Assessing the suitability of quadruple, quintuple and sextuple Robert evaporator sets for high levels of steam efficiency in Australian factories

Australian factories typically have quintuple sets of Robert evaporators and pan stages that generally comprise large, unstirred batch pans. The vapour consumption of the pan-stage cycles through large variations about the mean value as the batch pans move through their schedules. When bleed vapour from the evaporators is used on the pan stage, for example, in order to improve the steam economy of the factory, the variable vapour withdrawal to the pans causes large variations in vapour flows in the evaporators and alters the vapour pressures. This paper examines the use of quadruple, quintuple and sextuple evaporator sets to determine how each configuration accommodates the variable vapour demand of the pan stage.