Professional Documents
Culture Documents
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt
Abstract
Scaling in conventional black liquor evaporators has presented problems for decades, impeding the improvement of
productivity in paper mills. Recent investigations suggest that falling lm technology may eectively minimize black
liquor fouling and improve productivity in a paper mill. This nding motivates the current work to analyze the
transport phenomenon, enrichment and scale fouling of black liquor in a falling lm evaporator. In the paper, a
mathematical model based on a turbulent two-phase ow with multiple components is presented to investigate the
transport processes of black liquor in a falling lm evaporator. A phenomenological model of crystallization fouling is
used to predict the fouling process. The results show the relationship between heat and mass transfer occurring within a
very thin viscous sublayer close to the heat transfer surface, and the inuence of soluble solids concentration and
thermal boundary condition on the enrichment and scale fouling of black liquor.
2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Black liquor, the by-products of the chemical recovery loop in the pulping and paper industry, is a highly
viscous alkaline organic mixture that includes water,
lignin, cellulose, and inorganic sodium salts [1]. Sodium
carbonate (Na2 CO3 ) and sodium sulfate (Na2 SO4 ) are
the major inorganic species in black liquor, and both
sodium salts contribute to the formation of encrustations in conventional black liquor evaporators. Sodium
carbonate and sodium sulfate form the double salt
burkeite (2Na2 SO4 Na2 CO3 ) when they co-crystallize
[2,3]. In a modern pulping mill, a multi-eect evaporator
system is usually designed to concentrate black liquor
from 1418% up to 68%. However, soluble scale fouling
does occur in a conventional black liquor evaporator,
which is an obstacle to improving productivity in a
pulping mill [3].
Pioneering work by Grace [4] at the Institute of Paper
Science and Technology (IPST) in the 1970s showed that
soluble scaling in long-tube vertical (LTV) evaporators
always occurred if black liquor were concentrated above
the solubility limit of Na2 SO4 and Na2 CO3 . Grace called
this concentration the critical solids point for soluble
scale formation. S
uren [5] found that a solids concentration of approximately 48% was the beginning point of
scale formation for typical black liquor. Several empirical correlations have been advanced to predict the
critical solids point [6,7].
The soluble scale fouling of black liquor is not only a
concentration-driven process, but also a heat-sensitive
development. These dissolved salts display an abnormal
behavior of reduced solubility with increased temperature. The limit of the salts may be exceeded if black liquor is enriched to produce a high concentration of
solids. The result will be precipitation both in the bulk
solution and on heat transfer surfaces, leading to a heat
transfer coecient drop [8].
The contact time between black liquor and a heated
surface is critical to controlling soluble scale fouling. In
the pulp and paper industry, the conventional technology used in black liquor evaporators is rising lm
evaporators, in which the black liquor feed enters the
bottom of the steam-heated tubes and ows up inside
them. The soluble scale fouling occurs due to the
supersaturation of black liquor suspending in the evaporator. In falling lm evaporators, however, the black
liquor enters at the top; and a thin, fast-owing lm
immediately coats the wall as a result of gravity. This
0017-9310/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2003.10.034
1658
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
Nomenclature
a
thermal diusivity (m2 /s)
cb
soluble solid concentration (%)
cw
water component concentration (%)
Cb
soluble solid mass concentration (kg/m3 )
CD
drag function
cp
specic heat (kJ/kg K)
Cs
concentration at surface (kg/m3 )
droplet diameter of liquid phase (m)
dl
D
mass diusivity (m2 /s)
E
activation energy (J/mol)
act
*
F
interaction momentum between phases
*
g
gravity vector (m/s2 )
hfg
heat of evaporation (kJ/kg)
Kji or Kij interface momentum exchange coecient
