Clarke: The Evaporation of' Heat Sensitive Foodstuf Liquids
The Evaporation of Heat Sensitive Foodstuff Liquids
by R. J. Clarke
Generd Foods Ltd., Bunbury, Oxon
(Revised manuscript received 6 September 1971)
Air introdirctioti to a .symposium on 'The evupvration of heut sensitive Ji~ocistuffliquids' is given and a
brief historical resumk of rhe subject is presented together with commcwts on the processes involved.
THIS paper is an introduction to the five following com-
munications,'- all of which were presented at a symposium
held in London this year on 'The evaporation of heat sensitive
foodstuff liquids'. The symposium was organised by the
Food Engineering Panel of the Society of Chemical Industry
and collected together a considerable number of workers in
the field.
As employed in the food industries, evaporation becomes
more than simply an engineering exercise in securing the
thermodynamically most effective systems, since other factors,
resulting from both the biological nature of the raw materials
and the consumer organoleptic/nutritionalacceptance of the
products made, become equally important. Considered in
general, the field of evaporation is well documented as a
subject in the broad scope of chemical engineering, however,
when considered in the more specific context of the food
industries, information is harder to come by, although some
reviews have been published.h
Sugar evaporation is the classic and perhaps oldest opera-
tion of the type of process which we shall be considering.
Whilst sugar is regarded by many as a 'chemical', its con-
centration by evaporation from the weak solutions provided
by the extraction of the sugar cane or beet cannot be con-
sidered merely in terms of installing the maximum number of
effects for steam economy. Caramelisation, for example,
can occur if certain limits of heat treatment are exceeded. A
further early example is that of milk evaporation, where
evaporated and condensed milks have long been com-
mercial products, associated with Gail Borden in the U.S.A.
from 1850 onwards, and also with the Nestle Company in
Europe. Milk is a complex raw material, and its processing
typifies the additional problems which arise. The evaporation
of fruit juices provides problems of yet another dimension-
perhaps marginal in the case of milk, but of first rate import-
ance to the flavour of all fruit juices-the loss of volatile
flavour substances. It is obvious that if water is being eva-
porated from a liquid, then the more or less volatile com-
ponents will also be removed as vapour, to an extent dependent
upon their relative volatility to water.
Other problems may be cited with liquid foodstuffs; that
of foaming potential, which makes difficult the separation of
vapour from concentrated liquors; the fouling of heat
transfer surfaces by already suspended or developed in-
solubilised matter; the use of temperatures that may be in-
adequate to kill mould spores; the often rapid increase of
viscosity with concentration and lowered temperatures of
operation of materials containing high molecular weight
substances; and especially the need to have hygienic con-
ditions of design and operation. The use of stainless steel is
virtually mandatory to meet the problems that would other-
wise arise from copper and iron contamination in such
products, and to a much less extent the problems of straight
corrosi~n.~
The specialised designs of evaporator that have been de-
veloped since the open evaporating pan, have been based
primarily upon the target of decreased overall heat treatment,
J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1971, Vol. 21, December
349
i.e. the time-temperature combination, to which the product
is exposed during the evaporation. The acceptable time-
temperature combination of logarithmic relationship is
clearly dependent upon the particular product handled and
the flavour-nutritional acceptance of the concentrated pro-
duct by the consumer. Insofar as minimum change of base
flavour is required, this treatment should be a minimum, i.e.
the shortest time at a given temperature, itself preferably the
lowest one practical. Nevertheless, many evaporated milks
are regarded as products in their own flavour right and are
used as such; they are not meant for reconstitution back to
their original dilution. Evaporation may also be an in-
process stage to full dehydration to a powder. Certain
products, of which milk is again an example, need prior
heat-treatment to destroy enzyme systems prejudicial to
subsequent storage stability, or even to generate anti-oxidant
substances. Enzyme deactivation treatments are needed for
fruit and vegetable juices.
The use of vacuum operation was an early step in this
direction of reducing the level of heat treatment otherwise
occurring; this was followed by the calandria systems of
tubular evaporators with recirculation, and the reduction of
the hydrostatic head effect by short and inclined tubes. The
use of forced circulation by pumps against tubular heat
transfer surfaces was also developed. The use of vacua enabled
multi-effect evaporation and vapour recompression tech-
niques within a reasonable temperature range: heat pumps
and condensing refrigerants have been used from time to
time; and the techniques of backward and forward flow
through effects adopted as appropraite. Subsequent develop-
ment has however been in the use of the long tube, with once-
through circulation, as in the specific original design, patented
as long ago as 1899, of the climbing film by Kestner. The
trend has continued, and it is not surprising that a large
number of different methods for achieving the aim of really
short times of residence, fully developed into commercial
designs, are now available. These designs represent different
mechanical solutions in providing minimum heat-treatment,
essentially by making possible high overall heat transfer
coefficients. Differences of actual design will however be seen
in capital costs, mechanical elegance, ease of operation,
cleaning and maintenance, arrangements for separating
concentrated liquor from vapour, suitability for highly
viscous concentrates and capacity flexibility. Whilst partly a
matter of operation, satisfactory distribution of liquid against
heat transfer surface at all times is important to prevent
'burn-on'.
