Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.

Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003

________________________________________________________________________________


THE SRI EVAPORATORA NEW ROBERTS DESIGN
By
P.G. WRIGHT
1
, TITO A. SILVA
2
and STEVEN N. PENNISI
3

1
SRI Associates, Australia
2
Ingenio San Antonio, Nicaragua
3
Sugar Research Institute, Mackay Qld

Email: peterw@a1.com.au
KEYWORDS: Designs, Roberts, Evaporator, Juice, Heat Transfer.
Abstract
This paper reviews the performance of many Roberts evaporator designs, notes their
shortcomings and presents a design that corrects them as a novel SRI design that may
well maintain the popularity of the Roberts type.
A very large (5300 m
2
) new vessel was constructed by Ingenio San Antonio (ISA) staff
from design drawings of the principal author in the second half of 2000. Its
commissioning phase took place in JanuaryMarch, 2001.
Trials carried out by SRI and ISA engineers during a testing period at the beginning of
March 2001 are described. Observations of the boiling pattern and heat transfer
performance were made. The heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and the heat transfer
performance relative to standard Roberts HTC values at the same conditions (HTR),
results were determined. The tests later in this series were run with higher operating
juice levels and did not achieve the high HTR values found in the earlier tests where the
juice level was being kept lower. Despite this, the performance is, in general, excellent,
with an average HTC of 3014 W/(m
2
.K) for the whole 12-day operational test period.
Initial tests averaged 23% above the typical heat transfer coefficient achieved in
Australian evaporator bodies under the same juice outlet brix and temperature
conditions, and later operational tests performed slightly better. These results are all the
more remarkable because they were achieved at relatively low evaporation loadings and
on juice prepared by the sulphitation process. Both of these factors usually retard the
heat transfer performance.
After observing the behaviour and noting the HTC results, some ideas for future design
modifications were formulated, mainly concerned with the reduction in juice volume
beneath the calandria, and in isolating the condensate removal line from the juice space.
These have since been explored in variations of the basic design.
Introduction

It remains current practice in the world raw sugar industry for the concentration of clear juice
to use standard Roberts calandria evaporators with tube diameter 38 to 51 mm, and tube lengths of
1.5 to 3 m. Roberts vessels are relatively cheap and easy to manufacture in sizes up to 5500 m
2
in
heat transfer area. They have some disadvantages, however, relative to the new technology plate
Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.
Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003
________________________________________________________________________________

and falling film types, in their higher juice residence time characteristics, lower heat transfer
performance and lack of ability to work efficiently with low differential temperatures across their
heating surfaces

A great deal of experience with evaporator matching simulation runs has found that the heat
transfer performance of many Roberts evaporator vessels in Colombia and India are 20% to 40%
lower than that typical of Australian multi-effect evaporator installations. This prompted a close
examination of the physical differences in design practice and led to suggestions for practical
modifications of the design to re-emphasise those design principles giving improved circulation
patterns and improved heat transfer performance. The success of the new design was presented in a
paper (in Spanish) to the ATAGUA Congress in Guatemala (Wright and Silva, 2001). The design
considerations are outlined here under the headings:

! The juice feed entry systems.
! Juice removal systems and level control.
! The vapour entry to and vapour flow through the calandria.
! Condensate removal.
! Venting the calandria on non-condensable gases.
! Steam lanes in the calandria.

Design features of Roberts vessels
The juice feed entry systems
Emil Hugot (Hugot, 1972) gives a full discussion of practical alternatives for feeding juice to
Roberts evaporator vessels. He noted several methods of feeding juice to the successive vessels:

! From the bottom of one vessel to the top of the calandria of the following one; this is easy
but has disadvantages such as:
o flash ebullition does not drive the circulation;
o short circuiting of juice is easier;
o more fogging of juice and more tendency for entrainment;
o extra head loss between vessels (equivalent to 2/3rd the height of the tubes).
! From the bottom to the bottom:
o input juice should be distributed by a ring pipe and holes that direct the juice towards
the periphery;
o dimensions of the juice pipes should be such that the cross-section reduces the
theoretical velocity of the juice feed below 0.9 m/s for a quintuple effect.
! From the bottom to the bottom, with a level regulator:
o Hugot (1972) refers to a mechanical float regulator, but the same level control
function is now better performed by a dP cell sensor and level control loop, operating
on a valve regulating the juice flow either into or out of the vessel.
! From the bottom with Chapman circulation:
o The Chapman system consists in closing off the lower opening of a small central
centre well by a funnel which forms the outlet point for the juice passing to the
following vessel.
o The only juice that leaves this vessel is that which flows down into the centre well.
Consequently, if it is arranged that the entering juice be directed towards the bottom
Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.
Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003
________________________________________________________________________________

of the tubes near the periphery of the calandria, there is a good chance that it will
pass several times before reaching the centre well.
o This system has given excellent results and was recommended by Hugot. He also
considers that a bottom to bottom feed in conjunction with a Chapman feed system
works relatively well.

