Alfa Laval Inc. Gasketed Plate-and-Frame Heat Exchangers AlfaVap

Alfa Laval AlfaVap semi-welded heat exchanger is tailor made for evaporation, and very efficient to use when concentration and viscosity of media is high. It is a rising film plate evaporator that works with close temperature approach down to 2.5°C. Main applications are in evaporation systems for sugar refineries, sweeteners, bioethanol and caustic. Alfa Laval AlfaVap is also suitable as thermosiphon rebolier. Its compact design makes it ideal to install at elevated levels. The unique Alfa Laval AlfaVap design provides much higher thermal efficiency than traditional shell-and-tube evaporators and condensers. This means much less heat transfer area is needed to achieve any specific effect. AlfaVap units are therefore extremely cost-effective, especially when exotic materials such as SMO, titanium, nickel and Hastelloy(™) are required. The compactness and versatility of the AlfaVap design means drastic reductions in transportation, erection and installation costs compared to traditional solutions. The plate construction of Alfa Laval AlfaVap means the heat transfer surfaces are easy to get at for inspection and any mechanical cleaning. Removing the tightening bolts and rolling back the pressure plate are all it takes. The special corrugated pattterns of the heat transfer plates create a high degree of turbulence over the entire surface of each plate. This helps prevent fouling and makes chemical cleaning extremely effective. The low hold-up volume of an AlfaVap unit also means only very small amounts of cleaning chemicals are needed. The design of the AlfaVap make it easy to adjust evaporation and condensation capacity to meet changing needs, simply by adding or removing plates to the existing frame. This is a major advantage in relation to shell-and-tube units, where the capacity cannot be changed once it has been installed.