engineeringnet.

be
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY

Can a
steam jet ejector
fit your vacuum process?
by Frank Moerman, MSc., EHEDG Belgium and Nico Desanghere, MSc., Sterling SIHI

Vacuum is widely applied in the

chemical and food processing
industry, because it permits to
perform processes that cannot
otherwise be done under atmospheric
conditions.

T
he most well-known sub-atmospheric
application is vacuum distilation,
where vacuum is used to lower the
boiling point of a solvent or other chemical
compound in order to perform a separation
or purification of a high-boiling-point or
thermal sensitive product with minimal input
of heat. Vacuum processing is the solution
for the increasing high-purity requirements
for a growing number of materials in a large

photo: Nitech
variety of applications. The costs of rejected,
off-specification product and the rising energy
costs are the main incentives to apply vacuum
as a process aid.

Applications in the food and

chemical industry
Other vacuum applications in the chemical
industry are vacuum filtration, vacuum drying,
vacuum evaporation, evaporative cooling,
degassing, etc. Common vacuum applications
in the food industry are given in Table 1.
Keep up your vacuum with a
steam jet ejector
Frequently, food and chemical plants find
it less costly to obtain vacuum by means of
steam jet ejectors. Especially the chemical
industry makes largely use of steam jet ejec-
tors to generate the vacuum required in many
distillation processes. Table 2 gives an over-
view of some advantages and disadvantages
of steam jet ejectors.
Steam jet ejectors (usually multi-stage) are
especially used for wet processes that require
vacuum levels ranging from 15 mbar down
to 0.1 mbar vacuum absolute. Water ring
pumps are not capable to generate such a deep
vacuum. Moreover, when steam jet ejectors
are used to produce the required vacuum for
distillation, evaporation or drying processes,
the same steam ejectors can act as condenser
for the water or solvent vapours drawn from
these processes along with the air. A cold wall
vapour condenser upstream of the steam jet
ejector may not be required, except where a
Fig. 1: fluctuation
of pressure and
velocity of the
steam/gas-stream
over its traject
through the steam
jet ejector.
very high degree of efficiency is required or
where recuperation of solvents is requested. In
contrast to steamjet ejectors, water ring pumps
may never act as a condenser in applications
where high amounts of solvent or water
vapours have to be condensed. In such a situ-
ation, always a barometric or shell-and-tube
condenser has to be installed upstream of that
water ring pump.

