GRONINGEN SUGAR FACTORY - PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES WITH A FALLING FILM PLATE EVAPORATOR HAVING A HEATING SURFACE OF 6000 M(2)

For the 1995 campaign a falling film plate evaporator, built by Messrs . Balcke-Durr AG, having a heating surface of 6000 m(2), was commissio ned at the Groningen sugar factory of the Cooperatie Sulker Unie U.A., The Netherlands. The equipment in question, which is applied as a pre -evaporator, is the largest existing plate evaporator in the sugar ind ustry at present. The compact construction of this particular evaporat or type and the high heat transfer coefficients (k-values) made it pos sible to reach the required water evaporation of approximately 115 t/h at the given pressure drop with this single apparatus. Heat transfer and color formation were compared with the other evaporators in the ev aporator station and a thermal balance was carried out. The mean k-val ue of the evaporator was determined as 3152 W/(m(2) . K). This corresp onds to a k-value which is approximately 30% higher when compared with a tube-bundle falling film evaporator.