Principles of Food and Bioprocess Engineering (FS 231)

Example Problems on Evaporation

1. Feed (at 20 /C) containing 10 % solids enters an evaporator operating at 85 /C. Steam enters
the system at 120.82 kPa and leaves as condensate at 80 /C. If the concentrated product,
containing 50 % solids, leaves the system at 1,000 kg/hr, determine the steam economy of the
system. Assume that the specific heat of the solids is 3,000 J/kg K and that of water is 4,180
J/kg K.
2. Feed (at 5 /C) containing 20 % solids enters an evaporator at the rate of 500 kg/hr. Saturated
steam (100% quality) at atmospheric pressure enters the evaporator at the rate of 150 kg/hr
and leaves as condensate at 100 /C. If the evaporator is operating at 65 /C, determine:
a. The solids content of the concentrated product
b. The surface area of heat exchanger required
Assume that the specific heat of the feed and concentrated product are 4,000 J/kg K and 3,000
J/kg K respectively and that the overall heat transfer coefficient is 4,000 W/m2 K.
3. A certain fruit juice has a boiling point of 105 /C. What is the percentage of total solids in the
juice if the molecular weight of the solids is 200 g?
4. An evaporator operating at 90 /C uses saturated steam (90 % quality) at 105 /C as the heating
medium (condensate leaves at same temperature as inlet steam). If the mass flow rate of steam
is 70 kg/min and that of the feed (which is at 25 /C and contains 15 % total solids) is 10
kg/min, write down ALL THE EQUATIONS required to compute the following:
a. Solids content of the concentrated product
b. Steam economy of the system
Assume that cp (solids) = 3,500 J/kg K, cp (water) = 4,180 J/kg K
DO NOT SOLVE THE EQUATIONS (make sure that the number of equations and number of
unknowns are equal).
5. A solution is formed by adding 60 g of a certain sugar (molecular weight = 350 g) to 140 g of
water.
a. Determine the boiling point of the resulting solution.
A solution of identical composition (total solids) as the one above is to be concentrated to a
total solids concentration of 60% using a double-effect evaporator. The mass flow rate and
temperature of the feed entering the first system are 1000 kg/hr and 20 /C respectively. The
mass flow rate of the vapor leaving the second system is 150 kg/hr. The overall heat transfer
coefficient in the first and second system are 1,500 W/m2 K. The temperature at which the
product boils in the second effect is 65 /C. The mass flow rate of steam (of quality 100%) in
the first effect is 500 kg/hr. Assume that the specific heat of the product at all stages is 4,000
J/kg K.

Determine:
b. The mass flow rate of the final product
c. Mass flow rate of vapor released in the first effect
Write down ALL the equations required to compute the following (DO NOT SOLVE THE
EQUATIONS -- the numbers used in this problem are arbitrary):
d. Boiling point of product in the first effect
e. Write down the equations involved and the procedure to be adopted to determine the
temperature of steam used in the first effect
While writing the above equations, SPECIFY THE TEMPERATURES at which various
enthalpies are to be determined.
Are the number of equations and unknowns in the system equal???
6. A single effect evaporator is used to evaporate 90 kg of vapor every hour from a food product
that contains 25% solids. The food product enters the evaporator at 10 /C and the evaporator
operates at 70 /C. Steam (90% quality) enters the evaporator at the rate of 125 kg/hr and at
70.14 kPa and exits the evaporator at 90 /C. Determine the solids content of the final product
if the specific heat of the feed and final product are 4000 J/kg K.
7. An evaporator operating at 80 /C is used to concentrate a juice from a solids content of 5% to
a solids content of 25% using steam (75% quality) at 120.82 kPa (which leaves as condensate
at 80 /C). The initial temperature and flow rate of the feed juice are 15 /C and 5 kg/s. The
overall heat transfer coefficient is 3500 W/m2-K and the area available for heat transfer is 25
m2. Determine the steam economy for the evaporator if the specific heats of the feed and
concentrated product are 3500 J/kg K and 4000 J/kg K respectively.
8. An evaporator is operating at 85 /C. If the feed, containing 20% solids (mol. weight = 50 g),
enters the evaporator at 20 /C and at the rate of 2 kg/s, and saturated steam (of 95% quality
and flow rate 0.5 kg/s) at 90 /C serves as the heating medium, what is the boiling point of the
concentrated product at atmospheric pressure? Assume that the specific heat of the feed and
final product are 4,000 J/kg-K.
9. It is desired to produce a concentrated water-based fruit juice containing 60% solids (of
molecular weight 80 g) at the rate of 0.5 kg/s using an evaporator operating at 75 /C served by
saturated steam (of 95% quality and flow rate 0.25 kg/s) at 70.14 kPa. Assume that the
specific heat of the feed and final product are 4,000 J/kg K.
a. Determine the mass flow rate and solids content of the feed entering the evaporator at 20 /C
b. What is the boiling point of the feed that enters the evaporator?

Answers to Example Problems on Evaporation

1. 0.86
2. a. 0.25
b. 0.67 m2
3. 67.9 %
4. a. -b. -5. a. 100.6 /C
b. 500 kg/hr
c. 350 kg/hr
d. -e. -6. 38.1%
7. 0.67
8. 103 /C
9. a. 0.67 kg/s, 45% solids

b. 105 /C