PUMPS & PROCESS MAGAZINE n 69 - maart 2011 21


Application
Sous-vide cooking
Evisceration (poultry, fish, etc.)
De-aeration of vegetable oil
Deodorization of vegetable oil
Fractional distillation of vegetable oil
Fractional distillation of essential oils
Freezing drying
UHT treatment - vacuum flash cooling of
milk
Vacuum filtration (e.g. yeast)
Vacuum drying
Vacuum evaporation of milk
De-aeration of water
Bottling of beer, soft drinks, mineral and
sparkling water
Vacuum packaging of food in plastic
bags
Modified atmospheric packaging
Table 1: vacuum applications in the food industry (Note: with vacuum absolute, we allude to the cacuum pressure measure relative to absolute perfect zero vacuum).
How a steam jet ejector
works
A steam jet ejector is in fact based on the
principles of a water aspirator, that produces
a vacuum by means of a venturi-effect and
which is the oldest known method of vacuum
generation. In a steam jet ejector, however, the
engineeringnet.be
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
Vacuum Absolute Function
(mbar)
50 - 250 To preserve the freshness and nutritional quality of the
minimal processed food.
100 - 150 To remove the bowels.
50 To remove oxygen that may oxidize unsaturated fatty
acids.
1-3 To strip compounds that affect flavour, odour, stability and
colour from the vegetable oil.
10 To separate fatty acids or their esters from edible oils.
10 Isolation of flavours and fragrances that otherwise may
decompose and polymerize in the presence of to much
heat.
20 - 50 Applied to prolong the shelf life of food and to maintain
the basic nutrients in herbs, spices, coffee, fruit, vegeta-
bles, etc.
50 - 100 Milk is heated up to 140-145C in as few as 3-5 s, con-
tained in a holding tube for a few seconds, and then fastly
cooled down to 75-80C due to evaporative cooling as a
consequence of a sudden reduction in pressure.
300 - 600 On a rotary dum dryer a filter cake of yeast can be
sucked dry by means of vacuum.
20 - 50 (begin) Water evaporates more quickly from food under vacuum.
1 - 4 (end) By vacuum drying, food can become crispy, puffed and
may have a stable colour. Vacuum drying is biologically
desirable since some enzymes that cause oxidation of
food become active during normal air drying. These
enzymes do not appear to be active under vacuum drying
conditions. The speed and the fact that it happens at room
temperature guarantees that taste, colour and nutritional
value of the food are preserved. Also the fibers are fully
preserved, so after reconstitution with water, vacuum dried
fruit and vegetables will reproduce the original texture of
the fresh fruit and vegetables. The drying process can be
accelerated when assisted with micro-wave heating.
50 To concentrate heat-sensitive products (milk, sugar juices,
etc.) that are prone to discolouration and formation of
cooking favours under the impact of heat.
50 Removal of air of the process water used in the prepara-
tion of soft drinks, sparkling and mineral water.
50 - 60 Removal of air (oxygen) and dust particles from the bottles
to fill.
100 To remove oxygen that may impair the nutritional quality
by oxidation and that may promote microbial growth of
spoiling bacteria and food pathogens.
100 In modified atmospheric packaging, the air is first removed
(to remove the air) from the packaging by means of vacuum, to be finally
replaced by a modified atmosphere.
water is replaced by steam as motive fluid. pressure (vacuum) must be established or
The motive steam fluid is expanded, after maintained. The steam vapour accelerates into
passing through a motive nozzle, where the the inlet cone of the mixing nozzle. After pas-
pressure energy is transformed into kinetic sing through the throat of the mixing nozzle,
energy. This energy stream impinges with into the diffuser, the kinetic energy of the
and withdraws gases, air and water vapour mixed vapour stream is gradually converted
from an application where a sub-atmospheric back into potential energy, i.e. the medium is
PUMPS & PROCESS MAGAZINE n 69 - maart 2011 23
engineeringnet.be
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY

velocity of the steam/ are numbered in succession.

Fig. 2: three-stage steam jet ejector with
two barometric intercondensers and one
barometric aftercondenser.
compressed to a higher discharge pressure.
Fig. 1 demonstrates how the pressure and
gas-stream fluctuates It is desirable to connect a condenser to
over its traject through the discharge of each steam jet ejector to
the steam jet ejector. bring all steam and condensable gases to
the liquid state, reducing the load to the suc-
Basic ceeding ejector stage and thus imposing on
components subsequent stages the work of compressing
of a steam jet only those gases that are non-condensable.
ejector The condensers so em-ployed are known as
A single stage steam intercondensers. A condenser connected to the
ejector can produce diffuser dis-charge of the final stage is known
only a limited vacuum as an aftercondenser, that is used to prevent the
(cfr. Table 2). Multi- discharge of motive steam and condensable
stage steam ejectors process vapours into atmosphere.
(Fig. 2) are used when An intercondenser operates at pressures
an application requires less than atmospheric (under vacuum). It
a pressure lower than is therefore necessary to provide means for
what single-stage ejec- draining the mixture of condensing water
tors can develop, as the and condensed steam/condensable vapours
first can develop a greater suction pressure. from a barometric intercondenser, or the
With more stages added to the system, the condensed steam/condensable vapours only
pressure of the first stage becomes lesser from a shell-and-tube inter-condenser. The
and lesser, generating a deeper vacuum. The non-condensable vapours are withdrawn from
ejector which the entrained gases enter first, the top of each intercondenser by the vacuum
is called the first stage and subsequent stages of the subsequent steam ejector. The after-

