Heat Transfer

Selecting Evaporators
for Process Applications

William B. Glover
Evaluate product characteristics
LCI Corp. and process requirements to select
among the various evaporator designs.

E
VAPORATORS ARE USED IN A WIDE RANGE exchangers, plate-and-frame heat exchangers, and agitated
of processes, including pharmaceuticals, foods and thin-film evaporators.
beverages, pulp and paper, chemicals, polymers and A properly designed evaporator must, at a minimum:
resins, inorganic salts, acids, bases, and a variety of other • be designed to effectively transfer heat at a high rate with
materials. There are many types and variations of evaporators, minimum surface area to be cost-effective for installation,
and the best for a particular application depends on the prod- operations and maintenance
uct characteristics and desired results. • effectively separate the vapor from the liquid concentrate
This article first explains the process requirements that an • meet the conditions required by the product being
evaporator must meet, and discusses the critical operational processed
and product characteristics and their effects on evaporator • produce a product that meets the required quality
selection. It then reviews the various types of evaporator • be energy efficient, where possible making effective use
designs, their modes of operation, features, advantages and of steam with multiple-effect evaporation or vapor recom-
limitations, and it provides guidance on how to select an evap- pression
orator for a particular application. • minimize fouling of heat transfer surfaces
• be constructed of materials that are adequate to minimize
The basics corrosion.
Evaporation is an operation used to concentrate a solution
of a nonvolatile solute and a volatile solvent, which in many Critical operational and product characteristics
cases is water. A portion of the solvent is vaporized to produce Critical operational and product characteristics of the solu-
a concentrated solution, slurry or thick, viscous liquid. tion to be evaporated have a major effect on the selection of
Evaporation differs from drying in that the residue is a the evaporator type most suited for the application.
flowable liquid instead of a solid. Evaporation is different Heat sensitivity. Many foods, pharmaceuticals, chemicals
from distillation in that there is no attempt to separate the and resins are heat- or temperature-sensitive and require either
vapors into individual components. low heating temperatures or a short residence time exposed to
Either the vapor or the concentrate stream, or both, may be the heat, or both. This can be accomplished by a combination
the desired product (1). Therefore, the evaporator should be of minimizing the volume of product in the evaporator at any
designed to provide a clean separation of the vapors from the one time, minimizing the time in the evaporator, and reducing
condensate and the feed. the product’s bulk boiling temperature by operating the evapo-
An evaporator consists of a heat exchanger or heated rator at reduced pressures. Reducing the internal operating
bath, valves, manifolds, controls, pumps and condenser. The pressure may also allow operation at lower heating tempera-
most common designs are jacketed tanks, tubular heat tures while still maintaining a reasonable heat-transfer driving

