SIMULINK DEVELOPMENT OF SINGLE EFFECT EVAPORATOR USING MATLAB®

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

Submitted by:
GONZALES, RUBINA C.
GUILLERMO, DENVER V.
MAMBA, RHEA D.
MANALIGOD, LAICA C.
PASION, CHERILYN S.

Submitted to:
ENGR. LEONARD D. AGANA

January 2019
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1

II. Process Dynamics .................................................................................................................... 1

Mathematical Modeling of Single effect Evaporator: ............................................................................ 2

III. Simulink Methodology .............................................................................................................. 5

IV. Results and Discussion ............................................................................................................ 6

V. Program Features ..................................................................................................................... 9

VI. References ................................................................................................................................ 9

I. Introduction

One of the oldest unit operations is evaporation, wherein it is defined as vaporization of liquid with
an objective to concentrate a solution consisting of a non-volatile solute and a volatile solvent (Myron &
Liptak, 2006). An equipment which evaporation is performed is the evaporator in which it has a major
application in refrigeration and cooling cycles. Also, this equipment is the largest heat users and major
contributors to losses in sugar cane factories.

Single effect evaporators were usually used when a dilute solution is contacted only once with a heat
source to produce a concentrated solution and an essentially pure water discharge. Since evaporation is a
very important unit operation and must be controlled smoothly, evaporator control is a problem that has been
widely reported in the pulp and sugar industries (Smith, Swartz, & Harrison, 2018). Control can either be
manual or automated. When judgment and discretion are required, manual controls are applicable while for
automated controls, they are more suitable for environments with high volumes of similar transaction (Obrien,
2019). In which, these controls can be simulated using MATLAB®.

MATLAB® is a programming platform designed specifically for engineers and scientists in which it can
be used to analyze data, develop algorithms and create models and applications. (MathWorks, 2019). In
addition, Simulink is a data flow graphical programming language tool for modelling, simulating and analyzing
multi-domain dynamic systems, integrated with MATLAB®. Simulink allows to incorporate MATLAB®
algorithms into models as well as export the simulation results into MATLAB® for further analysis. Moreover,
it supports system-level design, simulation, automatic code generation and testing and verification of
embedded systems (TutorialsPoint).

In this report, a simulation model of single-effect evaporator was used to develop Simulink in MATLAB ®
to create a manual and automatic control program which can simulate the liquid level and product composition
inside a single-effect evaporator. It also entailed with the process dynamics of a single-effect evaporator and
the comparison of the two cases namely the automatic and manual control program.

II. Process Dynamics

Single effect evaporator calculations are pretty straightforward. The latent heat of condensation of the
steam is transferred through the heating surface to vaporize water from a boiling solution. Therefore, two

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enthalpy balance equations are required to in order to calculate the rate of solvent vaporization and the rate
of required input heat.

Generally, it is possible to solve the energy and the material balance equations analytically by a
sequential approach. The following assumptions are made to develop the mass and energy balance
equations:

1. there is no leakage or entrainment

2. the flow of non-condensable is negligible
3. heat loss from the evaporator system is negligible

From the enthalpy data of the solutions, steam and condensate, the rate of heat input or the rate of steam
flow can be calculated. The overall heat transfer coefficient U T (including dirt factor) is should be either
known from the performance data of an operating evaporator of the same type and processing the same
solution or a reasonable value can be selected from the standard text books. With this information, the
required area of heat transfer can be estimated.

Mathematical Modeling of Single effect Evaporator:

The equation describing the single effect evaporator id developed in the following manner. Component
material balance on the solute and solvent are-

FX f  LX p
F1  X f   V  L1  X p 

Respectively,

Where

F= feed rate kg/sec

L= concentrated liquid rate kg/sec

V = vapor rate kg/sec

Xf =mass fraction of solute in feed

Xp = mass fraction of solute in the product

Total material balance is given by:

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 FVL

An enthalpy balance on the process stream yields:

F.h f  Q  V.H v  L.h p

Or F.h f  Q  F  L H v  Lh p  F.h p  Fh p

Or Fh f  h p   Q  F  L H v  F  L h p

Or Fh f  h p   Q  F  L H v  h p   0

Where

hf = enthalpy of feed

hp = enthalpy of product

Hv = enthalpy of vapor at the boiling point temperature of the feed, kJ/kg.

Q = rate of heat transfer across the tubes (from the stream to the thick liquor) kJ/sec.

The enthalpy balance on the stream is given by:

Q  V0 H 0  h 0   V0  0

The rate of Q is commonly approximated by use of the relationship:

Where:

U = overall heat transfer coefficient

A = surface area of the tubes available for heat transfer.

To = saturation temperature of the steam entering the chest.

T = boiling point temperature of thick liquor at the pressure of the vapor space.

