ECH711: Food Process Engineering

L-XXI

Food Preservation with Removal of Water

(a) Evaporation (b) Dehydration (c) Freeze Drying & Freeze Concentration

Evaporation
A food preservation technique in which dilute liquid foods are concentrated by the evaporation of water, with the aim of increasing microbial stability and shelf-life of the food. Reduction in the bulk volume of the food also reduces the transport and storage costs. Evaporation is also used to concentrate the liquid foods prior to their dehydration, particularly by spray drying.

Comparative cost of water removal

Separation cost per unit volume of water removed (arbitrary units) 17-50 10-25 0.1-10 0.2-7 0.2-5

Spray drying Drum drying Centrifugation UF/RO Evaporation

 Evaporation is extensively used for the concentration of milk, fruit and vegetable juices and sugar solutions. Lengthy exposure to heat should be avoided to prevent thermal degradation of the food. Residence time of the food in the evaporator is reduced by maximizing the rate of heat transfer by using thin liquid films rather than add heat to liquids in bulk. Evaporators are usually operated under vacuum to reduce the boiling point of the solution. This increases the driving force between the steam and the boiling liquid and reduces thermal degradation. Increased concentration increases the viscosity substantially resulting in problems associated with pumping and poor heat transfer. Deposition of fouling layers on heat transfer surfaces reduces the heat transfer coefficient.

Equipment for Evaporation

Natural Circulation Evaporators - Horizontal Tube - Vertical Tube Forced Circulation Evaporators Thin Film Evaporators

Horizontal tube natural circulation evaporator

Vertical tube natural circulation evaporator

Climbing film evaporator

Sizing of a Single Effect Evaporator - Flow rates of the feed, vapour and concentrated liquor - Steam flow rate - Area of heat transfer surface 4 4Simultaneous solution of a material balance, an enthalpy balance and a heat transfer rate equation.

Single effect evaporator: material and enthalpy balance

Evaporator Efficiency
refers to mass of vapours generated per unit mass of steam admitted to the calendria. Economy = V / S (9)

Boiling point Elevation

difference between the boiling point of the solution and that of pure water.

 Illustration-I
A single effect evaporator is to be used to concentrate a fruit juice containing 15% (w/w) dissolved solids to 50% solids. The feed stream enters the evaporator at 291K with a feed rate of 1.0 kg-1. Steam is available at a pressure of 2.4 bar and at absolute pressure of 0.07 bar is maintained in the evaporator. Assuming that the properties of the solution are the same as those of water, and taking the overall heat transfer coefficient to be 2,300 W.m2.K-1, calculate the rate of steam consumption and the necessary heat transfer area and the steam economy in the evaporator.

Improving Evaporator Efficiency

In a single stage evaporator, the enthalpy of the vapour is partially wasted because the vapour is either vented to atmosphere or condensed, resulting in poor steam economy. Reusing the vapour, either by cycling it to the calendria or by passing it to the calendria of a second evaporator can improve the steam economy greater than unity. 1. Vapour recompression
(a) Mechanical recompression (b) Steam jet ejector

2. Multiple effect evaporation

(a) forward feed (b) backward feed (c) Mixed feed

An example: Concentration of tomato juice.

Mechanical vapour recompression

Steam injector vapour recompression

Triple effect evaporator: forward feed

Triple effect evaporator :backward feed

 Illustration-2
A 4% (w/w) aqueous food solution is fed to a forward feed double effect evaporator with equal surface area at a rate of 2.0kg.s-1 and a temperature of 700C. The solution is concentrated to 20% (w/w). The second effect is maintained at a pressure of 20kP with a boiling point elevation of 8 K. Steam at240 kP is available. The heat transfer coefficients in the first and second effects are 2.20 and 1.50 kW.m-2.K-1, respectively. Heat capacity of each liquid stream may be assumed to be 4.18 kJ.kg-1.K-1. Calculate the heat transfer surface area of each effect and the steam economy