26 www.cepmagazine.org December 2004 CEP

force (the temperature difference between the boiling point of Liquid-heated evaporators typically have lower overall heat-
the bulk product and the temperature of the heating medium). transfer coefficients and require more heat transfer area. If the
Fouling. Fouling of the heat transfer surfaces is usually product is temperature-stable, then hot oil heating may allow
caused by solids in the feed, precipitating solids in the concen- higher temperatures and overcome the lower heat-transfer
trate, or degradation of the product. A slow buildup of a film coefficient. This, in some cases, could allow the use of a
on the heat transfer surfaces will cause a gradual reduction in smaller evaporator.
the overall heat-transfer coefficient. Eventually this will Required materials of construction (reactivity). A major
require shutdown of the process and cleaning of the heat trans- consideration in evaporator selection may be the required
fer surfaces, which results in production downtime and addi- materials of construction. The heat-transfer surface material is
tional maintenance labor. extremely important, because it not only affects the overall
Foaming. Product foaming during vaporization is common. material cost, but also determines the thermal conductivity of
It may range from a small amount of unstable foam that breaks the material, which impacts the overall heat-transfer coeffi-
easily to a very stable foam that is difficult to break and tends to cient and the required surface area.
fill the entire void of the evaporator system. Foaming can often
be minimized by special designs for the feed inlet (separation of Batch evaporators
feed from the vapor stream) and the vapor/liquid separation area The simplest, and one of the oldest, designs is the batch
(special disengaging designs). Also, reducing the boiling inten- evaporator (Figure 1). It consists of a jacketed vessel that is
sity of the liquid on the heat transfer surface (by operating at a heated with a vapor or liquid heating medium (H). The prod-
lower temperature or at a higher pressure) and reducing the uct is metered into a tank to a specified level through a feed
vapor velocity in the tubes may significantly reduce foaming. nozzle (F). Heat is applied and the batch is allowed to heat to
Where the product purity specifications allow, introduction of its boiling point; vapors are removed until the desired concen-
an antifoam may solve or greatly reduce the problem. tration is reached. The heat is then removed. The concentrate
Solids. The properties of the concentrate may change as the is drained or pumped out of the tank through a nozzle (C).
solids concentration increases. Solids may plug tubes, causing Batch evaporation is not well-suited for temperature-sensi-
loss of heat transfer surface, in turn resulting in reduced heat- tive products. First, the residence time is usually long. Also,
transfer rates and requiring downtime for cleaning. Solids the static head of the liquid increases the boiling point of the
increase the tendency to foul the heating surface, which reduces product at the bottom of the tank; this may be overcome
the heat-transfer coefficient and boil-up rate. An increase in somewhat by operating the tank under vacuum to reduce the
solids may also increase the concentrate viscosity, which affects boiling point of the batch.
the overall heat-transfer coefficient, reducing capacity. Heat-transfer coefficients are usually low, and the heat
Viscosity. Any increase in the viscosity of the concentrate transfer area is low for the volume occupied by the tank.
will reduce the overall heat-transfer coefficient. Because product movement is only via natural circulation,
Distillate-to-concentrate ratio. In general, there must be temperature-sensitive products or products containing solids
enough liquid passing through the evaporator to keep the heat- tend to foul the heated surfaces. Heat-transfer coefficients
ed walls wetted. Lack of wall wetting and fluid velocity may can be improved and fouling reduced by placing an agitator
cause serious fouling and salting of solids on the heat transfer into the tank
surfaces, causing reduced heat transfer and possible product (stirred batch).
quality degradation as a result of hot spots on the heating sur- The batch (V) Vapor

face. In processes where high distillate-to-concentrate ratios evaporator is still

are required, recycling of some amount of the concentrate used for many (F)
may be required. processes, partic- Feed
Distillate vapor velocity (pressure drop and entrainment). ularly those that
(H)
Consideration must be given to the vapor velocity in the involve small Steam
evaporator tubes and heating jackets. Adequate velocities are batches of prod-
needed to produce sufficient heat-transfer coefficients with- ucts that are
out exceeding limitations on pressure drop, erosion and clean, viscous,
entrainment. Careful attention must be paid to the require- and not heat- (H)
Condensate
ments of the vapor/liquid separator for separation efficiency sensitive.
and pressure drop.
Heat transfer medium. The heat transfer medium (hot oil or ■ Figure 1. A batch
steam) may impact the selection of the type of evaporator. evaporator is one of (C) Concentrate
the simplest designs.

