ARTICLE IN PRESS

Energy 32 (2007) 1536–1542

www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Mathematical modeling of multiple-effect evaporators

and energy economy
Durmus Kayaa,, H. Ibrahim Saracb
a
TUBITAK-MAM, Energy Systems and Environmental Research Institute, P.O. Box 21, 41470 Gebze-Kocaeli, Turkey
b
Mechanical Engineering Department, Kocaeli University, Anitpark, Kocaeli, Turkey
Received 27 January 2004

Abstract

In this study, a mathematical model was developed for multiple-effect evaporators. These evaporators have cocurrent, countercurrent
and parallel flow operation options. Each operation was investigated with and without pre-heaters. The effect of pre-heating on
evaporation process was investigated from the point of energy economy. A sugar factory’s data was used with the applied models as a
case study. The results obtained for pre-heated and non-pre-heated situations were compared with each other. The maximum COP is
found as 3.33 for countercurrent operation with pre-heating. The minimum COP is 2.57 for parallel flow operation without pre-heating.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Multiple-effect evaporators; Energy economy; Mathematics model; Modeling

1. Introduction

The sectoral distribution of energy consumption in Turkey is approximately 35% for residential, 34% for industrial,
23% for transportation sectors and 8% for others [1]. The thermal energy in industry accounts for 2/3 of the total energy
consumption. Industrial heat energy demand below 200 1C is 20–25% of the energy consumption.
Multiple-effect evaporation is, in general, applied in large-scale companies to reduce steam consumption [2,3]. For
example, in a sugar factory, sucrose juice is extracted by diffusion. This juice is concentrated in a multiple-stage evaporator
to produce syrup. The liquor goes through a series of four stages, and each passage its brix (sucrose concentration)
increases. The juice steam recovered from the first stage is used as a heat source for the second stage, and so on until the last
stage. The cost of sugar manufacturing depends highly on the multiple-stage evaporator’s steam consumption [4]. More
precisely, the sugar evaporation processes should be designed in such a way that the energy used is optimized, and the
required quality of the final product is achieved [5,6].
There are several recent studies about mathematical modeling of thermal systems such as those by Mithraratne and
Wijeysundera [7], Lissane Elhaq et al. [5], and Lopez and Lacarra [8]. The aim of this study is to develop mathematical
models for multiple-effect evaporators and to investigate the effect of pre-heating in the evaporation process from the point
of energy economy.

2. General modeling of a quadruple-effect evaporators system

In modeling of multiple-effect evaporators, a pressure and temperature value is set for each evaporator. The necessary
enthalpies for these pressure values are found from thermodynamic tables and diagrams. The mass, component and energy
balances are provided for each evaporator and also for the system. These balances are transformed to linearly independent
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 262 641 23 00x3924; fax: +90 262 641 23 09.
E-mail address: Durmus.Kaya@posta.mam.gov.tr (D. Kaya).

0360-5442/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2006.09.002
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
D. Kaya, H. Ibrahim Sarac / Energy 32 (2007) 1536–1542 1537

Nomenclature V solution vapor mass flow (kg/h)

H saturated vapor enthalpy (kJ/kg)
Cp solution specific heat (kJ/kgK) y steam phase concentration
T temperature (1C) L solution mass flow (kg/h)
COP coefficient of performance of evaporator system l sensible heat (kJ/kg)
S initial steam mass flow (kg/h) N number of evaporator
x concentration of solution P pressure (bar)
h saturated water enthalpy (kJ/kg) DT temperature differentiated (1C)

equations after necessary assumption. In an evaporator system, which has N evaporator number, N+1 linear equations are
obtained. These equations are generally a function of the amount of initial steam and the amounts of solution vapor
formed in evaporators. The obtained linear equations are solved either directly or with iterative method. These studies have
been done for cocurrent, countercurrent and parallel flow operation types under pre-heating and without pre-heating cases.
The operation types mentioned above were named according to the directions of the solution and its vapor in the
evaporator.