between jth phase and ith phase (kg/s m3 )
L
length of falling lm (m)
m
mass (kg)
m_ ji
mass transfer from jth phase to ith phase
(kg/s m3 )
m_ ij
mass transfer from ith phase to jth phase
(kg/s m3 )
P
pressure (Pa)
Prt
turbulent Prandtl number
R
perfect gas constant (8.314 kJ/kmol K)
Re
Reynolds number, Re 4C=l
Rf
fouling resistance (m2 K/kw)
rlv , rvl
evaporation and condensation coecient
Sct
turbulent Schmidt number
T
temperature (K)
Ts
uid-deposit interface temperature (K)
u
velocity at x direction (m/s)
U
velocity vector (m/s)
v
velocity at y direction (m/s)
W
Na2 CO3 + Na2 SO4 wt% on total black liquor solid
x
X
y
W
Z
stream-wise coordinate
position vector
transverse coordinate
channel width if falling lm evaporator (m)
eective sodium (%) on total black liquor
solids
Greek symbols
a
volume fraction
l
dynamic viscosity (N s/m2 )
q
density (kg/m3 )
qbl
black liquor density (kg/m3 )
qd
deposit density (kg/m3 )
C
mass ow rate per unit lm width for a
planar lm (kg/m s)
k
turbulent kinetic energy (m2 /s2 )
e
turbulent dissipation rate (m2 /s3 )
h
time (s)
kd
deposit thermal conductivity (w/m K)
Subscripts
0
initial condition
c
condensation
e
evaporation
e
eective transport coecient
i or j
ith phase or jth phase
ij or ji interface between ith phase or jth phase
in
inlet
l
liquid
lv or vl transfer between liquid and vapor phases
m
mixing
sat
saturated
t
turbulent
s
solid
v
vapor
w
wall
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
1659
2. Mathematical model
2.1. General
In a black liquor falling lm evaporator, black liquor
feed enters at the top of the evaporator, ows downward
along the steam-heated surface in the form of a lm, and
leaves from the bottom. Vapor separated from the liquid
is carried aloft and exits at the top. Fig. 1 is a schematic
of the falling lm evaporator considered in the study.
The heated surface is a vertical plate subjected to a
uniform high temperature. As mentioned earlier, black
liquor is a multi-component uid. The evaporation of
water species in black liquor will result in black liquor
enrichment. Therefore, black liquor falling lm includes
vaporized water and enriched black liquor. The vaporization process leads the lm developed into a turbulent
ow.
As shown in the schematic of the falling lm evaporator, the basic assumptions made include these: (1)
black liquor consists of water and soluble black solids;
(2) a black liquor falling lm is considered as a twophase ow, including vapor and enriched black liquor;
(3) precipitates are assumed not to aect the hydrodynamic characteristics of the vaporliquid ow; (4) the
turbulent transport is described through adding an eddy
transport coecient to the molecular ones, and eective
transport coecients are given by leff l lt , aeff
a at , Deff D Dt ; and (5) momentum and mass exchanges are considered between phases.
2.2. Governing equations
Governing equations of the uid ow in the falling
lm evaporator are based on a two-phase model. The
uid ow is considered to consist of thin falling lm and
1660
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
where m_ ji m_ ij .
The momentum conservation for the ith phase in the
multiphase ow is described as
c_ bi
1
1
F ji
*
r ai Ui Ui rP r Si ai g
;
qi
qi
qi
If Tl P Tsat ;
9a
If Tl Tsat ;
m_ e 0;
9b
If Tv 6 Tsat ;
9c
r Si r ai li;eff rUi :
If Tv Tsat ;
m_ c 0:
9d
m_ lv m_ vl m_ e m_ c :
10
F ji F ij Kji Uj Ui m_ ji Uji :
m_ ji hfg
:
qi cpi
Therefore,
lt
:
qPrt
11
Although some authors gave a transversal distribution function for the turbulent Prandtl number, the
majority of the authors considered Prt as a constant
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
k2
;
e
1661
13
jRn j=Rn;ref 6 d;
15
1662
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
0.0
0.0
& : Current
& : Nusselt (1916)
: Karimi & Kawaji (1998)
: Adomeit &Renz (2000)
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
0.1
0.2
& : Current
& : Nusselt (1916)
: Portalski (1964)
: Wilkes (1962)
2.5
3.0
0.3
0.0
(a)
0.5
1.0
Y (mm)
0.0
(b)
0.5
1.0
Y (mm)
1.5
Fig. 2. The comparison of predicted with experimental data; in (a) the Reynolds number of the solid series is 800 and that of the space
series is 2338; in (b) the Reynolds number is <50.