CEP December 2004 www.cepmagazine.org 27

 Heat Transfer

Natural-circulation tubular evaporators the downtake is usually between 75% and 150% of the cross-
Natural circulation is normally used for simple applications sectional area of the tubes. The tubes may range from 1 in. to
where the product is clean and temperature-stable (whereas 4 in. in diameter and from 30 in. to 6 ft in length; general
forced-circulation evaporators are used for viscous, salting and practice favors about 2-in.-dia. and 5-ft-long tubes. (4).
scale-forming products) (2). The most common natural-circu- Circulation and heat transfer in this type of evaporator are
lation tubular evaporators are horizontal tube, calandria (or strongly affected by the liquid level (3). Boiling in the tubes
short) vertical tube, and long vertical tube. induces circulation past the heating surface. Circulation is cre-
ated by the difference in specific gravity between the bulk liq-
Horizontal tube evaporators uid and the heated liquid and vapor generated inside the tubes.
The horizontal tube evaporator (Figure 2) is the oldest type The highest heat-transfer coefficients are achieved when the
of chemical evaporator, although other improved types are level is only about half-way up the tubes. Reduction below the
now more commonly used. optimum level results in incomplete wetting of the tube wall,
The horizontal tube evaporator is the only type of chemical with a consequent increase in fouling tendency and a rapid
evaporator in which the heating medium is inside the tubes. reduction in capacity. When this type of evaporator is used
The principal advantage of horizontal tube evaporators lies in with a product that can deposit salt or scale, it is customary to
the relatively small headroom they require. The horizontal evap- operate with the liquid level appreciably higher than optimum
orator is least satisfactory for fluids that form scale or deposit and usually above the top tubesheet (3).
salt (which would build up on the outside of the tube). It is well- Advantages of the short-tube vertical evaporator include:
suited for processes where the final product is a liquid instead of • low head-space required
a solid, such as sugar syrups where the large volume of liquid • suitable for liquids that have a moderate tendency to
stored in the evaporator allows a close adjustment of the final scale, since the product is on the tubeside, which is acces-
density by changing the hold-up in the evaporator. sible for cleaning
• fairly high heat-transfer coefficients can be obtained with
Short-tube vertical evaporators thin liquids (up to 5–10 cP)
The short-tube, or calandria, vertical evaporator (Figure 3) is • relatively inexpensive to manufacture.
one of the earliest types still in widespread commercial use (3). However, heat transfer depends greatly on the effect of vis-
The short-tube evaporator is characterized by tubesheets (A) cosity and temperature, it is not for use with temperature-sen-
extending across the body and a central downspout (B). Tubes sitive materials, and it is unsuitable for crystalline products
are rolled between two tubesheets and steam is introduced as unless agitation is provided.
shown in Figure 3. The liquid is in the tubes and the heating One principal use of the short-tube vertical evaporator is
medium outside the tubes. As the liquid boils, it rises up the concentration of sugar cane juice.
through the tubes and returns through the central downtake.
Condensate is removed from any convenient place on the bot- Long-tube vertical evaporators
tom of the tubesheet (such as C), and the noncondensed gases The long-tube vertical, or rising-film, evaporator (Figure 4)
are usually vented from somewhere near the upper tubesheet is one of the most widely used tubular evaporators. It can be
(e.g., D). The exact positions of the feed (F) and discharge (C) built as a large single unit, partially due to the high heat-trans-
are variable, but fer performance
(V) Vapor
the positions (V) Vapor exhibited under
shown in Figure 3 most conditions,
are fairly typical. and partially
The operating Entrainment Entrainment because of the
Settling
level of the liquid Settling simplicity and low
Section Section
is normally near cost of construc-
the top of the top (H) Steam tion. It is basically
(F) Feed (F) Feed
tubesheet. The
(D) Vent
cross-section of (H) Steam
■ Figure 3. In a
Flow of short-tube vertical
Circulatory
■ Figure 2. The Liquid
evaporator, the
heating medium (H) process liquid is
flows inside the tubes Condensate (H) inside the tubes and
of a horizontal tube Condensate (C) Concentrate the heating medium
(C) Concentrate
evaporator. outside the tubes.

