Technology Advantages
Enhanced Heat Transfer
The turbulent, thin film created on the evaporator surface enhances heat transfer efficiency, resulting in rapid evaporation with little to no heat losses and keeping high velocity in the material to avoid fouling.
Uniform Distribution
Horizontal orientation ensures uniform distribution of the liquid across the continuously wetted evaporator surface, optimizing the overall process.
Preserved Product Quality
Reduces the risk of thermal degradation of heat sensitive materials with the combination of short residence time, vacuum operation, and reduced processing time.
Technical Specifications
Artisan Industries designs Rototherm™ thin film evaporators for optimal performance based on data specific to the user’s process. The size of the Rototherm will largely depend on factors including the design feed rate, evaporation rate, operating temperature, pressure, and final product specifications. Liquid-to-powder drying is possible for many materials. The Rototherm may be designed for pharmaceutical, food, or chemical service, and for any specific location requirements (geographic and/or hazardous area classification). Other specific design details including pressure vessel code, temperature and pressure rating, polish, elastomers, seal type, electrical connections, etc. are all confirmed with the user during the design phase.
Size Range: 1/8 to 225 sq. ft. of heated surface area.
Capacity: 5 mL/min to 4,500 lb/hr of material, based on size and application.
Construction Materials: Stainless steel (300 series and Duplex), carbon steel, nickel, Inconel®, Monel®, Hastelloy®, and titanium.
Operating Conditions: Jackets can be designed for hot water, steam, or hot oil heating, depending on the operating temperature and site utilities. Operating pressure can range from below 1 mmHg to over 100 PSIG and operating temperature can range from below 100 °F to over 700 °F.
Technology in Action
ROTOTHERM® thin-film evaporators feature a high-speed rotor that uses centrifugal force to keep the feed material against the heated process wall. This creates a turbulent, thin film between the rotor blades and the process wall, covering the entire heated surface at all times, regardless of feed or evaporation rates.
Key advantages of Rototherm horizontal thin-film evaporators vs. vertical wiped film evaporators:
- Gravity does not impact the performance and the film remains fully wetted.
- Approximately 20% higher heat and mass transfer coefficients.
- Design is inherently more suitable to handle hard to process materials, high evaporation rates, and a lot less entrainment.
- Has a high turn down ratio (10:1)
- Easy to clean, quick less than 15 minutes, and requires a small volume of CIP solution. No flushing or taking apart equipment is required.
- Need less structural height for installation on site.
- Installation on site is easier and typically costs 20% less.
- Maintenance of equipment is significantly easier, leading to a lower cost of ownership.
Select Applications
- Concentrating and drying waste and/or products
- Recovering solvents from waste/mixed streams
- Preconcentration prior to spray-drying
- Removing sludge prior to distillation
- Recovering heat-sensitive APIs, intermediates, or fine chemicals
- Concentrating brine solutions containing PCAS
- Continuous reactors
- Post-reaction stripping
- Devolatilization/dewatering/stripping
- Process intensification by combining unit operations