Two commonly used feed systems of Roberts vessels are shown in Figure 1. The Chapman
feed system (1a) is usual in Central America, while Australia uses an under-under feed system (1b)
with no central downtake.

Fig. 1Two common arrangements for Roberts evaporator vessels.
Present Australian practice is to have the feed introduced through three to six inlets on a pitch
circle diameter about 2/3
rd
of the outer diameter of the calandria. Usually the juice outlet is close to
the bottom centreline of the vessel. Australian research based on computational fluid dynamics
modelling (Steindl, 2003) has shown that substantial improvements to the juice flow pattern could
be made. These would achieve a better approach to an ideal flow pattern, viz. plug flow of juice,
with a steady rise in juice concentration from inlet to outlet. This is particularly important in the
later stages of the set, where the rise in the concentration of the juice is larger, and hence variations
in heat transfer rate due to concentration changes are more significant.

Extensive experience has shown that, when feeding juice which is coming from a previous
evaporator stage and hence superheated relative to the boiling point of the receiving vessel, the
extra boiling action due to the flash must be managed to aid the circulation of the juice upwards
through the calandria and to avoid entrainment or erosion problems.

Australia
Louvre or channel type
arrester
South America & India
dP
Control
Exit
Entrance
Entrance
Exit
Cyclone type
arrester
a b
Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.
Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003
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The choice of feed system modifications depends on the cost and practicality of the
modifications involved in each system, as well as on considerations of the preferred juice removal
system.

J uice removal systems and level control
The Chapman removal system (Figure 1a), presently widely used in the Americas, positions a
cone in a small central downtake of the calandria, with the juice takeoff pipe fed directly from this
cone. Sometimes the cone is sealed to fix the operating level conditions to the point where just
sufficient juice boils over into the downtake, and sometimes a gap is arranged around the cone so
that the cone position controls the operating juice level. The Australian system has no central
downtake and uses bottom feed with bottom removal and has conventional automatic control of
juice level. The downtake/cone system probably has a slight advantage in that it tends to prevent the
short-circuiting of juice from inlet to outlet as observed by Jones and Pozzetti (2000). However, the
automatic level control may be the bigger advantage, as it allows the optimum juice level for
maximising heat transfer to be selected.

The vapour entry to and vapour flow through the calandria
The pressure loss in the vapour entry to the calandria of some vessels can be unusually high.
The pressure drop in the vapour entering the tubes can be the main problem where there is an
inadequate transfer section to diffuse the vapour into a wide area of the external tubes. In some
cases, the removal of some of the outermost external tubes at the steam entry point can lower the
pressure drop in the tube entry, and have an overall beneficial effect on the heat transfer.

Condensate removal, and venting the calandria of non-condensable gases
The positioning of spears or removal points to remove incondensable gas (sometimes termed
air or ammonia) accumulation in the calandria has not been an exact science. The position
should be at the extreme end of the steam path, and the removal should be at both the top and the
bottom of the calandria. The method of air removal from the evaporator calandrias is often not
logical.

Jenkins (1966) states that continuous removal of non-condensable gases is essential to
maintain heat transfer, and gassing pipes are provided from the calandria to the vapour space of the
same vessel, or preferably from each vessel to the final vapour pipe to the condenser: in the latter
case gases do not enter the following calandria.

Perry (1950) states in the Chemical Engineers Handbook the location of vent connections is
not always easily determined. The general guide is that the air will collect at the end of the steam
path, if the steam has a positive velocity in any particular direction. However, steam in the standard
vertical tube evaporator has no positive velocity in any particular direction. Air vents are usually
located around the outside edge of the steam space, and this is also true for the vertical basket type.
Air vents should be provided on both the top and bottom tube sheets of these types.