Steam-jet Max.
type absolute
vacuum Advantages Disadvantages
(mbar)
1-stage 66 - High achievable vacuum - Consumption of large amounts of steam as
2-stage 5-15 - High suction capacities and gas flow pressurized motive fluid
3-stage 1-1.5 - Controlable over a wide range of vacuum - High energy consumption
4-stage 0.1-0.3 and flow rates - Low thermal efficiency
- Excellent to handle condensable corrosive - Requires a steam infrastructure
and contaminated loads - Need for high quality steam produced from
- Excellent to handle liquid slugs and solid soft-demineralised water
particles - Steam must be dry or should have less than
- Reliable and robust in arduous and 2% moisture, because wet steam may cause
corrosive conditions the ejector vacuum to break or fluctuate, and
- Simple design can erode the nozzle and diffusers.
- Designed in many materials of construction - Needs inter-condensers and after-condensed
and large amounts of cooling fluid to
- Mountable in any position
condense the mixture of motive and process
- Low investment cost vapour
- No moving parts, less failure risk - Contamination of the motive fluid
- Less susceptible to wear, and trouble-free- - Large amounts of contaminated steam con-
operation densate (waste water)
- Long life-span - Load specific and very sensitive to variations
- Simple repair & maintenance in process conditions and pressure
- No heat emission - Noisy, requires silencers or sound insulation

Table 2: advantages and disadvantages of steam jet ejectors.

24 PUMPS & PROCESS MAGAZINE n 69 - maart 2011


condenser operates at atmosp-
heric pressure and is provided
with a vent to finally allow air
and non-condensable gases to
escape in the atmosphere.
Barometric
condensers
A barometric condenser (also
called direct contact conden-
ser) is a vertical vessel where
withdrawn process vapours are
cooled and condensed by direct
contact with downward flowing
cold water injected into the top
of the vessel. Since the ope-
rating pressure of the conden-
ser is sub-atmospheric (under
vacuum), collected condensate
(effluent cooling water and condensed steam/
vapours) must be continuously removed. That
condensate is normally dropped into a recei-
ver tank that is often vented to atmosphere
or a low pressure vent system. This creates
a situation where the condensate is under
vacuum in the condenser and is trying to
move toward the receiver tank that is under
positive pressure. To overcome this pressure
differential, the condenser must be located
higher than the receiver tank (the bottom of
the condenser should be at least 10.4 meters
above the ground) to create a tall barometric
leg (10.4 m long pipe) in which a static
column of liquid balances the atmospheric
pressure. The condensate must flow by gravity
through this long sealed vertical tail pipe into
Fig. 4: (a) with barometric condensers, it is important to note that condensate is splashing down the barometric walls and could run
down the vapour inlet and back into the upstream vacuum process, unless the inlet is protected by a dam or series of elbows; (b)
Degradation of the absolute vacuum pressure of an upstream process due to the pooling of liquid in pockets located in the vapour
inlet or outlet piping. Pocket-free designs, however, may maintain the required absolute vacuum pressures.
Fig. 3: if tail pipe must change in direc-
tion, it should form at least a 45 angle
from the horizontal plane; the horizontal
piping (right drawing) is vulnerable to
gas accumulation.
a hot-well (drainage basin provided with an
overflow or pump) or a sealed condensate tank
(provided with fluid-level control and conden-
sate pump). The barometric leg allows the
effluent coolant and condensed vapours in the
barometric condenser to exit no matter what
its vacuum is, finally preventing the condenser
from flooding under normal operation.
In the receiver tank, the tail pipe must be
submerged enough (not less than 28 cm). If
this seal is broken, air will be drawn into the
engineeringnet.be
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
tailpipe, increasing the risk
for flooding the condenser
and hence affecting the
performance of the down-
stream vacuum source and
the upstream vacuum pro-
cess. The drainage lines or
tailpipes should be prefe-
rably installed vertically.
Horizontal drain leg runs are
not recommended, because
they are susceptible to gas
pockets. The mixture of
cooling water plus con-
densed steam/condensable
vapours always contain air
or other non-condensable
gases which cling to upper
pipe surfaces. All types of
pipe contain a certain amount of internal
roughness and, because of this, gases tend to
start clinging and building up in the smallest
crevice. In addition, every flanged joint has
a slight crack where a gasket is located, thus
permitting another place for gases to collect.
As these gases accumulate, they form tiny
bubbles, growing into larger ones that even-
tually become big enough to partially or com-
pletely block off piping at that point. In that
case, the condensate cannot flow downwards
and soon its level rises, flooding the conden-
ser. If piping changes direction, it must form at
least a 45 angle from the horizontal (Fig. 3).
With this amount of sloping, gases will either
slide back up the pipe or continue downward
with the thrust of the flowing water. The 45
PUMPS & PROCESS MAGAZINE n 69 - maart 2011 25
bend may only installed at no less than 5 pipe diameters away from the
condenser outlet flange. Where there is insufficient height to construct
a proper barometric leg, a low-level, condensate-removal system can
be added. This consists of a receiver equipped with a level controller
and a condensate pump. As a condensate pump removes condensate at
a constant rate, a mechanical level controller opens and closes a valve,
to control the flow of cooling water to the condenser. However, if either
pump or controller fails, there is a risk of flooding the vacuum system.
Direct-contact condensers are easily to design, relatively inexpensive,
and make multi-stage steam jet ejector designs less vulnerable to
damage or fouling resulting from carryover of entrained solids. The
major disadvantage of direct contact condensers is the large quantity
of water that passes through once and goes to disposal, increasing the
cost of wastewater and the environmental impact.