2.1. No pre-heating condition

If the solution and its vapor flow in the same direction, this operation type is called parallel flow. In this case,
unconcentrated solution is fed to the first evaporator (Fig. 1). The concentrated solution is obtained from the final
evaporators by passing through I–IV evaporators.
The steam is fed to the first evaporator. The solution vapor obtained at each step is used as a heat source for the next
evaporator. The mathematical model for no-preheating-parallel flow case is given by
2 3 2 3 2 3
l1 ðh1  H 1 Þ ðh  h1 Þ ðh  h1 Þ ðh  h1 Þ S ðh1  hÞLðx=x4 Þ
60 ðh1  H 2 Þ ðh1  h2 Þ ðh1  h2 Þ 7 6 7 6 7
6 l2 7 6 V 1 7 6 ðh2  h1 ÞLðx=x4 Þ 7
6 7 6 7 6 7
60 ðh3  H 3 Þ ðh3  H 3 Þ 7 6 7 6 ðh  h2 ÞLðx=x4 Þ 7.
6 0 l3 76 V 2 7 ¼ 6 3 7 (1)
6 7 6 V 7 6 ðh  h ÞLðx=x Þ 7
40 0 0 l4 ðh3  H 4 Þ 5 4 3 5 4 4 3 4 5

0 1 1 1 1 V4 Lð1  x=x4 Þ

In countercurrent operation, the unconcentrated solution is fed to the final evaporator. The concentrating solution
moves from 4th evaporator to 1st as it is concentrated, the steam is fed to the 1st evaporator.
The solution vapor obtained at each step is used as heat source for the next evaporator. This type of operation and its
mathematical model is given in Fig. 2 and Eq. (2).
2 3 2 3 2 3
l1 ðh2  H 1 Þ 0 0 0 S ðh1  h2 ÞLðx=x1 Þ
6 0 ðl þ h  h Þ ðh3  H 2 Þ 0 0 7 6 V 7 6 ðh  h ÞLðx=x Þ 7
6 2 3 2 7 6 17 6 2 3 1 7
6 7 6 7 6 7
60 7 6 7 6 ðh  h4 ÞLðx=x1 Þ 7 .
6 ðh4  h3 Þ ðl3 þ h4  h3 Þ ðh4  H 3 Þ 0 76 V 2 7 ¼ 6 3 7 (2)
6 7 6 V 7 6 ðh  hÞLðx=x Þ 7
40 ðh  h4 Þ ðh  h4 Þ ðl4 þ h  h4 Þ ðh  H 4 Þ 5 4 3 5 4 4 1 5

0 1 1 1 1 V4 Lð1  x=x1 Þ

solution vapor
V1, H1, Y1 = 0 V2, H2, Y2 = 0 V3, H3, Y3 = 0 V4, H4, Y4 = 0

S,P,H I P1 II P2 III P3 IV P4
V1 V2 V3
Steam
H1s H2s H3s
L4
S, Hs h4
x4
L
x L1, h1, x1 L2, h2 ,x2 L3, h3, x3 product
solution h

Fig. 1. Quadruple-effect evaporator system parallel flow case.

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solution vapor
V1, H1, Y1 = 0 V2, H2, Y2 = 0 V3, H3, Y3 = 0 V4, H4, Y4 = 0
Steam
S,P,H I P1 II P2 III P3 IV P4
V1 V2 V3
S,Hs H1s H2s H3s L4
L1 h4
h1 L2, h2, x2 x4
x1 L3, h3, x3

solution
product L, h, x

condenser

Fig. 2. Quadruple-effect evaporator system countercurrent flow case.

solution vapor
V1, H1, Y1 = 0 V2, H2, Y2 = 0 V3, H3, Y3 = 0 V4, H4, Y4 = 0

S,P,H I P1 II P2 III P3 IV P4
steam V1 V2 V3
S, Hs H1s H2s H3s

L L L L
x x x x
h h h h
solution
product product product product
L1, h1, x1 L2, h2, x2 L3, h3, x3 L4, h4, x4
condenser

Fig. 3. Quadruple-effect evaporator system parallel-current operation case.

In the case of parallel-current operation, the unconcentrated solution is fed to each evaporator individually. After the
solution reaches the desired concentration, it is taken from each evaporator as product. As in the previous cases, the
solution does not move among evaporators.
As shown in Fig. 3, the steam is given to 1st evaporator. The solution vapor moves in the same direction as explained for
the previous cases. The mathematical model for this case is given by

2 h i 3
l1 ðh  H 1 Þ þ x1xx ðh  h1 Þ 0 0 0
6 7
6 h i 7
6 7
60 l2 ðh  H 2 Þ þ x2xx ðh  h2 Þ 0 0 7
6 7
6 7
60 0 l3 ½ðh  H 3 Þ þ x3xx ðh  h3 Þ 0 7.
6 7
6 7
60 0 0 l4 ½ðh  H 4 Þ þ x4xx ðh  h4 Þ 7
6 7
6       7
4 x1 x2 x3 x
5
0 x1 x x2 x x3 x x4 x
4

2 3
0
6 7
2 6 7
3
S 6 7
6 7
6 7 6 0 7
6 V1 7 6 7
6 7 6 0 7
6 7 6 7
6 V 7 6 7
6 2 7 ¼ 6 7. ð3Þ
6 7 6 7
6 V3 7 6 7
4 5 6 0 7
6 7
V4 6 7
6 7
4 5
L
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2.2. Pre-heating case