28 www.cepmagazine.org December 2004 CEP

 ■ Figure 4. Feed However, recirculation of part of the concentrate back to
flows upward
through the tubes
the feed stream may increase the heat transfer enough to
and heating medium allow the evaporator’s size to be reduced considerably,
flows downward on resulting in lower total costs.
the shellside of a The increased velocity of liquid in the tubes (typically in
(V) Vapor long-tube rising-film the range of 4–10 ft/s) may also reduce or eliminate any
vertical evaporator.
potential fouling, thereby maintaining capacity and reducing
(H) Steam
a shell-and-tube downtime. In a falling-film evaporator, it can improve the liq-
heat exchanger uid loading at the bottom of the tube, allowing higher distil-
mounted to a late-to-feed ratios.
vapor/liquid sepa- In most cases where the feed contains solids or crystalliza-
(H) rator. It requires tion is present, forced circulation should be used. The advan-
Condensate little floor space, tages of using a forced-circulation evaporator are:
but high head- • high heat-transfer coefficients
room. Tubes are • positive circulation
usually 1–2-in.- • reduced fouling or scaling.
(F) Feed (C) Concentrate o.d. and 12–32-ft The primary disadvantages of forced circulation are:
long (1). • possibly higher cost
The dilute feed enters at the bottom of the tubesheet and • power consumption for the circulating pump
flows upward through the tubes, with the heating medium on • a longer holdup of the product within the heating zone (3).
the shellside. In the lower portion of the tubes, the feed is Typical applications where forced circulation should be
heated to its boiling point. At some distance further up, bub- used are sodium sulfate, urea, sodium chloride, ammonium
bles form on the tubes and boiling begins, increasing the lin- sulfate, magnesium chloride, citric acid and caustic potash.
ear velocity and the rate of heat transfer. Near the top of the
tubes, the bubbles grow rapidly. In this bubble zone, slugs of Falling-film evaporator
liquid and bubbles rise quickly through the tubes and are dis- The long-tube falling-film evaporator (Figure 5) is a vari-
charged at high velocity from the top, where they impinge ation of the long-tube rising-film evaporator, in which the
on a liquid/vapor separator that tends to break any foam. equipment is turned upside down so the tubular heat
This allows the use of this type of evaporator for products exchanger is on top of the vapor/liquid separator section.
that tend to foam (1). Feed enters at the top of the evaporator, where specially
Advantages of the long-tube vertical evaporator are: designed distributors evenly distribute the feed into each of
• reduced floor space requirements the tubes. Distribution of the feed is very critical and there
• relatively high heat-transfer coefficients due to partial are many designs for the distributors, but generally most are
two-phase flow built around some type of perforated plate placed over the
• ability to handle foamy liquids. top tubesheet.
Disadvantages are: The falling-film evaporator has the advantage of gravity
• high head-room requirements pulling the film
• higher pressure drop through the tubes than in a falling- downward. This
(F) Feed
film evaporator results in a thin-
• hydrostatic head at the bottom of the tubes may increase ner, faster-mov- Liquid Distributors
product temperature and cause temperature-sensitivity ing film and
problems. gives high heat- Heating
Element
Some of the common uses of long-tube vertical evapora- transfer coeffi-
tors are the concentration of cane sugar syrups, black liquor in (H) Steam
paper plants, nitrates and electrolytic tinning liquors. ■ Figure 5. The
falling-film evaporator Entrainment
is a variation of the Separator (V)
Forced-circulation tubular evaporators long-tube rising-film (When Needed) Vapor
When designing a tubular evaporator, one should evalu- design, in which the (H)
Vapor Body
ate the value of mechanical recirculation. At first glance, tubular heat Condensate
the addition of a pump and additional controls will add to exchanger is on top
the installation, operating and maintenance costs. of the liquid/vapor (C) Concentrate
separator.

