Types of Evaporators

This bulletin is intended to provide an introduction to the primary types of

evaporators which are implemented in various industries today. Every evaporator
design will have a means of transferring heat energy through a heat transfer surface
as well as a means to effectively separate the vapors from the residual liquid or
solid. Differences in how these separations are achieved distinguishes one type of
evaporator from another.

1- Natural Circulation Evaporators (Calendria type)

As their name depicts, these evaporators depend on natural physical forces in lieu
of pumps for their operation. There must be a balance between the two-phase
friction and acceleration losses in the flow loop, and the static head developed by
the liquid in the main body of the evaporator. The heating surface can be horizontal
or vertical, and can be totally immersed or partially submerged, or outside of the
evaporator body. Natural circulation systems offer a moderate range of operation
(2:1 turn down) and are not recommended for services where wide load
fluctuations are expected.

2- Single Pass

service passes the feed liquor through the tubes only once, and the two-phase
mixture is released into the main evaporator body where vapor and liquor
are separated. Since all evaporation is accomplished in a single pass, these
units are especially useful in handling heat-sensitive materials, due to their
short residence times.
 3- Recirculating

units maintain a pool of liquid within the evaporator. The feed liquor mixes
with the liquid in the pool and passes over the heat-transfer surface. The
two-phase mixture returning to the evaporator is separated into vapor and
liquid. This liquid mixes with the liquid in the pool. The product is
withdrawn from this pool so that all liquor in it is at maximum
concentration.

Since the liquid in the evaporator is recirculated and, thus, repeatedly contacts the
heat-transfer surface, natural-circulation evaporators are unsuitable for heat-
sensitive materials. Moreover, since the liquor entering the heat-transfer surface is
at a higher concentration than the feed, its density, viscosity and boiling point are
high. Accordingly, heat-transfer coefficients tend to be low. The advantages are
that these evaporators can operate over a wide range of concentrations and loads
and are well suited for single-effect evaporation.

4- Short-tube vertical evaporators

This is often referred to as calandria or standard evaporators, the latter

because of earlier popularity with users. Units consist of short tubes, 4-6 ft
long, and 2-4 in. dia., set between two horizontal tubesheets that span the
evaporator-body diameter. The tube bundle contains a large circular
downcomer that returns concentrated liquor above the top tubesheet to
below the bottom tubesheet for product withdrawal. The driving force for
flow of liquid through the tubes is the difference in density between the
liquid in the downcomer and two-phase mixture in the tubes.
Advantages

these evaporators can be used with scaling liquids, since evaporation takes place
inside the tubes, which are accessible for cleaning. Fairly high heat-transfer
coefficients are obtained with thin liquors (i.e., water or dilute solutions of 1-5 cP).
Units are relatively inexpensive, provided that they are made of carbon steel or cast
iron.

Disadvantages

a large area is required since the units are squat. Heat-transfer coefficients are
sensitive to the temperature difference and liquor viscosity, and, due to large liquid
holdup, these evaporators cannot be used with heat-sensitive materials. Turndown
and flexibility are low — turndown being <2:1.

Also, such evaporators are unsuitable for crystalline products, unless a propeller is
used to produce forced circulation.

Industrial applications

these short-tube vertical evaporators are suitable for noncorrosive (e.g., cane
sugar), clear and noncrystallizing liquors.

Basket-type evaporators
These are similar to calandria-type units except that the tube bundle is removable
and the liquor downtake occurs between the bundle and the shell, instead of in a
central downcomer.