Simulation of single-effect and triple-effect evaporator for fruit juice concentration using Aspen HYSYS

One of the most popular methods of fruit juice preservation is concentration since it offers a variety of advantages, like decreased volume, weight, packing, simpler transportation and handling, and a longer shelf life. The present paper studied the evaporation of fruit juice in single- and triple-effect evaporators using Aspen HYSYS software. The amount of juice was 3000 kg/h, and its concentration was raised from 10 to 50 °Brix. Four evaporator layouts were estimated and optimized: single-effect, modified single-effect, forward triple-effect, and triple-effect in parallel. It is a study of the effect of the temperature of saturated steam (120–300 °C) used to concentrate the juice and the pressure of the product (15–50 kPa) on the mass flow rate of steam required, economy, and overall heat transfer coefficient times area (UA) of the evaporator. The best operating conditions for each type of evaporation system were 15 kPa of the product’s pressure for all types of evaporators, 192, 240, 182, and 210 °C of the single-effect, modified single-effect, forward triple-effect, and parallel triple-effect, respectively. These operating conditions are equivalent to the steam required, economy, UA, and steam cost as follows: for each type, they were (3075, 338.4, 1224, and 1100 kg/h), (0.78, 7.1, 1.96, and 2.15), (40,182, 74,505, 539,987, 152,173 kJ/°C h), and (12.68 × 103, 12.76 × 103, 12.65 × 103, and 12.73 × 103 $/h), respectively.