In parallel-current operation and pre-heating case, steam is fed to the first evaporator. Some part of solution vapor obtained in
this step is sent to the second evaporator and the remains are sent to the second pre-heater (Fig. 4). While some part of solution
vapor of second evaporator is sent to 3rd evaporator, the remainder is given to first pre-heater as heat source. The solution vapor
obtained at 3rd evaporator is used as heat source for the 4th evaporator. The unconcentrated solution’s temperature increases as
DT 1 ¼ T 0  T in the first pre-heater and its temperature increase DT 2 ¼ T 1  T in the second pre-heater.
The unconcentrated solution coming from second pre-heater is fed to the first evaporator. The concentrated solution is
fed to the next one. The product is obtained in the last evaporator. The linear model for this system is given by
2 3 2 3 2 3
l1 ðh1  H 1 Þ ðh  h1 Þ ðh  h1 Þ ðh  h1 Þ S ðh1  hÞLðx=x4 Þ
60 ðh1  h2 Þ 7 6 7 6 7
6 l2 ðh1  H 2 Þ ðh1  h2 Þ 7 6 V 1 7 6 ðh2  h1 ÞLðx=x4 Þ þ LC p DT 2 7
6 7 6 7 6 7
60 ðh2  H 3 Þ ðh2  h3 Þ 7 6 7 6 ðh  h2 ÞLðx=x4 Þ þ LC p DT 1 7 .
6 0 l3 76 V 2 7 ¼ 6 3 7 (4)
6 7 6 7 6 ðh4  h3 ÞLðx=x4 Þ 7
40 0 0 l4 ðh3  H 4 Þ 5 4 V 3 5 4 5
0 1 1 1 1 V4 Lð1  x=x 4 Þ

L, hZ, x, To L, h, x, T1
T
solution H1s
H2s

solution vapor
V3, H3, Y3 V4, H4, Y4
(V1-S1), H1 (V2-S2), H2
S,P,H I P1 II P2 III P3 IV P4
steam
H1s H2s H3s L4
h4
S, Hs x3

L1, h1, x1 L2, h2, x2 L3, h3, x3 product

Fig. 4. Quadruple-effect evaporator system parallel-current operation and pre-heating case.

(V4-S1), H4 solution
solution vapor L, h0, x, To

S1, H4 S1, H4s

solution vapor V4, H4, Y4 L

h
V1, H1, Y1 V2, H2, Y2 V3, H3, Y3 x
T1

S,P,H I P1 II P2 III P3 IV P4
steam V1 V2 V3
H1s H2s H3s L4
S, Hs h4
x4
L2, h2, x2 L3, h3, x3
L1, h1, x1

product

Fig. 5. Quadruple-effect evaporator system countercurrent operation and pre-heating case.

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L, hd, x, To L, h, x, T1
T
H2s S1, H1s S1

solution vapor
V1, H1, Y1 (V2-S2), H2 V3, H3, Y3 V4, H4, Y4
(V1-S1), H1 S2
S,P,H I P1 II P2 III P3 IV P4
V1 V2 V3
steam H1s H2s H3s
S, Hs
L F F2 F3 F4
x 1
h product product
L1, h1, x1 L2, h2, x2 product product
L3, h3, x3 L4, h4,x4

Fig. 6. Quadruple-effect evaporator system cocurrent and parallel flow operation case with pre-heater.