The fact that air is heavier than steam at the same pressure and temperature has no bearing on
air removal, because circulation in the steam space is probably more than sufficient to keep the two
gases well mixed unless there is a positive velocity tending to force the air in a particular direction.
Baffles inside the steam space, for directing the steam flow or segregating the air at a particular
point, are not likely to be of much value in most evaporators.
Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.
Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003
________________________________________________________________________________


The method of air removal from the evaporator calandrias has been examined through many
vessel and calandria observations. A number of different types of gas removal arrangements were
seen. Some of those seen at San Antonio are shown in Figure 2. The large vessel had a double
steam entry, with internal baffles as shown. Other smaller vessels have combined gas/condensate
removal points in external boxes.


Fig. 2Some arrangement for gas venting in Roberts calandrias at San Antonio.
In many cases, external boxes are fitted as a combined condensate removal and non-
condensable gas removal facility. Air is collected both from the top and the bottom (the latter along
with the condensate flow) and piped through a valve to the vent gas line. Sometimes gas spears
are used. The spears are often 50 mm tubes of full calandria depth drilled with many holes and
piped from the top into the vent gas removal system.

It is considered that there are some real deficiencies in the present gas venting arrangements,
as there are regions in the calandria that would be subject to gas accumulation. This could be
alleviated in all the arrangements by adding extra gas spears, though this strategy does incur extra
steam loss.

Condensate removal is usually from the bottom of the calandria. Often condensate is required
to flow counter to the vapour flow, causing some accumulation of condensate in the calandria, thus
lowering the efficiency of heat transfer in that region. Ideally, removal should be co-current with
the vapour flow, and the accumulation of condensate minimised.

Steam lanes
Steam lanes are often specified in an attempt to reduce the pressure drop on vapour entry, and
to provide a defined path for the vapour flow into the inner regions of the calandria. Unfortunately,
however, they result in a considerable loss of tubed area, and they often cause difficulty in
determining the appropriate locations of gassing points.

existing gas spears
suggested
new gas spears
combined condensate
and gas removal

combined condensate
and gas removal
suggested
new gas spear
suggested
new gas spears
Vessel
Pre-evaporator #6
Some small vessels
Some small vessels
combined condensate
and gas removal


Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.
Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003
________________________________________________________________________________

A new approachthe SRI Roberts type design
A new cogeneration project at the San Antonio factory required the design, manufacture and
installation of a 5300 m
2
Roberts calandria style evaporator along with other associated works to
increase the capacity of the station to the levels required for a high process steam economy. The
new vessel was to be set up in series with the existing vessels of the #2 evaporator stage, and
receive #1 vapour at ~70 kPag, and receive juice from the outlet of the #1 evaporator bodies.
Vapour from the new vessel was to be passed to the vacuum pan stage and juice heaters, as well as
to the #3 stages of the sets.

After consideration of the many design problems with existing Roberts designs, a new
arrangement was designed to overcome many of the previously described problems with juice,
vapour, condensate and gas flows in the vessel.

All flows are arranged to move uniformly from the outer diameter to the inner diameter of the
vessel. In accordance with modern Australian practice (Quinan et al., 1985), a small number of
150 mm mild steel downcomer tubes were dispersed around the calandria among the stainless steel
heating tubes. These act as stay bars, and, as well, provide a recirculation return path for the juice.

In addition, a larger central downcomer was provided, with a sealed pipe outlet for the juice
through the bottom cone. The use of the central downtake feature was an option and was not
considered essential to the SRI design. Arrangements were made for the controlled bypass of juice
from the lowest point in the vessel to the outlet pipe, as this feature was required for the purposes of
level control.

Proprietary LSEAII louvre entrainment devices were installed in the vapour discharge area at
the top of the vessel. The design was considered to have distinct technical advantages over existing
designs.

Figures 3 shows a photograph of the exterior of the evaporator taken just before
commissioning in January, 2001.
Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.
Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003
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Fig. 3View of the vessel exterior during construction.

The new vessel was constructed by San Antonio staff in the second half of 2000. The
commissioning phase took place in January-March, 2001. Early trials were made with the outlet
juice bypass closed. Under this condition, it was found that the juice operating control level had to
be set quite high to ensure that sufficient juice entered the central downtake tube and flowed to the
outlet pump. In spite of this, the pressure differential across the calandria was observed to be quite
low, and the performance good.