CEP December 2004 www.cepmagazine.org 29

Heat Transfer

cients and short residence times in the heating zone. Rising/falling-film evaporator
The falling-film evaporator is particularly useful in applica- The rising-film and the falling-film evaporators are
tions where the temperature driving force between the heating sometimes combined into a rising/falling-film evaporator
medium and the liquid is small (less than 15°F). The combina- to incorporate the advantages of both (Figure 6). When a
tion of the ability to function at low temperature differences high ratio of evaporation to feed is required and the con-
and short residence times makes the falling-film evaporator centrate may be viscous, a tube bundle can be divided into
suitable for use with temperature-sensitive products. two sections, with the first functioning as a rising-film
The design of the vapor/liquid separator at the bottom of evaporator and the second as a falling-film evaporator (5).
the tubesheet depends greatly on the properties of the material Feed enters at the bottom of the tubesheet of the rising-film
being processed and the operating conditions. The ratio of the portion. Boiling starts as the liquid rises through the tubes. A
liquid distilled to the feed rate is very critical to a falling-film mixture of liquid and vapor is discharged and redistributed
evaporator. High distillation splits utilizing a single-pass over the top of the tubes for the falling-film pass. The vapors
process could reduce the flow of liquid to where it is inade- from the rising-film pass aid in the distribution of liquid on the
quate to keep the tubes wetted near the bottom. This would tubes, and increase the velocity of the liquid, which increases
subject the tubes to potential fouling by degraded product. heat transfer. The mixture of vapor and liquid from the down-
The primary advantages of falling-film evaporators are: flow is separated in an external separator.
• relatively low cost The rising/falling-film evaporator’s advantages are:
• large heating surface in one body • relatively low residence times
• low product hold-up • relatively high heat transfer rates
• small floor space requirements • relatively low cost
• good heat-transfer coefficients at reasonable temperature • large units can be manufactured
differences. • low hold-up
The primary disadvantages are: • small floor space requirements
• high headroom requirements • good heat transfer over a wide range of services.
• generally not suited for salting or scaling materials Disadvantages include:
• recirculation is usually required. •high head-room requirements
Typical applications for falling-film evaporators are the •recirculation is frequently required
concentration of dairy products (such as whey, milk protein, •generally unsuited for salting or severely fouling fluids.
skim milk, cream and hydrolyzed milk), sugar solutions, urea, They are best applied when handling clear fluids or foamy
phosphoric acid and black liquor. liquids, and when large evaporation loads are required. (5).

Gasketed plate evaporators

The gasketed plate-and-frame evaporator (Figure 7) is
constructed by mounting a number of embossed plates with
corner openings between a top carrying bar and bottom
guide bar. The plates are gasketed and arranged to form nar-
row flow passages when a series of plates are clamped
together in the frame.
(H) Steam Separator Fluids are directed through the adjacent layers between the
plates, either in series or parallel, depending on the gasketing.
(V)
Vapor The gaskets confine the fluids and prevent them from escaping
(H) Condensate into the atmosphere. The heating medium flows between
every other plate.
These systems may be operated as rising-film, falling-film
or rising/falling-film evaporators.
(F) Feed With appropriate design for a specific application, very high
velocities and heat-transfer coefficients can be reached. The
high velocities help to minimize scale or salting of the heating
(C) Concentrate surfaces. The volume held in the plate evaporator is very small
compared to the large available heat-transfer surface. To opti-
■ Figure 6. A rising/falling-film evaporator combines the advantages of mize the heat transfer and maintain low bulk temperatures,
both the rising-film and falling-film designs.

