INTRODUCTION

The experiment was performed on the 25th August 2011 in the chemical engineering laboratory in order to meet the requirements for Chemical Engineering Technology III B. It was performed using the triple effect evaporator. Evaporation is a method which involves the removal of water from a solution by boiling the liquor in a suitable vessel, an evaporator, and withdrawing the vapor. The objective of the experiment are: To check the mass and energy balances To determine K1 and Q1 To determine the efficiency f the evaporator

THEORY AND BACKGROUND

Evaporation, a widely used method for the concentration of aqueous solutions, involves the removal of water from a solution by boiling the liquor in a suitable vessel, an evaporator, and withdrawing the vapour. If the solution contains dissolved solids, the resulting strong liquor may become saturated so that crystals are deposited. Liquors which are to be evapo rated may be classified as follows: Those which can be heated to high temperatures without decomposition, and those that can be heated only to a temperature of about 330 K. Those which yield solids on concentration, in which case crystal size and shape may be important, and those which do not. Those which, at a given pressure, boil at about the same temperature as water, and those which have a much higher boiling point. Evaporation is achieved by adding heat to the solution to vaporise the solvent. The heat is supplied principally to provide the latent heat of vaporisation, and, by adopting methods for recovery of heat from the vapour, it has been possible to achieve great economy in heat utilisation. Whilst the normal heating medium is generally low pressure exhaust steam from turbines, special heat transfer fluids or flue gases are also used. The design of an evaporation unit requires the practical application of data on heat transfer to boiling liquids, together with a realisation of what happens to the liquid during concentration. In addition to the three main features outlined above, liquors which have an inverse solubility curve and which are therefore likely to deposit scale on the heating surface merit special attention. HEAT TRANSFER IN EVAPORATORS: Heat transfer coefficients The rate equation for heat transfer takes the form: Q1 = K1 T1 where: K1 = A1 U1 Q is the heat transferred per unit time U is the overall coefficient of heat transfer A is the heat transfer surface, and T is the temperature difference between the two streams. In applying this equation to evaporators, there may be some difficulty in deciding the correct value for the temperature difference because of what is known as the boiling point rise (BPR). If water is boiled in an evaporator under a given pressure, then the temperature of the liquor may be determined from steam tables and the temperature difference is readily calculated. At the same pressure, a solution has a boiling point greater than that of water,and the difference between its boiling point and that of water is the BPR.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE AND EQUIPMENT SETUP

PREPARATION OF THE 5% FEED S0LUTION Add a known mass of NaCl (salt)/sugar to the feed tank, D1 . Fill the feed tank to the 25 litre mark with a known volume of water ( to make 5% solution) and stir until the salt dissolves. START UP Connect the system to the water network Connect the plant to the compressed air network, 1.4 bar Shut the vapour valve V4 Start the vapour generator SCTO2 Shut off valves V2, V3, V6, V8, V10, V14,V16, V17, V20 and V21 Open valves V1, V4, V5, V7, V9, V13, V15, V18 and V19 Partially pen valves V11, V12, V22 and V23 Fill tank D1 with the feed solution Start up pump G2, switch to the position 1 Adjust the vacuum, about -0.7 bar, with valve V22 Adjust the vapour pressure to 5 bar, the red and black indexes of the regulator must be coincident Open the pneumatic valve FV1 and fix the flow rate to about 10kg/h with the proper pressure reducer(manual control) If the temperature of the condensate is too high, increase the water flow to the condenser If the concentrate has too low concentration, increase the vapour flow to the primary evaporator Take note of the information displayed on the control board and the volumes of the solutions in D1, D2 and D3. Fill in the information required on the observation sheet. To discharge the tank D2 operate as follows: Shut valves V13, and V15 Open valve V14 Open valve Valve V16 To re-insert the tank D2 operate as follows: Shut valve V16 Shut valve V14 Open valves V13, and V15 To discharge the tank D3 operate as follows:
3

Shut valves V18 and V19 Open valve V20 Open valve V21 To re-insert the tank D3 operate operate as follows: Shut valve V21 Shut valve V20 Open valves V19,and V18 Take a 50ml sample 5% solution and concentrated product for concentration analysis.

HALTING THE SYSTEM Shut off the vapour inlet Exhaust the vapour Shut valve V4 Shut valve FV1 Halt pump G1, switch to the position 0 Halt vacuum pump G2, switch to the position 0 Empty the tank D1 Empty the tank D2 Empty the tank D3 Empty the tank D4 Empty the tank D5 Empty the delivery lines of the pump G1 with the valves V2 and V6 Turn off the power supply Shut the water network valve Shut the compressed air network valve