Mathematical and Computer Modelling of Dynamical

Systems
Methods, Tools and Applications in Engineering and Related Sciences

ISSN: 1387-3954 (Print) 1744-5051 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/nmcm20

Mathematical modelling and dynamic simulation of

multi-effect falling-film evaporator for milk powder
production
Fateme Medhat Bojnourd, Mohammad Ali Fanaei & Hadi Zohreie
To cite this article: Fateme Medhat Bojnourd, Mohammad Ali Fanaei & Hadi Zohreie (2015)
Mathematical modelling and dynamic simulation of multi-effect falling-film evaporator for
milk powder production, Mathematical and Computer Modelling of Dynamical Systems, 21:4,
336-358, DOI: 10.1080/13873954.2014.980276
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13873954.2014.980276

Published online: 17 Nov 2014.

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Mathematical and Computer Modelling of Dynamical Systems, 2015

Vol. 21, No. 4, 336-358, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13873954.2014.980276

Mathematical modelling and dynamic simulation of multi-effect

falling-film evaporator for milk powder production
Fateme Medhat Bojnourd, Mohammad Ali Fanaei* and Hadi Zohreie
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad,
Mashhad, Iran

Downloaded by [nawz abdulall] at 14:31 06 May 2016

(Received 23 February 2013; accepted 21 October 2014)

Multiple-effect evaporators are widely used in dairies and food industries because they
are appropriately suited for concentrating food solutions. Some mathematical models
for multi-effect evaporators are reported in previous studies. But most of them are
steady-state models, and there are no extensive studies on the dynamic behaviour of
these evaporators. In this paper, two types of dynamic model, lumped and distributed,
are developed for an industrial four-effect falling-film evaporator which is used to
concentrate whole milk. These models are validated with data from an industrial unit.
The results show that the distributed model has slightly better predictions than the
lumped model, but the lumped model has comparable performance because its structure is simple and the needed simulation time is short in comparison with the
distributed model.
Keywords: mathematical modelling; dynamic simulation; falling-film evaporator; milk
powder production

1. Introduction
Multi-effect evaporators (MEEs) are commonly used as a part of the production processes,
namely dairy and food processing, pulp and paper, sugar, pharmaceuticals, desalination, etc.
With these evaporators, water is removed in a relatively energy-efficient way particularly
when many effects are used. In dairies and other food industries, the product is concentrate,
which in most cases will be further processed to produce powder. The last stage in the
process of water removal is always a drying process, for which a spray dryer can be used.
To create flexibility and optimal performance in the coupled evaporation and drying process
in modern industries, it is essential to control the concentrate output of the evaporator
tightly. However, the current state of control of evaporators is relatively poor. The use of
advanced control strategies is promising to reach more severe control objectives.
The dynamic modelling of MEE is used to establish advanced control strategies, in
order to solve problems related to transient behaviour such as start-up, shutdown and load
rejection and produce a relatively constant output during the production. Mathematical
model can be very complex and describes all the phenomena of the process behaviour, but the
important factor that determines the method of analysis of the system and complexity of the
final model is the ultimate application of that model [1].
Although several papers investigated the steady-state operation and design of MEEs,
there are no so extensive works on the dynamic behaviour of these systems [2-4]. Andre
*Corresponding author. Email: fanaei@ferdowsi.um.ac.ir
2014 Taylor & Francis

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Mathematical and Computer Modelling of Dynamical Systems

337

and Ritter [5] described dynamic response of a two-effect evaporator by a simple lumped
mathematical model based on the unsteady-state material and energy balances and
eliminated equations whose dynamics are negligible. El-Nashar and Qamhiyeh [6] developed a lumped mathematical model for predicting the transient behaviour of multi-effect
stack-type distillation plant. Heat and mass balance equations were written for each effect.
The equations were solved simultaneously, and the results of the simulation program were
compared with actual plant operating data taken during plant start-up, and agreement was
found to be reasonable. Tonelli et al. [7] presented a computer package for the simulation
of the open-loop dynamic response of MEE for concentrating liquid foods. It is based on a
lumped mathematical model. The model was applied to a triple-effect evaporator for apple
juice concentrators. Predictions of the model to large disturbances in steam pressure and
feed flow rate showed a good agreement with experimentally determined responses. Aly
and Marwan [8] developed a lumped mathematical model for the multi-effect evaporation
process to study the transient behaviour of the system. Each effect in the studied process
was represented by a number of variables which were related by the energy and material
balance equations. To test the model, the effect of feed flow, feed temperature and live
steam flow changes was investigated, but there were not industrial or experimental data
for comparing. Miranda and Simpson [4] developed a lumped mathematical model for an
industrial evaporator based on energy and mass balances. This model was implemented in
a tomato-concentrating plant and includes semi-empirical equilibrium functions. In this
study, it was assumed that there was no accumulation of total mass in each effect, because
the concentrate level was controlled. In addition, the physical and thermophysical properties of concentrate such as specific heat, enthalpy of evaporation and overall heat transfer
coefficient were assumed to be constant. Kumar et al. [2] studied the dynamic behaviour
of MEE system of a paper industry by means of energy and material balance equations
based on the study reported by Aly and Marwan [8] and studied the dynamic response of
system variables by applying some types of disturbances.
Stefanov and Hoo [9,10] developed a distributed model of a multiple-effect fallingfilm evaporator plant. The model describes the important phenomena of evaporation,
heating and condensation for different hydrodynamic regimes as well as the pressure
dynamics of the plant. The precision of the model was validated using the steady-state real
plant data, but there was no real dynamic data to compare with the simulation results.
In the current work, lumped and distributed models are developed for four-effect
falling-film evaporators, based on the work proposed by Stefanov and Hoo [9,10] with
some minor modification. The models are subjected to disturbances in the input variables, and
their responses are plotted and investigated. The existence of real dynamic data from an
industrial unit helps us to compare the precision of the dynamic simulation results of each
model. Brief results of this study were presented earlier [11].

2. Process description
The industrial equipment, as schematically shown in Figure 1, includes a forward feed
flow, four-effect evaporator for concentrating the whole milk. It consists of four bodies in
which the whole milk is concentrated and equipped with thermocompressor that raises the
pressure of a part of second effect vapour to the first one with live steam. The second
body is divided into two parts. Each effect consists of one preheater. After the fourth
effect, there is a condenser to accumulate the vapour and produce vacuum for the system.
Table 1 shows the specifications of the industrial evaporator.

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