Evaporators  Agitated Thin-Film Evaporators – In this design a thin layer of solution is spread on

the heating surface by mechanical means. Wiped-film evaporators are used for very
 Direct Heated Evaporators – This type includes solar pans and submerged
viscous materials and for producing solid products.
combustion units. Submerged combustion evaporators can be used for applications
where contamination of the solution by the products of combustion is acceptable.

 Short Tube Evaporators – Short-tube evaporators, also called callandria

evaporators, are used in the sugar industry.
 Long-Tube Evaporators – In this type the liquid flows as a thin film on the walls of a
long, vertical, heated, tube. Both falling film and rising film types are used. They are
high capacity units; suitable for low viscosity solutions.
 Forced
Circulation
Evaporators – In
forced circulation
evaporators the
liquid is pumped
through the tubes.
They are suitable for
use with materials
which tend to foul
the heat transfer
surfaces, and where
crystallisation can
occur in the
evaporator.
Crystallizers supersaturation, by cooling
or evaporation; and a
 Scraped-Surface Crystallizers – This type is similar in principle to the tank type, but
means of circulating the
the cooling surfaces are continually scraped or agitated to prevent the fouling by
liquor. The Oslo crystalliser
deposited crystals and to promote heat transfer. They are suitable for processing
is the archetypical design
high-viscosity liquors. Scraped-surface crystallisers can be operated batchwise, with
for this type of crystallising
recirculation of the mother liquor, or continuously. A disadvantage of this type is
equipment. Circulating
that they tend to produce very small crystals.
liquor crystallisers and
circulating magma
crystallisers are used for
the large-scale production
of a wide range of crystal
products.

Other Liquid-Liquid Separators

 Plate Separators – Stacks

of horizontal, parallel, plates are used in some proprietary decanter designs to
increase the interfacial area per unit volume and to reduce turbulence. They, in
effect, convert the decanter volume into several smaller separators connected in
parallel.

 Circulating Magma Crystallizers – In this type both the liquor and growing crystals
are circulated through the zone in which supersaturation occurs. Circulating magma
crystallisers are probably the most important type of large-scale crystallisers used in
the chemical process industry. Designs are available in which supersaturation is
achieved by direct cooling, evaporation or evaporative cooling under vacuum.
 Circulating Liquor Crystallizers – In this type only the liquor is circulated through the
heating or cooling equipment; the crystals are retained in suspension in the
crystallising zone by the up-flow of liquor. Circulating liquor crystallisers produce
crystals of regular size. The basic design consists of three components: a vessel in
which the crystals are suspended and grow and are removed; a means of producing
  Coalescers – Proprietary equipment, in which the dispersion is forced through some
form of coalescing medium, is often used for the coalescence and separation of
finely dispersed droplets. A medium is chosen that is preferentially wetted by the
dispersed phase; knitted wire or plastic mesh, beds of fibrous material, or special
membranes are used. The coalescing medium works by holding up the dispersed
droplets long enough for them to form globlets of sufficient size to settle. Coalescing
filters are suitable for separating small quantities of dispersed liquids from large
throughputs. Electrical coalescers, in which a high voltage field is used to break
down the stabilising film surrounding the suspended droplets, are used for desalting
crude oils and for similar applications

 Solvent Extraction –also called liquid liquid extraction, can be used to separate a
Separation of Dissolved Liquids
 Distillation – The primary objective of distillation column control is to maintain the
specified composition of the top and bottom products, and any side streams;
correcting for the effects of disturbances in: 1. Feed flow-rate, composition and
temperature. 2. Steam supply pressure. 3. Cooling water pressure and header
temperature. 4. Ambient conditions, which cause changes in internal reflux. The
compositions are controlled by regulating reflux flow and boil-up. The column
overall material balance must also be controlled; distillation columns have little
surge capacity (hold-up) and the flow of distillate and bottom product (and side-
streams) must match the feed flows.
substance from a solution by extraction into another solvent. It can be used ether to
recover a valuable substance from the original solution, or to purify the original
solvent by removing an unwanted component. Examples of solvent extraction are:
the extraction of uranium and plutonium salts from solution in nitric acid, in the
nuclear industry; and the purification of water. The process depends on the
substance being extracted, the solute, having a greater solubility in the solvent used
for the extraction than in the original feed solvent. The two solvents must be
essentially immiscible. The solvents are mixed in a contactor, to effect the transfer
of solute, and then the phases separated. The depleted feed solvent leaving the
extractor is called the raffinate, and the solute rich extraction solvent, the extract.
The solute is normally recovered from the extraction solvent, by distillation, and the
extraction solvent recycled. The simplest form of extractor is a mixer-settler, which
consist of an agitated tank and a decanter.
  Chromatography – Chromatographic methods of separation are distinguished by
their high selectivity, that is their ability to separate components of closely similar
physical and chemical properties. Many mixtures which are difficult to separate by
other methods may be separated by chromatography. The range of materials which
can be processed covers the entire spectrum of molecular weights, from hydrogen
to proteins. Chromatography plays several roles in the process industries. The
design of a new plant begins with a proposed chemical route from starting materials
to finished product, already tested at least on a small laboratory scale. In many
cases, analytical chromatography will have been used in the laboratory to separate
and identify the products in the mixtures produced by the proposed chemical
process.

 Ion Exchange – Ion exchange is a unit operation in its own right, often sharing
theory with adsorption or chromatography, although it has its own special areas of
application. The oldest and most enduring application of ion exchange is in water
treatment, to soften or demineralise water before industrial use, to recover
components from an aqueous effluent before it is discharged or recirculated. Ion
exchangers can catalyse specific reactions or be suitable to use for chromatographic
separations.
 Leaching – Liquids can be extracted from solids by leaching. As the name implies,
the soluble liquid contained in a solid is leached out by contacting the solid with a
suitable solvent. A principal application of leaching is in the extraction of valuable
oils from nuts and seeds; such as, palm oil and rape seed oil. The equipment used to
contact the solids with the solvent is usually a special designs to suit the type of
solid being processed, and is to an extent unique to the particular industry. The
leaching is normally done using a number of stages. In this respect, the process is
similar to liquid liquid extraction, and the methods used to determine the number
of stages required are similar.