Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 855860

www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Alcohol recovery in falling lm evaporators

Fred Brotherton
*

Beedes Limited, Malthouse Lane, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 9XA, UK Received 17 September 2001; accepted 10 November 2001

Abstract Falling lm evaporators can be used to recover alcohol and other volatile compounds from waste products, and as part of the primary production process. A simple model has been developed to predict the performance of the equipment. Measurements made on commercial installations have conrmed the validity of the model over a range of operating conditions. Signicant advantages arise from integrating the evaporation process into the operation of the brewery or distillery. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Evaporation; Falling lm; Ethanol recovery

1. Introduction The separation of ethanol from ethanolwater mixtures is of great importance in the brewing and distilling industries. Batch and continuous distillation systems are used to produce primary and intermediate products during the manufacture of a wide range of potable spirits, and a number of dierent design concepts have evolved which oer improved energy eciencies. Batch distillation equipment has been linked to the production of hot water, thereby reducing the amount of heat rejected to cooling water. Part of the energy recovered can be used in the main process, possibly involving the use of a heat pump [1,2]. The most signicant application may be in the concentration of associated liquid euents to produce animal feeds [3]. Continuous distillation systems can be designed so that various parts operate at dierent pressures. This permits the recovery of latent heat within the system. Other examples are the use of low pressure steam from an euent
*

Tel.: +44-1-444-250708. E-mail address: fred.brotherton@beedes.co.uk (F. Brotherton).

1359-4311/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 5 9 - 4 3 1 1 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 1 2 5 - 9

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evaporator for direct injection into a distillation column, and the use of open and closed cycle heat pumps [4]. The brewing industry has a requirement to recover ethanol from waste products, and to remove ethanol during the production of low and non-alcoholic beverages. This has been carried out using a variety of membrane processes, and evaporation. Evaporation has the advantage that it is possible to remove and recover almost all the ethanol present in a simple manner. The evaporation process, however, requires a signicant energy input in the form of heat, and it is important to seek ways in which this can be minimised, whilst ensuring that the thermal treatment of the product is acceptable [5]. In a lm evaporator, evaporation takes place from a thin lm of boiling liquid in contact with the heating surface. The evaporated vapour, and gravity in the case of a falling lm, assist the movement of the lm leading to a short contact time with the heating surface. Vacuum operation reduces the boiling temperature, and hence thermal degradation of the product, and also increases the volume of the evaporated vapour. This in turn can increase the eect of vapour shear on the heat transfer process [6]. Operation under such conditions will mean that the evaporated vapour is in contact with the liquid product for a very short time. Measurements show that the evaporated vapour and liquid product leaving a falling lm evaporator are not in equilibrium with regard to the ethanol content of the vapour. The vapour can have a signicantly higher ethanol concentration than would be expected from equilibrium considerations, and it is important to be able to predict this in order to minimise the total evaporation, and hence energy consumption, for the process. This will in turn minimise the thermal impact of the evaporation process on the liquid product.

2. Proposed model The model is based on taking small increments of liquid evaporation starting with the initial volume and concentration of the feed. The composition of the evaporated vapour is calculated assuming equilibrium conditions, and the result is used to calculate the composition of the remaining liquid. This process is repeated assuming that once material enters the vapour phase, there is no further interaction between the vapour and liquid. A further assumption is that the boiling process takes place at a constant pressure. The results presented in this paper are plotted as the proportion of the ethanol initially present that remains, against the total amount of evaporation, expressed as a proportion of the total initial feed volume.

3. Plant measurements Measurements have been made on single and double eect falling lm evaporators of the tubular and plate type operating on a commercial basis, and the results compared with values predicted by the model. The plant measurements were mainly made using feeds containing up to 10% v/v ethanol, and with operating pressures in the range 0.050.15 bar absolute. The model prediction curve shown

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in the results has been calculated assuming an ethanol content of 5% v/v in the initial feed to the evaporator. Several evaporation stages and/or passes through the evaporators were used to give the total evaporation.

4. Discussion and observations The results in Fig. 1 for single and double eect evaporators show that for feeds containing a low level of CO2 , performance closely matches that predicted by the model, provided that evaporation is limited to between 10% and 15% of the initial feed volume for each evaporation stage. Where the feed contains a high level of CO2 , performance in the early stages of evaporation is not as good as that predicted by the model with respect to ethanol recovery. This is particularly the case for multiple eect evaporators operating with forward feed product ow, and is shown in Fig. 2. Reverse feed product ow appears to give some advantages in the early stages of the evaporation of feeds with a high CO2 level. The number of evaporation stages necessary to achieve the required performance is reduced. This is shown in Fig. 3, where the number of stages for the reverse feed evaporator is half that of a comparable forward feed evaporator. Note also that the performance of the evaporators deteriorates signicantly as the amount of evaporation in each stage rises. A brief description of forward and reverse feed evaporators is given in Appendix A.

5. Additional comments Falling lm evaporators can operate with a small temperature dierence between the heating medium and the boiling liquid. This was between 2 and 6 C for the evaporators studied. In the

Fig. 1. Results for single and double eect evaporators, feed with low CO2 . Theoretical curve ( double eect ( ).

), single eect ( ),

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Fig. 2. Results for double eect evaporator, forward feed, feed with high CO2 . Theoretical curve ( ( ).

), double eect

Fig. 3. Inuence of reverse feed operation, feed with high CO2 . Theoretical curve ( followed by forward feed ( ).

), reverse feed ( ), reverse feed

case of double eect evaporators, this applies to the rst evaporator eect. A wide variety of options therefore exist for providing the main energy supply for such evaporators in breweries and distilleries. This would include overhead vapours from batch and continuous distillation plants, and hot water from waste heat recovery systems. Non-condensibles were removed from all the evaporators studied using liquid ring pumps. In order to minimise the losses of ethanol and other volatile compounds initially present, several procedures were used. These included additional vent condensers served by low temperature coolants, and closed circuit vacuum pump seal water systems with seal water coolers, again served by low temperature coolants. These techniques, together with the segregation of the various process condensate streams and the use of partial condensation stages, make it possible to recover the ethanol at controlled concentrations together with a range of other compounds.

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6. Conclusions This work has shown that it is possible to predict the performance of a falling lm evaporator when it is used to separate and recover ethanol from ethanol/water mixtures using a simple model. Falling lm evaporation can be integrated into the operation of a brewery or distillery in order to give a signicant reduction in the energy consumption of the whole process and other advantages. Appendix A. Falling lm evaporators Comparison of forward and reverse feed product ow.

References
[1] Energy Eciency Oce Best Practice Programme, Good Practice Case Study 113, Integrated Heat Recovery in a Malt Whisky Distillery, March 1992.

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[2] Energy Eciency Oce Best Practice Programme, Energy Consumption Guide 46, The Malt Whisky Distilleries, March 1996. [3] P. Mills, F. Brotherton, The United Distillers waste heat evaporator at Blair Athol distillery, Proceedings of the 5th UK National Conference on Heat Transfer, Industrial Session II, 1997. [4] M. Wakabashi, S. Sakashita, Operating experience with industrial heat pump systems, Proceedings of the 1987 IEA Heat Pump Conference, 1987, pp. 259270. [5] C. Zufall, K. Wackerbauer, Process engineering parameters for the dealcoholisation of beer by means of falling lm evaporation, Monatsschrift fur Brauwissenschaft 53 (2000) 124137. [6] F. Brotherton, Falling lm evaporation at high vapour velocities, Proceedings of the 6th UK National Conference on Heat Transfer, 1999, pp. 379384.