It is not easy to provide a satisfactory system of classifica-
tion or group titling of designs. Many manufacturers have
preferred to give their own equipment, their own individual
names. The old-established American companies of Mojon-
nier" and Blaw-Knox" are well-known for their range, as
are the APV-Kestner Company and the Balfour Group in the
U.K. Plate evaporators, stemming from plate heat ex-
changers, were developed by the APV Company in 1957,
described in the following paper by Gray2 and include that of
350 Clarke: The Evaporation of Heal Sensitive Foodstiifl Liquids
Parkson,I2 in which the heat transfer is stated to take place
via the vapour phase, enabling very viscous concentrates t o
be made. The generic term, ‘film’ evaporators, has been
popular to express the formation of a thin film of liquid
within a tube, hydrodynamically by expanding vapours, as in
the climbing film, falling filmi and horizontal film evaporators
of Burnett & R01fe.I~ Evaporating films are also induced
mechanically by rotors (with either fixed or flexible blades)
as in the Luwa evaporator^'^ or the ‘Stratavap’ of George
ScotttS as ‘wiped films’ or even with scraping in certain
instances. Horizontally positioned rotors are also used in
tapered tubes, such as the ‘Kontro’.I6 The application of
centrifugal force by a rotating heat transfer surface is used in
the ‘Centritherm’ of Alfa-Lava1 and described in the following
paper by Shinn.4 All of these, and no doubt others, are used
in installations for evaporating heat sensitive foodstuff
liquids.
The second major problem in the evaporation of heat
sensitive liquids, that of the loss of volatile substances as
important flavour contributors, again differing in significance
in different products, is not in fact, a problem that can be
solved by evaporator design alone. I t is a matter of operation
of the concentration process.” This has been particularly
appreciated in the fruit juice concentration industry, as in the
initial application of so-called ‘ester’ recovery processes and
subsequently.I8 Here the principle involved is to remove the
volatile flavour substances, either by pre-evaporation or by
steam-stripping operations, holding the condensate with or
without fractionation, and then to recombine these sub-
stances with the concentrated liquid after the further evapora-
tion has been performed to the required final concentration
(without then the need for condensation and recovery of the
volatile constituents). The principles and methods have been
developed in the U.S.A. and the U.K. and have been well
d e s ~ r i b e d . They
~ ~ ~are
~ *common
~~ to whatever methods of
bulk evaporation are practised. In fact, it becomes clearer t o
assess then what degree of heat treatment in the bulk evapora-
tion stage is really tolerable in given products.
As with all food engineering operations, evaporation is not
the only route to the goal of concentrated products in which
minimum impairment of flavour has taken place. In the last
two decades, two important processes, with the corresponding
production plant, have been developed : these are freeze
concentration” and reverse and are both com-
petitors to evaporative concentration combined with volatile
flavour recovery. Electro-dialysis‘ is a further process de-
velopment i n this field. Indeed, freeze concentration has also
been combined with evaporation.2H
Whilst liquid foodstuffs have been, and are marketed as end
products in themselves, they may also be required for con-
version into fully dehydrated products by drying, i.e. by such
processes as spray drying or freeze drying. These additional
processes represent further potential heat treatment and
flavour loss hazards. Freeze drying has been empirically
favoured in these respects; and the use of certain adjuncts
is necessary to liquids being spray dried. The conditions of
drying under which such changes are minimised have been
relatively little studied, except by Thijssen and his school a t
Eindhoven. These workers have given a sound rationale
backed up by experimental work to exemplify their theses. It
is important therefore in discussing evaporation, to consider
the prospects of retaining volatile flavours in any subsequent
drying from pre-concentrated liquids in which they have not
u p to that point been substantially lost.’
The liquid foodstuffs within the scope of heat sensitive
substances will include sugar liquors,23 milk,z4*25fruit and
vegetable juices,26 tea and coffee extract^,^' gelatine,’ hy-
drolysed protein extracts,28 and yeast extract^,^' to which all
the considerations described, can be applied.
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J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1971, Vol. 21, December