquid.

 Cooling water is used for the condensation of vapor in condenser.

 A surface conderser (vapor and cooling liquid are seperated by a metal wall) or
Direct contact conderser (vapor and cooling water are mixed directly)

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1.A Surface Conderser;

 Shell and tube condensers (vapor on the shell side and cooling water in multipass flow on the
tube side).
 Noncondensable gases present in the vapor stream.
 Noncondensable gases may be vented from any well-cooled point in the condenser.
 If the vapor being condensed is below atmospheric pressure, the condensed liquid leaving the
surface condenser can be removed by pumping and the noncondensable gases by a vacuum
pump.
 Expensive
 Use more cooling water
 Used with organic solvent vapor.

1.B Direct-Contact Conderser;

 Cooling water directly contacts the vapors.
 Condenses the vapors.
 According to the direction; Parallel Flow (Wet condensation) and Counter Current Flow (Dry
condensation)

 Non-condensable Gases are at the outlet temperature of the cooling water (wet).
 Non-condensable Gases and cooling water are removed with the same pump (wet).

 Non-condensable Gases are at cooling water inlet temperature (dry)

 Non-condensable Gases and cooling water are removed with a separate pump (Dry).

 Most common condenser is Countercurrent Barometric Condenser.

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The barometric condenser

 It consists of two parts, a condenser and a tail pipe.

 The barometric condenser is inexpensive and
economical of water consumption
 Parallel or countercurrent according to the
steam/vapor and flow directions.
 In a countercurrent condenser, the air leaving the
condenser is in contact with the coldest water, its
volume is smaller and contains less moisture.
 In a countercurrent condenser; for the same
vacuum, less water is consumed (when it is
compared to a parallel flow)
 In a countercurrent condenser; the vacuum pumps
to be used to absorp the air will be smaller (when it
Figure 10 Schematic of barometric condenser is compared to a parallel flow).

The vapor enters the condenser and

is condensed by rising upward.
The condenser is located on top of a
long discharge tail pipe.
High enough above the discharge
point.
The water can then discharged by
gravity.

Another type of direct-contact condenser is Jet

barometric condenser,
High velocity jets of water act both as a vapor condenser
and as an entrainer of the noncondensables out of the tail
pipe.
Require more water
Operated by direct contact of steam and cooling water. 22

 The water consumption can be estimated by a simple heat balance

for a barometric condenser.
 If the vapor flow to the condenser is V kg/h at temperature Ts and
the water flow is W kg/h at an entering temperature of T1 and it
leaving temperature of T2

where Hs is the enthalpy from the steam tables of the vapor at Ts (K)
and the pressure in the vapor stream.

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2. Vacuum Pumps;
 A pump is used to remove non-condensing gases and hot water.
 Mechanical vacuum pumps or ejectors.

3.Condensate Removal
 Pumps and traps (to allow condensate to escape, to prevent the escape of water
vapor.)

4. Removal of Formed Solid or Crystal

 If solution contains crytals, a filter or centrifuge is used.
 If a solid needs to be removed during evaporation, conical evaporators are used
at the bottom
 At a certain size, collect at the bottom of the cone evaporator.

5. Separators for Solution Droplets;

 The transport of solution droplets by the vapor phase is called loading.

6. Foam
 covering of the boiling liquid surface by stable bubbles
 broken up by sending a jet of water vapor
 removed by adding some ingredients

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Vacuum Devices
 provided by vacuum pumps and ejectors
 Ejectors; a certain pressure of steam, a certain vacuum and a certain pressure
loss.
 pressure of the steam is very important.
 The efficiency of the ejector decreases with the decreasing of pressure.
 lose all its function with the decreasing of pressure
 increase in pressure does not affect the efficiency, but affects the steam
consumption.
 operated in a narrow pressure range.
 If vapor is condensable (such as in the evaporation of saline solutions), place
barometric or surface condensers before the ejectors. Hence, the vapor
consumption reduces.
 For multi-stage ejectors, intermediate condenser for the same purpose is placed
between two ejectors
 Sometimes, a condenser is used after the last ejector to ensure that the ejectors
operate silently and to prevent the emission of steam into the environment.

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SINGLE AND MULTIPLE EFFECT

OPERATION
 Most evaporators are heated by steam condensing on metal tubes.
 Usually the steam is at a low pressure.
 Often the boiling liquid is under the vacuum.
 If the boiling temperature of the liquid decreases, the temperature differences
between steam and the boiling liquid increases.
 Heat-transfer rate increases.

In a single evaporator, the vapor from the

boiling liquid is condensed and discharged
(called as Single-effect evaporation)
Simple
The use of steam is inefficient.
In order to evaporate 1 kg of water from a
solution, 1-1.3 kg of steam is used

Simple diagram of single-effect evaporator

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 If the vapor from one evaporator is fed into the steam chest of a second
evaporator and the vapor from the second is then sent to a condenser, the
operation becomes double-effect evaporation.
 The heat in the original steam is reused in the second effect.
 Evaporation is approximately doubled.
 You can add an additional evaporator with same manner.
 The general method to increase the evaporation/kg of steam by using a series
of evaorators between the steam supply and condenser is called multiple-
effect evaporation.
In multiple-effect evaporation,
evaporator is numbered. Evaporator heated
by steam is the first evaporator.
First evaporator has the highest pressure.
same in terms of size, construction, and
heat transfer area.
have the same capacity
Feeding is done in several different ways.
The feed order is NOT related to the
numbering of effects.
numbered according to decreasing
pressure.
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PERFORMANCE OF TUBULAR
EVAPORATORS
 The performance of a steam-heated tubular evaporator can be measured by
capacity and economy.
 Capacity: Kg of water vaporized per hour.
 Economy: Kg of water vaporized per kg of steam fed to the unit.
 In a single-effect evaporator, the economy is nearly less than 1, but in
multiple-effect evaporator it will greater 1.
 Steam consumption: capacity divided by economy.

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Evaporator Capacity
 The rate of heat transfer q is the product of three factors.
 A: Area of the heat transfer surface
 U: overall heat transfer coefficient
 ΔT: overall temperature drop

𝑞 𝑈𝐴∆𝑇 1.1

If the feed is at the boiling temparature corresponding to the absolute pressure in the vapor
space, all the heat transferred through the heating surface is available for evaporation. The
capacity is proportional to q.

If the feed is cold, the heat required to heat it to its boiling point may be quite large.
Capacity for a given value of q is reduced accordingly, as heat used to heat the feed is not
available for evaporation.

 If the feed is at a temperature above the boiling temperature, a portion of feed evaporates
spontaneously. Capacity is greater than that corresponding to q. This process is called flash
evaporation.
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 The actual temperature drops depends on;

• Evaporating solution
• The differences in pressure between steam and vapor space
• Depth of liquid over the heating surface.
• The velocity of the liquid in the tubes (frictional loss in the tubes).

 If your solution is pure water, you can read the boiling point from steam
tables.
 Boiling-boiling elevation and liquid head.

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REFERENCES
 Textbook: Christie J. Geankoplis, “Transport Processes and Separation Process)”,
Prentice Hall, 3rd Edition.

 Other Recommended sources:

 P.C. Wankat, Separation Process Engineering Includes Mass Transfer Analysis, 3rd Ed.
Prentice Hall
 Warren McCabe, Julian Smith, Peter Harriott, “Unit Operations of Chemical
Engineering”, McGraw-Hill, 7th Edition, 2005.
 Robert E. Treybal, “Mass-Transfer Operations”, McGraw-Hill, 3rd Edition, 1981.

KMM3541 KÜTLE AKTARIMI 31

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