During a testing period at the beginning of March 2001, SRI and ISA engineers set up
measuring instruments provided by SRI, and experimented with the juice level control settings. It
was found that, if the control level was set low (at what was considered a more optimal splash level
above the tube plate), insufficient juice flowed to the central outlet downtake and it had to be
supplemented by juice bypass. Initially an existing single pipe juice bypass system was used but this
proved insufficient. San Antonio staff then installed an extra two bypass pipes, and these allowed
the optimum level control to be achieved.

A magnetic flow meter was available to measure the condensate flow, and, because a
condensate flash system had been installed on the vessel, this meter could be check calibrated by
using the measured time interval for the level in the condensate tank to rise between two marks (the
condensate pumps were temporarily stopped during this calibration test). Other measurements of
vapour pressure (using an accurate digital pressure gauge), juice temperature and exit concentration
were made during each test. A small spreadsheet program (incorporating functions for saturated
Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.
Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003
________________________________________________________________________________

steam pressure/temperature conversion, vapour enthalpy, boiling point elevation, and for standard
Roberts heat transfer coefficient values) was written and used to assist with calculations and aid in
the interpretation of the experimental trials.

Results and discussion
The heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and the heat transfer performance relative to standard
Roberts HTC values at the same conditions (HTR), results were determined. The standard Roberts
HTC values were calculated from the correlation of HTC with outlet juice temperature and brix
given by Wright (1998). ]

The initial results taken by SRI over two days with a range of outlet concentrations are shown
in Table 1. There is some variability in performance, with some excellent HTC values. The results
of the 21 operational tests, taken over the following 12 days, are given in Table 2. These showed
somewhat higher evaporation loadings.

The HTR values from these tests are plotted in Figure 4. The tests later in the second week of
this series were run with higher operating juice levels and did not achieve the high HTR values
found in the earlier tests where the juice level was being kept lower. However, the performance is,
in general, excellent, with an average HTC of 3014 W/(m
2
K) for the whole 12-day test period.

This is well above the typical heat transfer coefficient typically achieved in Australian
evaporator bodies under the same juice brix and temperature conditions, and is all the more
remarkable because it was achieved at the relatively low evaporation loadings (below 25 kg/m
2
h)
and on juice prepared by the sulphitation process.

Table 1Initial heat transfer performance of the SRI evaporator at San Antonio (February 28
and March 1, 2001).
Test
No.
Heat
transfer
coefft.
overall
[W/(m
2
K)]
Standard
Roberts
heat
transfer
coefft.
[W/(m
2
K)]
Outlet
juice
brix
Calc.
HTR
Pressure
difference
[kPa]
Effective
temperature
pressure
difference
[ K]
Evap.
Load
[kg/h m
2
]
6 2284 2278 31.1 1.00 22.8 4.21 15.4
5 2492 2210 33.9 1.13 23.9 4.07 16.3
2 2520 2303 34.3 1.09 29.3 4.34 17.6
10 2541 2235 35.6 1.14 42.9 6.80 27.7
9 2048 2143 36.3 0.96 36.8 6.34 20.7
4 3284 2183 38.6 1.50 27.3 3.40 18.0
3 3227 2148 38.9 1.50 28.4 3.78 19.6
8 3134 2117 39.3 1.48 30.0 4.15 20.9
Av. 2691 2202 36.0 1.23 30.2 4.6 19.5

Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.
Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003
________________________________________________________________________________

Table 2Operational heat transfer performance of the SRI evaporator at San Antonio (March
314, 2001).

Test
No.
Heat
transfer
coefft.
overall
[W/(m
2
K)]
Standard
Roberts
heat
transfer
coefft.
[W/(m
2
K)]
Inlet
juice
brix
Outlet
juice
brix
Calc.
HTR
Pressure
difference
[kPa]
Evap.
load
kg/h m
2
]
1 3204 2079 27.0 40.8 1.54 29.7 22.8
2 3515 2164 26.5 38.6 1.62 27.4 22.2
3 3327 2261 24.2 35.1 1.47 27.6 22.4
4 2907 1964 28.3 44.3 1.48 30.2 21.0
5 3183 2026 26.5 44.1 1.57 32.3 22.6
6 2828 2166 24.3 37.6 1.31 31.9 22.8
7 3105 2139 24.6 40.0 1.45 31.8 22.6
8 3543 2025 24.5 44.8 1.75 32.0 23.7
9 3160 2182 27.4 37.3 1.45 27.6 21.1
10 3531 1958 23.0 44.6 1.80 27.7 22.7
11 2320 2119 28.4 39.0 1.09 35.4 21.0
12 2641 2221 20.0 37.7 1.19 31.2 18.8
13 2676 2385 20.7 30.7 1.12 31.9 22.5
14 2693 2233 22.7 36.2 1.21 35.3 23.6
15 2878 2288 24.3 34.2 1.26 30.5 21.9
17 3137 2133 24.2 38.4 1.47 27.1 20.9
18 3187 2278 21.2 34.7 1.40 31.2 24.6
19 2368 2463 23.2 30.4 0.96 25.7 14.2
20 3146 2298 21.1 32.8 1.37 29.8 24.8
21 3051 2216 23.9 37.9 1.38 31.2 21.7
22 2887 2287 25.8 33.7 1.26 31.9 23.7
Av. 3014 2185 24.4 37.7 1.39 30.5 22.0

