Pinch analysis of evaporation systems

Evaporation systems are separation processes widely used in chemical indust ries. Some guidelines can be found in the literature for the process integr ation of multiple effect evaporators. In the published methodologies some a spects are neglected as boiling point rise, effect of pressure on latent he at of water, sensible heat of liquid streams, heat of mixing, effects confi guration and inclusion of accessories. In this work, a new graphical repres entation for the integration of multiple effect evaporators was developed, using rigorous physical properties. From this representation, an algorithm for optimization of bleed streams was conceived using the concepts of Pinch Analysis. As a case study, a crystal glucose plant was optimized using thi s new methodology. The optimization of bleed streams showed as result a ste am consumption 16% smaller than a similar previous study. From energy and c apital costs, it is shown that the integrated evaporator exhibits a total c ost 14% smaller than the non-integrated configuration.