30 www.cepmagazine.org December 2004 CEP

 Turbulent
Heat Liquid Film
Heated Wall
Plate

Bow Wave
Rotor
Blade

Product (H) Steam

(V)
Vapor

(F) Feed
■ Figure 9. A rotor distributes the feed evenly over the inner circumfer-
(H) Condensate ence of the body of the wiped-film evaporator.
(C) Concentrate
drops due to high viscosities are common problems.
■ Figure 7. A gasketed plate-and-frame evaporator may be operated in a Agitated thin-film evaporation successfully overcomes
rising-film, falling-film, or rising/falling-film mode. problems with difficult-to-handle products. Simply stated, the
method quickly separates the volatile from the less-volatile
plate evaporators are often operated under reduced pressure. components using indirect heat transfer and mechanical agita-
Advantages of gasketed plate-and-frame evaporators are: tion of the flowing product film under controlled conditions.
• well adapted to evaporating heat-sensitive, viscous and The separation is normally made under vacuum conditions to
foamy materials maximize the temperature difference while maintaining the
• compact with low headroom required most favorable product temperature, as well as to maximize
• easily cleaned and modified. volatile stripping and recovery.
A major disadvantage is the large gasketed area. Leakage Various thin-film evaporator designs are commercially
can be avoided by selecting the proper gasket for the applica- available. The agitated thin-film, or wiped-film, evaporator
tion and following proper assembly procedures (5). consists of two major assemblies — a heated body and a rotor.
Typical applications of gasketed plate evaporators are Both vertical and horizontal designs are available. The rotor
stripping applications, removing monomers from polymers may be one of several designs, with the clearance between the
and deodorization. rotor and the heating jacket wall varying from a fixed distance
to essentially zero and actually wiping the wall.
Agitated thin-film evaporators The majority of thin-film evaporators in operation today
One of the more useful types of evaporators for difficult- are of the vertical, cylindrical, fixed-clearance rotor design.
to-handle materials is the agitated thin-film evaporator The feed enters the unit above the heated zone and is distrib-
(Figure 8). Although tubular evaporators have been used uted evenly over the inner circumference of the body wall by
successfully with a vari- the rotor (Figure 9). Product spirals down the wall, while bow
Vapor ety of materials, they have waves developed by the rotor blades generate a highly turbu-
Feed (counter-current) been less successful with lent flow, leading to high heat flux. Volatile components evap-
heat-sensitive, viscous, orate rapidly. Vapors can flow either co-currently or counter-
fouling or high-boiling currently, and are ready for condensing or subsequent process-
Product
Flow liquids. Degradation due ing as they leave the unit. Nonvolatile components are dis-
Rotor to long residence time, charged at the bottom outlet. Continuous washing by the bow
Heating fouling of the heat trans- waves minimizes fouling of the thermal wall, where the prod-
Jacket fer surfaces, plugging of uct or residue is most concentrated.
tubes, and low heat trans- The combination of short residence time, narrow residence
fer and high pressure time distribution, high turbulence, and rapid surface renewal
permits the agitated thin-film evaporator to successfully han-
dle heat-sensitive, viscous and fouling materials. A “standard”
■ Figure 8. Agitated thin-film,
Vapor
or wiped-film, evaporators are thin-film evaporator can normally process materials with vis-
(co-current)
well-suited for processing cosities of 1–50,000 cP. Special transporting-rotor designs can
Concentrate
difficult-to-handle materials. be operated in the range of 50,000 to 20 million cP. Low prod-

CEP December 2004 www.cepmagazine.org 31

 Heat Transfer

uct inventory and operation at near-equilibrium conditions in Process requirements

the process zone are important for highly reactive products. Before the process and equipment can be evaluated,
Agitated thin-film evaporators have a wide processing flex- the requirements, specifications, and value for a mar-
ibility, and a single system can often be designed to process ketable product must be determined. Then, the general
different products under varied operating conditions (6). process specifications required to produce the mar-
Normally, a thin-film evaporator is operated under reduced ketable product must be determined. The process should
pressures in the range of 2–250 mmHg abs. Either steam or make a quality product with a good yield and minimum
liquid heating medium is used to heat the evaporator. waste. The following factors should be considered:
Advantages of an agitated thin-film evaporator are: • start-up time for the process to maximize onstream
• short residence time in the heated zone, measured in sec- time and minimize loss of product during process
onds to minutes stabilization
• high heat-transfer coefficients due to the turbulence • minimum hold-up of product at shutdown to minimize
imparted by the rotor loss of product
• plug flow with minimum back-mixing • short residence time to minimize product loss due to
• ability to handle high solids concentrations and viscous degradation
materials • prevention of fouling that causes loss of onstream
• less product decomposition, resulting in higher yields time for cleaning
• high recovery because of the “squeezing” of residues by • the ability to squeeze valuable products from the con-
the rotor (7). centrated residues where the distillate is the product,
A disadvantage is its higher cost compared to standard which reduces waste and the need for recycle (or a
evaporation equipment. In addition, staging or vapor recom- second stage) to recover additional product
pression for energy recovery are not practical. • ability to strip volatiles to low levels in the con-
Agitated thin-film evaporators are typically used in such centrate (mass transfer) where the concentrate is
applications as: the product.
• purification of sensitive organic chemicals, such as natu-
ral oils, fatty acids, isocyanates, herbicides and insecti- Selecting an evaporator
cides Choosing the best evaporatormay be easy or may be
• concentration of foods and pharmaceuticals, such as complex. Product characteristics such as high viscosities
lecithin, enzymes, fruit and vegetable purees, biological or heavy solids gives some direction. However, for many
solutions, vegetable and plant extracts, and fermentation simple applications, all or many of the different types
broths will handle the process equally well. In such cases, the
• recovery of valuable resources from waste streams, such choice may be dictated by such factors as capacity,
as solvents from paints, purification of used motor oil, small batch production, past plant experience, available
glycerin from crude streams, and volume reduction of space, operator requirements, utility requirements, main-
inorganic salt streams tenance required, and/or cost.
• devolatilization of thermoplastics, acrylic resins, phenolic The table below provides some guidance in the selec-
resins, silicone polymers, poly-
ester and nylon Table. Product characteristic selection criteria for evaporators.
• hazardous waste minimization
for disposal, e.g., radioactive
waste stream. Type of High Solids or Temperature
The mechanical and process Evaporator Clean Capacity Crystals Fouling Foamy Sensitive Viscous
technology for mechanically agitat-
ed thin-film evaporation systems is Batch x x
proven and reliable, and should be Horizontal Tube x
Vertical Short Tube x
considered whenever an application Vertical Long Tube x x
proves difficult for conventional Rising Falling Film x x x
tubular evaporators. Frequently, a Falling Film x x x x x
tubular and agitated thin-film evap- Forced Circulation x x x x x
orator combination is the optimum Plate x x x x x x x
Agitated Thin Film x x x x x x x
solution (6).

