Enhancing Evaporator Performance with Ultrasound Technology

Evaporators are utilized across various industries, but they are particularly essential in the pulp and paper industry. They form a crucial part of dealing with black liquor, the byproduct of the kraft pulp process containing dissolved lignin, hemicellulose, and inorganic chemicals from the pulping process. Evaporators concentrate this black liquor by removing water, increasing its solids content. This concentrated black liquor can then be efficiently burned in the recovery boiler, which generates steam and power for the mill. This makes the process more energy-efficient and reduces the need for external energy sources.

Fouling in evaporator tubes is a costly and time-consuming issue for the pulp and paper industry, leading to increased risks, higher emissions, and wastage. Fouling can create blockages in the evaporator and hinder heat transfer efficiency, and this leads to more energy being needed to run the operation, while the efficiency of the evaporation process decreases. For example, in one of our black liquor evaporator cases, the warmest evaporator required cleaning twice a month before our solution was implemented, with each cleaning taking 1-5 days.

Altum’s Ultrasound Solution for Zero Process Downtime

Altum’s ZPD (Zero Process Downtime) Ultrasound is a chemical-free and highly efficient solution for fouling removal and prevention: with our solution, the evaporator stays clean and can function up to its full potential. This can increase energy savings in evaporators by more than 50% and increase their uptime by 300%, while ensuring lower strain on equipment.

Altum’s solution does not require the production to be stopped or the equipment to be dismantled, but works while the process is on-going. In contrast, traditional methods of cleaning fouling require chemicals and mechanical washing procedures, which necessitate significant production downtime – this is very expensive.

The increased evaporator efficiency achieved by fouling prevention leads to:

Less production downtime and lost production
Lower water consumption
Less effluent waste
Increased safety

Benefits achieved in our evaporator cases include:

Energy efficiency up 50 %
Operational time up 300 %
Evaporation ton per hour rate up 6+ %
Pumping efficiency up 10+ %
Mechanical and Chemical cleansing down 70+ %

These improvements lead to significant financial benefits, as they reduce energy and maintenance costs while increasing production output. The expected cost savings exceed 1 million euros per year. Additionally, the process becomes more stable and reliable, minimizing disruptions and reducing the stress associated with production stoppages.

Read more about our solution for evaporators here.

Ready to increase your evaporator’s efficiency? Don’t hesitate to contact us. We can also help with a wide variety of other fouling related issues and with improving separation.