Calcium Fouling in Barometric Leg of a Direct-Contact Condensor

• Posted on 19th October 2020
• in Articles, Condensor, Falling Film Evaporators
• by Jan de Geest

We were recently out at a customer’s site, where we had been contracted to replace an existing fully integrated and original steel barometric direct-contact condenser with a new stainless-steel material direct-contact condenser. We made an amazing discovery. After 60 years of operating the evaporator, the barometric leg discharging out of the condenser formed many layers of calcium fouling. The extent of these layers was close to 2 inches of calcium layering in a 12-inch diameter pipe. That is a reduction of the cooling water line opening of 55%.

The customer had to drain the cooling water out of the system every day because they had to break the vacuum during their Cleaning in Place (CIP) of the falling film evaporator system. The chemicals used for CIP would have destroyed the steel piping. For that reason, the vacuum and condensing of the boiling vapors into the cooling water would have corroded the steel components in the cooling water loop. Refilling the cooling water system every day with untreated water created the largest calcium layer I had ever seen. In the daily operation, it came to times where the customer had to turn the cooling water flow down to avoid flooding of the condenser; under those conditions, the cooling water will flow back into the product, which is unacceptable. Nobody expected the calcium layer to be this thick.

We replaced the barometric condenser and included a vapor valve to isolate the cooling water system (partly constructed out of steel materials) and the falling film evaporator system, so the customer can CIP under vacuum conditions.

This meant that our customer:

1. Can keep the cooling water system full, no daily draining and replacing of the cooling water required.
2. Did not have to wait to brake and pull vacuum anymore, which saved them an hour of downtime every day.
3. Got a higher throughput in the summer months. By installing a new barometric leg with a full-bore opening, the cooling water flow is no longer limited to the cooling water return line’s true inner diameter.

Overall, another interesting project, and we have given the customer a good return on their investment, plus the evaporator has been upgraded for years to come.

Contact us for more information when your installation has these or any other kind of issues.

• Author
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Jan de Geest

Co-President/CEO at GLM Hydro

Jan de Geest is a driven business professional with over 30 years of evaporation, crystallization, and filtration experience in both the public and private sectors and he has over 20 years of experience in managing functions such as Process Engineering, Sales, Marketing and Business Development. Jan has a strong focus on communication and relationship building with clients, distributors, suppliers and colleagues and enjoys sharing his knowledge through this website and other venues.

“Our goal is to give you the best evaporator and dryer process balanced between capital investment and operating expenses with the highest product quality. This way you can differentiate yourself in your market with either commodity products or special niche products.”

Latest posts by Jan de Geest (see all)

• Calcium Fouling in Barometric Leg of a Direct-Contact Condensor - October 19, 2020
• GLM Luebbers - January 14, 2020
• Capacity Improvement of your Existing Falling Film Evaporator with a Potential Increase on the Dryer Output - January 18, 2014

Tags: Calcium, Condensor, evaporator, fouling