Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Automation/Control logic for Safe & efficient

orking of FFE

Khalid
Rashid
Almoiz Industries Limited

General
Manager
Almoizwww.almoiz.com
Unit-II

Discussion
Automation/Control Logic Importance
Juice Level Controls
Controls on Juice Circulation Flow
Emergency Water Control
Temperature/Pressure Control of Exhaust
Steam
Temperature Control of Vapours
Conclusions
Almoiz
Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Overview of FFE

Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Automation/Control Logic
Importance
It is technique, method or system to operate / control a process
by highly automatic means ,it reduces human intervention to a
minimum. FFEs can be controlled by using PLC (Programmable
Logic Controller) OR DCS (Distributed Control System), Devises
used in these systems can be categorize as under,
Field Instruments
These are the instruments used in the field such as level
transmitters, temperature transmitters, flow meters, gauges etc.
Selection of field instruments must be as per exact requirement of
the process such as temperatures and pressures, spans and
ranges should be precisely calculated for accurate results.
Control Hardware
Control hardware means control system hardware. Generally we
can select DCS/PLC to control the FFEs. In DCS, a hierarchy of
controllers is connected by communication network to command
and monitoring. The elements of a DCS may connect directly to
physical equipment such as switches, pumps and to operate
interface screens. For control system selection, we must first
www.almoiz.com
Almoiz
Industries
Limitedand type of I / OS. Redundancy
calculate
the requirement
may be

Inlet Juice Level Controls

It is very important to maintain inlet juice
level in the evaporator to a certain level in
such a way that thin juice don't mix with
thick juice and sufficient to maintain
required juice circulation flow.
Main Reasons of juice level shortage.
evaporator
1.Fault in VFD or motor of clear juice pump.
2.Any issue with on/off delivery valves of
clear juice pumps
3.Any problem in valves of clear juice
heaters
or choking etc.
4.Any fault in inlet juice control valve.
5.Any problem in the level transmitters
Possible control logics for inlet juice level
of 1st evaporator.
1.By VFD of clear juice pump for 1st FFE.
2.By control valve in the inlet of
evaporator.

Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Inlet Juice Level Controls

By VFD of clear juice pump for 1st FFE.
Juice level can be controlled by VFD of Clear juice but perfect control is difficult due to
following
reasons.
Clear juice pumps are normally far away from evaporators and variation in pump rpm does
not fulfill the
Requirement properly,
Clear juice heaters are placed between clear juice pump and evaporators, any problem in
juice heaters
Can reduce the supply of Juice or Sudden excessive requirement can cause huge pressure in
the pipe line and top bottom covers of the heaters.
It is better to have clear juice pump control with respect to the pressure in Clear juice
Line , and this set point of pressure should be more than the vapour pressure of the
evaporator.
Control valve in the inlet of evaporator
The best option to control juice level in 1st/other evaporators is to install control valve in
the inlet juice
pipe line of evaporator.

Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Juice Circulation Flow control

logics

Almoiz Industries Limited

Equipment/arrangements
required to Control Juice
Circulation Flow
1. Pumps according to the
juice circulation capacity with
VFDs.
2. Juice flow meter to measure
juice circulation flow.
3. on /off valves in the delivery
of juice circulation pumps.
4. Provision of emergency
water supply.
5. Inlet control valve for juice.
Reasons which reduces juice
circulation
Shortage of inlet juice.
Failures of juice circulation
pump
www.almoiz.com
electrically.

Logics for Juice Circulation

Flow Control
Shortage of inlet juice.
In case juice starts getting short in juice bowl,1 st of all inlet control valve will
fully open
which is inter link with level transmitter.
There may be fault in clear juice pump, if one pump don't full fill requirement
other
pump should start automatically.
In case clear juice tank level is less than there should be the hot water connection
with
auto on off valve and its logic should be built up with level of clear juice.
Failure of pumps due to any reason.
In Case of juice circulation flow shortage, either due to mechanical /electrical or
instrument fault 1st of all stand by circulation pump will start and maintain the
required juice flow. In case juice circulation reduces to a certain flow ,emergency hot
water should be open in the evaporator.
In case juice circulation flow meter giving wrong reading than turn the system manual
by pass it and fix the problem,.

Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Emergency Water Arrangement

on Juice Circulation

Flow

In FFEs mostly all arrangements are done to maintain

wetting of tubes, in case juice gets short in the tubes,
will
result in rapid fouling of tubes and in extreme, choking
of
tubes.

When Emergency Water is Required

In case of Shutdown
Less Juice circulation flow due to any reason such as
Pump failure mechanically
Pump failure electrically
Any fault in instrumentation(flow meter , on /off valve
etc.)

Mainly its application is controlled by the juice circulation

flow meter, when it comes down to a certain flow(50% of
the required circulation flow) ,it opens till the juice
circulation flow reaches to the required value.
In case of shut down or problem in both pumps , there will
be two limits lower and upper ,emergency valve will open
when juice flow is less than required and will close when
juice level goes up to the upper limit.

Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Emergency hot water Tank

Placement & Volume
Emergency hot water Tank
Placement:
Emergency hot water arrangements
needs special attention and calculations
specially for 1st and 2nd evaporator where
vapour pressures are high.

Emergency Hot water tank should be

placed in such a way that water head
In the tank should be more than vapour
pressure in the 1st evaporator
If top of the evaporator is 23m and vap.
Pressure is 1.3 kg/cm2 than minimum
water head required is 33.3m, on safer
side it should be 35-37m.

Emergency hot water Tank Volume:

For Quintuple FFE Vol=100 m 3

Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Exhaust steam
pressure/Temperature Control

Safety in case of high exhaust Steam pressure

Exhaust steam pressure can increase due to the following
Reasons,

Juice shortage in the 1st evaporator due to any

reason.
Fouling of evaporator.
Sudden shut down.
Less Vacuum in last effect as required.
in normal operation if it goes above the level
where turbine back pressure limit is crossed can cause shut
Down, In those plants where steam consumption is
relatively low it can happen ,to avoid such situation safety
is necessary.
If working pressure for a set of FFEs is 1.5-1.6
kg/cm2 and turbine is designed at 2.0 Kg/cm 2
than set point for safety valve can be as
Opening at 1.7-1.8 Kg/cm 2
Closing at 1.4-1.5 Kg/cm 2
Temperature Control of Exhaust Steam:
Exhaust Steam temperature is controlled through
desuper heating system in two stages .
Live steam is desuperheated to the temp.
Of turbine exhaust steam,
combined steam from live steam &
turbine is desuperheated to the required
temp for boiling.

Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Temperature Control of Vapours

Temperature Of vapour is directly proportional to the pressure, Temperature of each
vapour can only be maintained by maintaing relative pressure in each effect.
The only way to control the pressure of each FFE is to control
vacuum in the last effect and vapour bleeding from individual evaporators.
Vacuum is logically controlled through auto condenser.
If exhaust steam temp. /pressure is maintained between 125-128C & 1.5-1.6kg/cm2
Respectively and vacuum15-18 inches of Hg (-0.5 to -0.6 kg/cm2) in last effect
for quintuple effect following temperatures of vapors can be maintained.
1st vapor temperature = 115-118 C
2nd vapor temperature=108-110 C
3rd vapor temperature=100-101 C

At these temperatures 2nd and 3rd vapours can be use for juice Heaters and
pans.

Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Conclusions

Automation & control make falling film operation easy , efficient &
safe.

Selection of right size / quality instrument is necessary.

Central control system made monitoring easy/ facilitate recording.

following Operational logics in FFEs are important to be maintained.

Juice level control for circulation.
Juice circulation flow control.
Emergency hot water application/arrangements.
High Exhaust steam pressure safeties.
Temperature control of vapors.

Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com

Thank
You
Almoiz Industries Limited

www.almoiz.com