32 www.cepmagazine.org December 2004 CEP

tion of an evaporator for a particular application.
Typically, the most economical choice for low
capacity or multi-product batch production is the batch
or stirred-batch evaporator. It is simple, inexpensive,
and will handle a number of products with variable
characteristics and operating conditions. It may require
more cleaning time, but it is typically a low-mainte-
nance system.
Where high capacity is required, a continuous
process is usually used. Tubular evaporators are the
first choice where they are applicable.
Throughput, viscosity, solids content, fouling ten-
dency, and foaming tendency will determine the type
best suited and whether the design requires circulation.
In general, forced-circulation evaporators are more
expensive than natural-circulation, but in some cases
the higher heat-transfer coefficients allow a small
enough evaporator to be used that capital costs are
about the same or lower.
Where the product is difficult to handle due to
extreme temperature sensitivity, high viscosity, heavy
solids, or a high tendency to foul, a technology such as
the plate-and-frame or agitated thin-film evaporator may
be required. CEP

Literature Cited
1. McCabe, W. L., and J. C. Smith, “Unit Operations of
Chemical Engineering,” McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, pp.
533–538 (1958).
2. Kern, D. Q., “Process Heat Transfer,” McGraw-Hill, New
York, NY, pp. 401–403 (1950).
3. Perry, R. H., C. H. Chilton, and S. D. Kirkpatrick,
“Chemical Engineer’s Handbook,” 4th Ed., McGraw-Hill,
New York, NY, pp. 11-24 to 11-29 (1963).
4. Badger, W. L., “Introduction to Chemical Engineering,”
McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, p. 174 (1955).
5. Minton, P. E, “Handbook of Evaporator Technology,” Noyes
Publications, New York, NY, pp. 70–100 (1986).
www.cepmagazine.org or Circle No.122
6. Hyde, W. L., and W. B. Glover, “Evaporation of Difficult
Product,” Chemical Processing, 60 (2), pp. 59–61 (Feb. 1997).
7. Freeze, H. L., and W. B. Glover, “Mechanically Agitated
Thin-Film Evaporators,” Chem. Eng. Progress, 75 (1), pp.
52–58 (Jan. 1979).

WILLIAM B. GLOVER is an engineering consultant and former vice

president for process engineering at LCI Corp. (P.O. Box 16348,
Charlotte, NC, 28297; Phone: (704) 398-7878; Fax: (704) 392-8507;
Email: wglover@lcicorp.com). He was with LCI for 40 years and is a
specialist in process design, distillation and heat transfer in the food,
pharmaceutical, chemical and polymer industries. He earned his BChE
at North Carolina State Univ., is member of AIChE, and is a registered
professional engineer in North Carolina.

CEP December 2004 www.cepmagazine.org 33