Falling-film evaporators in cane sugar factories

Abstract

The technology of the falling evaporator, tube or plate type, is now recognized as the best in the beet sugar industry. After many attempts, it still has not really succeeded in establishing itself in the cane sugar industry. Therefore it was sought to analyze the causes of the difficulties of introducing it to the cane industry and to try to solve them. After three years of experiments in cane sugar factories in Brazil, measurements of performance were carried out which give an excellent performance of heat exchange when the evaporator was clean. These measurements shown also a linear degradation of the performances with time. Today, after many improvements, tested on a pilot plant, the falling-film evaporator may, under certain conditions, be considered as an excellent solution in cane sugar factories.