Table 1
Geometric scales of falling lm evaporators and the boundary
conditions of black liquor
Length of plate (m)
Half-width of channel (m)
Inlet temperature of liquid lm (K)
Inlet temperature of vapor stream (K)
Wall temperature (K)
Inlet velocity of liquid phase (m/s)
Inlet velocity of vapor stream (m/s)
Inlet falling lm thickness (m)
Inlet solid concentration (%)
1.8 and 10
0.05
348, 368, and 388
348, 368, and 388
358, 378, and 398
0.2
0.3
0.01
35, 40, and 45
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
1663
Fig. 3. The prediction of a typical two-phase ow for a 1.8-m-long falling lm: (a) volume fraction of liquid phase; (b) velocity prole;
(c) turbulent kinetic energy prole; (d) turbulent dissipation prole. The Reynolds and Prandtl number are 2650 and 19.6, respectively.
1664
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
Fig. 4. Proles of velocity (a), black liquid concentration (b), and temperature (c) in a 1.8-m-long falling lm. The Reynolds and
Prandtl number are 2650 and 19.6, respectively.
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
1665
0.015
gravity
1.8M/S
0.01>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
0.005
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
0.5
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
1
Length (M)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
1.5
Fig. 6. Prole of velocity in a 1.8-m-long pure liquid falling lm. The Reynolds and Prandtl number are 2650 and 19.6, respectively.
1666
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
Fig. 7. Eect of soluble solids concentration and thermal boundary condition on black liquor enrichment at the exit of a 1.8-m-long
falling lm (a) is soluble solids concentration; (b) is surface-to-bulk temperature dierence; (c) is wall temperature.
16
18
Cb Cs ;
exp
19
qd kd
ot
RTs
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
0 .4
0 .5
0 .3
0 .2
0 .1
0
0
50
100
Time (Min)
150
200
BLS = 35%
2.5
BLS = 40%
BLS = 45%
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0
500
1000
(a)
1500
2000
2500
3000
2000
2500
3000
Time (Min)
1.8
DT = 5 K
D T = 10K
D T = 20K
1.5
1.2
0.9
0.6
0.3
0.0
0
500
1000
(b)
1500
Time (Min)
0.50
0.45
T w = 358K
T w = 378K
T w = 398K
0.40
0.35
3.0
1667
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0
(c)
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Time (Min)
with a high solids concentration. The ideal surface-tobulk temperature dierence is around 510 K. It is also
seen in Fig. 9(c) that wall temperature has a slight effect on scale fouling. A low wall temperature is positive
for soluble scaling control. The soluble limitation of
black liquor is in opposition to temperature. The scale
fouling of black liquor is strongly related to enrichment; thus optimization of the thermal boundary is
necessary to reduce the fouling of black liquor in a
falling lm evaporator. The current analysis suggests
that a lower surface-to-bulk temperature dierence and
lower surface temperature are reasonable ways to improve both concentration enrichment and control of
soluble scaling for a high-solids-concentration black
liquor.
1668
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
0.015
(a)
gravity
2M/S
0.01
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
0.005
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
10
Length (M)
0.015
(b)
0.01
40.0
0.005
41.3
44.3
50.2
47.2
53.1
56.1
10
Length(M)
Film Thickness(M)
0.015
(c)
0.01
95
95.0
0.005
95.6
96.6
98.4
103.
100.3
0
10
Length (M)
Fig. 10. Prole of velocity (a), black liquor concentration (b), and temperature (c) in a 10-m-long falling lm.
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
1669
Fig. 11. Eect of the length of falling lm on bulk solids concentration enrichment, local solid concentration at wall, fouling resistance.
1670
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
F.C. Chen, Z. Gao / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 16571671
[27] S.V. Patankar, D.B. Spalding, A calculation procedure for
heat, mass and momentum transfer in three-dimensional
parabolic ows, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 15 (1972) 1787
1806.
[28] S. Portalski, Velocities in lm ow of liquid on vertical
plates, Chem. Eng. Sci. 19 (1964) 572582.
[29] J.O. Wilkes, R.M. Nedderman, The measurement of
velocities in thin lms of liquid, Chem. Eng. Sci. 17 (1962)
177186.
1671