In Tables 1 and 2, it is seen that the pressure difference between the vapour in the calandria
and vapour in the vapour space of the vessel is relatively small, averaging 30.5 kPa. Usually, the
difference for a quin set is around 45 kPa, and the low value is an indicator of excellent
performance.

Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.
Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003
________________________________________________________________________________


Fig. 4SRI evaporator heat transfer performance, March 314, 2001.

The boiling pattern above the calandria was observed through special angled sight glasses
around the sides of the body. At optimal level, the boiling circulation moved uniformly from the
outside throwing towards the centre well. Some instability and rotary cyclic waves were observed
when the boiling level was set at a high level. This behaviour has also been observed in
conventional Roberts evaporators (Quinan et al., 1985). Cyclic behaviour was also observed at low
boiling levels. The best operation was with a level that allowed just enough juice to flow over into
the central downtake, occasionally showing bare tube plate for a few seconds before surging again.

After observing the behaviour and noting the HTC results, some ideas for future design
modifications were formulated, mainly concerned with the reduction in juice volume beneath the
calandria, and in isolating the condensate removal line from the juice space. These have been
explored in later variations of the basic SRI design.

Conclusions
Shortcomings in the performance of many Roberts evaporator designs have been studied, and
design principles that correct these have been embodied in a novel SRI design. The opportunity to
design, commission and test a large implementation of this design has been taken up at San Antonio
factory, Nicaragua. Its general performance and heat transfer results have been well above
expectations. The new design, with variations in the arrangement of its bottom shape, is
recommended as a basis for future development of the Roberts-type evaporator in the sugar
industry.

0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Test Number
H
e
a
t

T
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

R
a
t
i
o

(
t
o

t
y
p
i
c
a
l
)
Wright, P.G., Silva, T.A. and Pennisi, S.N.
Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 25, 2003
________________________________________________________________________________

Acknowledgments

The writers are grateful to the management of Ingenio San Antonio (ISA), Nicaragua, for
accepting the risks of a new design in such a large evaporator, Ing. Xavier Arana and the
engineering staff of ISA, who constructed the evaporator vessel on site, and the helpful assistance
of Ings Karina Amador and Hector Sanchez (ISA) in the commissioning and evaluation phase of the
project. Thanks are also due to SRI for funding the evaluation trials on the San Antonio site.


REFERENCES

Hugot, E. (1972). Handbook of Cane Sugar Engineering, 382387.

Jenkins, G.H. (1966). Introduction to Cane Sugar Technology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p 228.

Jones, A. and Pozzetti, C. (2000). Evaporator performance monitoring at Farleigh Mill. Proc.
Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., 22, 334340.

Perry, J.H. ed. (1950). Chemical Engineers Handbook, 3
rd
Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, p 511.

Quinan, P.G., Degnian, J.P. and Wainwright, D.N. (1985). Design, construction and
performance of a large evaporator at Fairymead Mill. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol.,
7: 241246.

Steindl, R.J. (2003). Improved Roberts evaporator performance through circulation modelling with
CFD. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., 25: (These Proceedings).

Wright, P.G. (1998). Sugar Processing R&D in AustraliaDevelopments over 40 years. 26
th

Australasian Chemical Engineering Conference, Port Douglas, Queensland 2830 September
1998.

Wright, P.G. and Silva, T.A. (2001). El Evaporador SRIUn diseno Roberts de Flujo Radial.
Proc. 10th Congreso Nacional de la Cana de Azucarr, ATAGUA, Guatemala, August, 2001
(in Spanish).