Shell-and-tube condensers
Surface-type condensers (that can be provided with supplementary
mechanical refrigeration) are more complex and more expensive;
but the amount of waste water to be treated decreases and valuable
compounds can be recycled. In the case that a shell-and-tube surface
condenser is used, this condenser must also be installed to allow for
complete condensate drainage. The condensate may not flood the
lower tubes of the condenser, otherwise they will not be able to remove
heat effectively.

Measures to protect the upstream process

With barometric condensers, it is important to note that condensate is
splashing down the barometric walls and could run down the vapour
inlet and back into the vacuum process equipment, unless the inlet is
protected by a dam or series of elbows (Fig. 4a).
Condensable vapours flowing in the inlet or outlet vapour pipeline will
naturally condense since the pipe is usually cooler than the saturation
temperature of the vapour it contains. Vapour piping entering and
leaving a barometric condenser (or a shell-and-tube condenser) may
not contain any pockets (Fig. 4b) where this liquid can accumulate.
The liquid pooling in these pockets, will completely seal off the line,
which finally results in a downgrading of the vacuum. The absolute
vacuum pressure up-stream of a pocket will rise dramatically. <<

Literature references
Aliasso, J. (1999), Choose the right vacuum pump, Chemical
Engineering, 106 (3), 96-100.
Birgenheier D.B., Butzbach T.L., Bolt D.E., Bhatnagar R.K., Ojala R.E.,
Aglitz J. (1993), Designing steam-jet vacuum systems, Chemical
Engineering, 100 (7), 116-121.
Croll, S.W. (1998), Keeping steam ejectors on-line, Chemical
Engineering, 105 (4), 108-112.
Eckles, A.J. & Benz, P.H. (1992), The basics of vacuum processing,
Chemical engineering, 101 (1), 78-86.
Eckles, A.J. (1997), Difficult to process? Vacuum it!, Chemical
Engineering, 104 (9), 94-100.
Mains, W. D. & Richenberg, R. E. (1967), Steam Jet Ejectors in Pilot and
Production Plants, Chemical Engineering Progress, 63(3):84-88.
Ojala, R. (1992), Keep ejectors online, Chemical Engineering, 101 (5),
114-120.
Wetzel, L. (1996), Proper piping for vacuum systems, Chemical
engineering, 103 (11), 104-110.
Unique Systems (2010), Installation, operation, maintenance and
troubleshooting of ejector systems, Cedar Knolls, New Jersey, United
States, 18 p.