In countercurrent operation and pre-heating case shown in Fig. 5, the unconcentrated solution coming from the pre-
heater is fed to the last evaporator. The concentrated solution moves from 4th evaporator to 1st one.
The solution is taken from the 1st evaporation after it has reached the desired concentration. The mathematical model
for this case is given by
2 3 2 3 2 3
l1 ðh2  H 1 Þ 0 0 0 S ðh1  h2 ÞLðx=x1 Þ
6 0 ðl þ h  h Þ ðh3  H 2 Þ 0 0 7 6 V 7 6 ðh  h ÞLðx=x Þ 7
6 2 3 2 7 6 17 6 2 3 1 7
6 7 6 7 6 7
60 ðh4  h3 Þ ½l3 þ ðh4  h3 Þ ðh4  H 3 Þ 0 7 6 V 7 6 ðh  h ÞLðx=x 1Þ 7. (5)
6 76 2 7 ¼ 6 3 4
7
6 7 6V 7 6 ðh  hÞL 7
4 0 0 0 l 4 ðh 4  H 4 5 4 35
Þ 4 4 5
0 1 1 1 1 V4 Lð1  x=x1 Þ
In the cocurrent and parallel flow operation case with pre-heater, each evaporator is individually fed by the
unconcentrated solution coming from the pre-heater (Fig. 6). The steam is sent to first evaporator.
After reaching the desired concentration, the solution is taken from evaporators as products, and this can be modeled by
the linear equation is given by
2 h i 3
l1 ðh  H 1 Þ þ x1xx ðh  h1 Þ 0 0 0
6 7
6 h i 7
6 x 7
60 l2 ðh  H 2 Þ þ x2 x ðh  h2 Þ 0 0 7
6 7
6 7
60 0 l ½ðh  H Þ þ x
ðh  h Þ 0 7
6 3 3 x3 x 3 7
6 7
60 0 0 l4 ½ðh  H 4 Þ þ x4 x ðh  h4 Þ 7
x
6 7
6       7
4 x1 x2 x3 x4
5
0 x1 x x2 x x3 x x4 x
2 3 2 3
S 0
6 7 6 7
6 V 1 7 6 CDT 0 7
6 7 6 7
6 7 6 7
6 V 2 7 ¼ 6 CDT 1 7
6 7 6
7. ð6Þ
6 7 6 7
6 V3 7 6 0 7
4 5 4 5
V4 L

3. Sample study

3.1. The definition of sample problem

The sample problem is from a sugar industry. The solution obtained from sugar beet or cane is sent to sugar tank. The
temperature of solution is 35 1C. The solution mass flow is 100,000 kg/h and its concentration is 15%. The solution is
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Table 1
Data for sample problem

Specification Evaporative

I II III IV

Pressure, P (bar) 1.0 0.7 0.5 0.3

Temperature (1C) 99.63 89.95 81.33 69.10
Enthalpy i ¼ 1,2,3,4
Saturated water (Hi) 417.46 376.7 340.49 289.23
Saturated vapor (Hi) 2675.5 2660.0 2645.9 2625.3
Sensible heat (li) 2258.0 2283.3 2305.4 2336.1
Solution (hi) 379.6 324.7 309.9 263.3

Table 2
Solution of initial steam and solution vapor values for sample study
P
Pre-heat Operation situation Fresh steam, S (kg/h) Solution vapor (kg/h) Vi
COP ¼ S

V1 V2 V3 V4

Without pre-heater Cocurrent 29917.09 18287.1 19120.3 19567.8 19947.7 2.57

Counter-current 24446.04 22986.1 21442.4 19228.4 13266.0 3.14
Parallel 26939.17 22927.9 19993.1 17793.8 16208.1 2.85
With pre-heater Cocurrent 26245.16 23853.3 21167.1 15753.1 16149.5 2.93
Counter-current 23082.51 21665.6 20192.1 18080.5 16984.7 3.33
Parallel 26367.38 25049.8 21122.8 15217.2 15533.1 2.92

concentrated in a multiple-effect evaporator. The final product is syrup in 65% concentrations. The pressure, temperature
and sensible heat of initial steam are 1.5 bar, 111.4 1C, 2226.5 kJ/kg, respectively.
The specific heat for the solution is 3.81 kJ/kgK [9–12]. The steam consumption and performance of the evaporation will
be calculated for six different quadruple-effect evaporator systems. These are cocurrent, countercurrent and parallel flow
operation types under pre-heating and no pre-heating cases. The pre-heating of the solution will be done in two steps for
cocurrent and parallel flow operation. The solution will be heated from 35 to 70 1C in the first pre-heater and from 70 to
98 1C in the second pre-heater. In the counter current operation, initial solution will be heated to 65 1C using only one pre-
heater. The values for quadruple-effect evaporator are given in Table 1.
The steam consumption and performance of the system will be calculated for each case.

3.2. The solution of the sample problem

Five equations with five unknowns were obtained substituting the data above into Eqs. (1)–(6). These equations were
solved using Gaussion elimination method and the results are given in Table 2.

4. Conclusions

In multiple-effect evaporations, the mathematical models for cocurrent, countercurrent and parallel flow operation types
under with/without pre-heating cases were developed. A sample study has been done using a sugar factory’s data. The
maximum COP is found as 3.33 for countercurrent operation with pre-heating while the minimum COP is 2.57 for parallel
flow operation without pre-heating. For all the other cases COP is between 2.57 and 3.33. The best operation for economic
steam consumption is countercurrent operation with pre-heating while the worst case is parallel flow operation without
pre-heating.
The steam savings by pre-heating of unconcentrated solution for cocurrent, countercurrent and parallel flow operation
cases are 3671.93, 1363.89 and 571.79 kg/h, respectively.

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