ChE 201 Chemical Process Principles and Calculations Fall, 2010 Problem 4.

32, Felder and Rousseau

Washington State University Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering Richard L. Zollars

Fresh orange juice contains 12.0 wt% solids and the balance water, and concentrated orange juice contains 42.0 wt% solids. Initially a single evaporation process was used for the concentration, but volatile constituents of the juice escaped with the water, leaving the concentrate with a flat taste. The current process overcomes this problem by bypassing the evaporator with a fraction of the fresh juice. The juice that enters the evaporator is concentrated to 58 wt% solids, and the evaporator product stream is mixed with the bypassed fresh juice to achieve the desired final concentration. (a) Draw and label a flowchart of this process, neglecting the vaporization of everything in the juice but water. First prove that the subsystem containing the point where the bypass stream splits off from the evaporator feed has one degree of freedom. (If you think it has zero degrees, try determining the unknown variables associated with this system.) Then perform the degree-of-freedom analysis for the overall system, the evaporator, and the bypass-evaporator product mixing point, and write in order the equations you would solve to determine all unknown stream variables. In each equation, circle the variable for which you solve, but dont do any calculations. (b) Calculate the amount of product (42% concentrate) produced per 100 kg of fresh juice fed to the process and the fraction of the feed that bypasses the evaporator. (c) Most of the volatile ingredients that provide the taste of the concentrate are contained in the fresh juice that bypasses the evaporator. You could get more of these ingredients I the final product by evaporating to (say) 90% solids instead of 58%; you could then bypass a greater fraction of the fresh juice and thereby obtain an even better tasting product. Suggest possible drawbacks to this proposal. SOLUTION (a) The flow chart for this system looks like the chart on the following page, with all of the streams labeled and all known and unknown values indicated. The subsystem at the point where the bypass stream splits from the evaporator feed looks like the flow chart following the main flow diagram. There are three unknowns, m1, m2, and m3. We can write an overall balance (m1 = m2 + m3). We can also assign a basis (say let m1 = 100). If we try to write a solids balance (0.12 m1 = 0.12 m2 + 0.12 m3) or a water balance (0.88 m1 = 0.88 m2 + 0.88 m3) we do not get any more independent equations since each of these balances is just the overall balance multiplied by a constant. With three unknowns and only two independent equations there is one degree of freedom for the system around the split point.

Water m4 x4,w = 1.00 Fresh Juice m1 x1,s = 0.12 x1,w = 0.88 Fresh Juice Evaporator m2 x2,s = 0.12 x2,w = 0.88 Concentrate m5 x5,s = 0.58 x5,w = 0.42

Fresh Juice m3 x3,s = 0.12 x3,w = 0.88

Juice Product m6 x6,s = 0.42 x6,w = 0.58

Fresh Juice m1 x1,s = 0.12 x1,w = 0.88

Fresh Juice m2 x2,s = 0.12 x2,w = 0.88

Fresh Juice m3 x3,s = 0.12 x3,w = 0.88

For the overall system a total mass balance gives m1 m4 m6 A water balance would give

0.88 m1 m4 0.58 m6 or a solids balance would give 0.12 m1 0.42 m6 Only two of these three would be independent. Since there are three unknowns in these balances (m1, m4, and m6) there is one degree of freedom. The subsystem consisting of the evaporator would look like Water m4 x4,w = 1.00 Fresh Juice Evaporator m2 x2,s = 0.12 x2,w = 0.88 Concentrate m5 x5,s = 0.58 x5,w = 0.42

A total mass balance would give m2 m4 m5 A water balance would give 0.88 m2 m4 0.42 m5 A solids balance would give 0.12 m2 0.58 m5 Since only two of these three equations are independent, this subsystem by itself would still have one degree of freedom. Finally the subsystem containing the bypass-evaporator mixing point would appear as shown below. A total mass balance around this subsystem would give

Fresh Juice m3 x3,s = 0.12 x3,w = 0.88

Concentrate m5 x5,s = 0.58 x5,w = 0.42

Juice Product m6 x6,s = 0.42 x6,w = 0.58

m3 m5 m6 A water balance would give 0.88 m3 0.42 m5 0.58 m6 and a solids balance would give 0.12 m3 0.58 m5 0.42 m6 As before only two of these three equations are independent. Again there is one degree of freedom for this subsystem. We could take two equations from each of the overall system, and from the evaporator and the mixing point subsystems (lets use the total mass balance and the solids balance) to get m1 m4 m6 0.12 m1 0.42 m6 m 2 m 4 m5 0.12 m2 0.58 m5 m3 m5 m 6 0.12 m3 0.58 m5 0.42 m6 It would appear that there are zero degrees of freedom (6 unknowns and six equations). But if you substitute equations 2 and 4 into equation 6 you get 0.12 m3 0.12 m2 0.12 m1

or m1 m2 m3 If you solve the third equation for m4 and substitute it into the first, then solve the fifth equation for m5 and substitute it into the first you will also get m1 m2 m3 . Thus this set of six equations is not an independent set since by combining equations 1, 3 and 5 you can get the same equation as combining equations 2, 4 and 6. It turns out that there are only five independent equations in the set of six above. Eliminating the last gives m1 m4 m6 0.12 m1 0.42 m6 m 2 m 4 m5 0.12 m2 0.58 m5 m3 m5 m 6 With five equations in six unknowns we have one degree of freedom remaining. To solve this set we would need to assume a basis for the calculation. Pick a value for m1. Then the order to solve the equations would be Basis:
m1 xxxx

Now solve the second equation for m6

m6 Now solve the first equation for m4

0.12 m1 0.42

m4 m1 m6 Solve the fourth equation for m5 m5 0.12 m2 0.58

And substitute this into the third equation to get

0.12 m2 m4 0.58 m4 m2 0.12 1 0.58 m2

Knowing m2 we can then solve the equation m5 0.12 m2 0.58

to get m5. Now solve the last equation to get m3 m3 m 6 m5

(b) Letting m1 = 100 kg we solve the equations in the order given above to get

0.12 0.12 m1 100 28.6 kg 0.42 0.42 m4 m1 m6 100 28.6 71.4 kg m6 m4 71.4 90.0 kg 0.12 0.12 1 1 0.58 0.58 0.12 0.12 m5 m2 90.0 18.6 kg 0.58 0.58 m3 m6 m5 28.6 18.6 9.95 kg m2 The fraction of the feed that bypasses the evaporator is
fraction m3 9.95 0.0995 m1 100.0

(c) One drawback would be that at 90% solids the mixture would be very viscous and might not be easily moved through the system. Further the heat transfer to the 90% solids material might not be good resulting in scorching of the product. Another problem might be that it may be hard to get the water vapor through the 90% solids material necessitating a higher temperature and more energy input.