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Enthalpy balance

The latent heat of condensation of the steam is transferred to the boiling solution through the heating
surface in order to vaporize the water. Thus, two enthalpy balances are required one for the liquid and another
for the steam.

The following assumptions are required, in order to make the enthalpy balance,
a. Flow of non-condensable is negligible
b. The superheat and sub-cooling of the condensable steam is negligible
c. No solid precipitate out from the concentrating solution
The enthalpy balance for the steam side is
q s  m s h s  h c 
 mss
Where:
q s = rate of heat transfer through heating surface from steam

m s = flow rate of steam

 s = latent heat of condensation of steam

h s = specific enthalpy of steam

h c = specific enthalpy of condensate

The enthalpy balance for the liquid side is

q l  m fl  m cl  h v  m fl h fl  m cl h cl

q l = rate of heat transfer from heating surface to the liquid

h v = specific enthalpy of vapor

h cl = specific enthalpy of concentrated liquid

h fl = specific enthalpy of liquid feed

m fl = flow rate of liquid feed
m cl =flow rate of concentrated liquid
The enthalpy balance at steam side and liquid side will be same in the absence of any heat loss. Thus,
mfl  m cl  h v  mfl h fl  mcl h cl  ms λ s

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The area of heat transfer A can be calculated from
q l  q s  U T AT
Where
T  Tb  Tc 

Tb = saturated temperature of steam in the shell

Ts = boiling point of the solution at the prevailing pressure

U T = overall coefficient (dirty)

III. Simulink Methodology

The first step in developing a Simulink model of an automatic and manual controls of a single effect
evaporator is to state the assumptions and define the data required to simulate the liquid level inside a single-
effect evaporator. To open Simulink, open or click “Simulink Model”, this opens a new untitled model window
that lets you create a simulation model. In the creation of the model, the model were done using an equation
as a basis and to start building simulation model, click the “Library browser” toolbar from the untitled window.
Model elements were added by selecting the appropriate elements from the “Library Browser “and dragging
the model elements, into the Model window. Then the constants were inputted to the model elements. As an
example, the rho used in this model is constant, so as can be seen in Figure 2 the rho is equal to 1.5.

After dragging model elements needed from the library and inputting the necessary constants or
parameters used in the model to the project window, the blocks were connected together which can be done
by dragging connectors from connection points on one block to those of another. After dragging the
connectors, run the simulation by pressing the “Run” button. Lastly, the response were generated through a
graph, and then the figure were interpreted.

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IV. Results and Discussion

F
Xf
hset point

Xpset-point

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of single-effect

evaporator

Assumption: All flows are in terms of volume

Material Balance:
d L L
 FF  p P  v V
dt
Component Balance:
d  L x L L 
 Fx FF  p x pP  0  P  V
dt

d L x L L
 F x F F  p x p P
dt
Liquid level:
Assuming constant cross-sectional area
dx L H 
 F x F F  p x p P
dt

dH  F x F F   p x p P

dt A p x p

Or

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 F x F F k H

A p x p A

Figure 2: Simulink model for manual control

The figure above shows the Simulink model for manual control of single effect evaporator. The
equation

F x F F k H

A p x p A

Is used to model a single effect evaporator wherein the liquid level is controlled manually. The response for
the system is shown in Figure 3. It can be observed that the response is fluctuating, meaning, the level of
liquid in the evaporator is varying at certain time. It can be observed that though it reaches the set point there
are certain time that it doesn’t reach the set point.

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 Figure 3: Response of manual control

Figure 4: Simulink model for automatic control

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 Figure 4 shows the Simulink model for automatic control of a single effect evaporator. As can be
seen in the figure the liquid level in the evaporator is controlled automatically. The response for the system
is shown in Figure 5. It can be observed that the response is fluctuating as seen in the manual control but it
gives a lower error discrepancy, since it is nearer to the set point.

Figure 5: Response of automatic control

V. Program Features

This paper presents the simulated model of manual and automatic controls of a single-effect
evaporator, specifically it shows: the liquid level of a single-effect evaporator.

VI. References

[1] MathWorks. (2019). mathworks. Retrieved from https://www.mathworks.com:

https://www.mathworks.com/discovery/what-is-matlab.html
[2] Myron, T. J., & Liptak, B. G. (2006). Evaporator Controls. In Process Control and Optimization (Vol.
II, pp. 1914-1920).

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[3] Obrien, T. (2019). Shellman. Retrieved from https://www.schellman.com:
https://www.schellman.com/blog/2015/10/automated-or-manual-controls/
[4] Smith, P., Swartz, C., & Harrison, S. (2018). CiteSeerx. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.381.6976
[5] TutorialsPoint. (n.d.). Tutorialspoint Simply Easy Learning. Retrieved from
https://www.tutorialspoint.com: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/matlab/matlab_simulink.html

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