Solid Dissolution into a Vertical Falling Film under Industrial-like Conditions

Journal article, 2014

During the evaporation of black liquor, a residual stream in pulp mills, scales form on heat transfer surfaces due to the crystallization of sodium carbonate and sodium sulfate salts. As a result, falling film evaporators need regular cleaning to remove these water-soluble scales, and therefore, knowledge about the dissolution process is important. In this work, dissolution of the aforementioned salts was tested experimentally in a pilot evaporator close to the industrial scale. Dissolution was diffusion-controlled and could be described by film theory, where the concentration difference between the saturated wall and an assumed perfectly mixed bulk was the driving force of the process. The measured mass transfer coefficient could be predicted to within 30% accuracy using the Chilton-Colburn heat and mass transfer analogy together with a standard heat transfer correlation.