System and process for concentrating Brix in a liquid

1 . A system for concentrating Brix in a liquid, the system comprising:

a falling film evaporator comprising: (i) a housing including an accommodating cavity, a plurality of heat exchange tubes mounted in the accommodating cavity and extending along a longitudinal axis in relation to the housing, a top outlet opening provided on the top of the housing for expelling steam from the housing, a bottom outlet opening provided on the bottom of the housing for expelling a concentrated liquid from the housing, a first inlet opening for receiving a feed liquid into the housing from a preheating unit, a second inlet opening for receiving steam from a mechanical vapor recompression unit, and a first outlet opening for expelling condensed water from the housing; (ii) at least one spray tube comprising at least one spraying nozzle for spraying the feed liquid inside the housing; and (iii) a heating unit in fluid communication with the at least one spray tube;

the preheating unit for preheating the feed liquid to a first temperature (T 1 ), the preheating unit comprising: a first inlet opening, a first outlet opening, a second inlet opening, and a second outlet opening, wherein the feed liquid flows through the first outlet opening and into the falling film evaporator at the first temperature (T 1 );

a first pump, the first pump being in fluid communication with a main inlet pipe and with the first inlet opening of the preheating unit, the first pump being adapted for pumping the feed liquid from the main inlet pipe into the preheating unit via the first inlet opening of the preheating unit, the first outlet opening of the preheating unit being in fluid communication with the heating unit of the evaporator for conveying the feed liquid from the preheating unit into the heating unit of the evaporator where the feed liquid is heated to a second temperature (T 2 ), the feed liquid heated at the second temperature (T 2 ) being then conveyed toward the at least one spray tube of the falling film evaporator;

a depressurizing tank in fluid communication with the first outlet opening of the housing for receiving condensed water from the evaporator;

a second pump for draining condensed water from the depressurizing tank through the preheating unit, the second pump being in fluid communication with the depressurizing tank and with the second inlet opening of the preheating unit, the condensed water received in the preheating unit from the depressurizing pump being expelled from the preheating unit via the second outlet opening of the preheating unit;

the mechanical vapor recompression unit for compressing and decompressing steam, received from the housing, the mechanical vapor recompression unit comprising: (i) a first inlet opening in fluid communication with the top outlet opening of the housing; (ii) a first outlet opening in fluid communication with the second inlet opening of the housing; and (iii) a spraying nozzle for spraying water into the first inlet opening of the mechanical vapor recompression unit to reduce the heat therein;

a recirculation pump in fluid communication with the bottom outlet opening of the housing and with a main outlet and recirculation pipe, the main outlet and recirculation pipe being in fluid communication with the housing for recirculating at least a portion of the concentrated liquid expelled from the housing back into the housing, the main outlet and recirculation pipe comprising a Brix meter for measuring Brix of the concentrated liquid circulating in the main outlet and recirculation pipe, the main outlet and recirculation pipe being provided with a valve allowing withdrawal of a portion of the concentrated liquid circulating in the main outlet and recirculation pipe;

wherein the system and/or the mechanical vapor recompression unit is adapted to operate under a nectar mode for producing concentrated nectar product and under a syrup mode for producing concentrated syrup product.

2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a steam generator in fluid communication with the falling film evaporator for initiating a first production of steam.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first temperature (T 1 ) is between 1° C. and 25° C.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the first temperature (T 1 ) is between 4° C. and 10° C.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the second temperature (T 2 ) is between 11° C. to 36° C.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first inlet opening of the mechanical vapor recompression unit operates under the nectar mode between −0.93 ATM gauge to −0.16 ATM gauge.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the falling film evaporator is configured to heat the feed liquid to a third temperature (T 3 ) between 37° C. to 103° C.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first outlet opening of the mechanical vapor recompression unit operates under the syrup mode between 0.068 ATM gauge and 1.02 ATM gauge.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the falling film evaporator is configured to heat the feed liquid to a fourth temperature (T 4 ) between 85° C. to 103° C.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the falling film evaporator is a horizontal falling film evaporator.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the feed liquid is selected from the group consisting of sap, sweet vegetal water solution and sweet raw vegetal water solution.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured for continuous operation.

13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the system further comprises a controller coupled to the Brix meter and to the valve for controlling the same to withdraw the concentrated liquid from the main outlet and recirculation pump.

14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the concentrated liquid is at least one of a concentrated nectar product or a concentrated syrup product.

15 . A process for concentrating Brix in a liquid, the process comprising the steps of:

providing a system according to claim 2 ;

providing the feed liquid;

actioning the steam generator to initiate a first production of steam, wherein the resulting steam generated is directed from the steam generator to the falling film evaporator and condensed water thereafter exits through the first outlet opening of the housing into the depressurizing tank and is pumped into the preheating unit by the second pump to heat the feed liquid to the first temperature (T 1 ) to produce a first preheated liquid;

feeding the first preheated liquid to the heating unit for preheating the first preheated liquid to the second temperature (T 2 ) to produce a second preheated liquid;

directing the second preheated liquid to the at least one spray tube and spraying the second preheated liquid on the plurality of heat exchange tubes by actioning at least one spraying nozzle;

and further comprising:

actioning the mechanical vapor recompression unit to function in the nectar mode, heating the second preheated liquid to a third temperature (T 3 ) concentrating the Brix in the concentrated liquid between 60% to 70% and recovering the concentrated nectar product having a Brix value between 60% to 70%, or

actioning the mechanical vapor recompression unit to function in the syrup mode, heating the second preheated liquid to a fourth temperature (T 4 ) concentrating the Brix in the concentrated liquid between 66% and 67% and recovering the concentrated syrup product having a Brix value between 66% and 67%.

16 . The process of claim 15 , comprising performing at least one of: brix monitoring, maple sap Brix monitoring, permeate flow reading, pH monitoring and control, conductivity meter readings, preventive management, and or high and low pressure protection.

17 . A process for concentrating Brix in a liquid in a system according to claim 1 , the process comprising the steps of:

providing the feed liquid;

preheating the feed liquid to a first preheated temperature to produce a first preheated liquid;

preheating the first preheated liquid to a second preheated temperature to produce a second preheated liquid;

and further comprising:

feeding the second preheated liquid to the falling film evaporator configured to function under the nectar mode and heating the second preheated liquid to a temperature between 37° C. and 103° C. to produce a concentrated nectar product having a Brix level between 60% and 70%, or

feeding the second preheated liquid to the falling film evaporator configured to function under the syrup mode and heating the second preheated liquid to a temperature between 85° C. and 103° C. to produce a concentrated syrup product having a Brix level between 66% and 67%.

18 . The process of claim 17 , comprising performing at least one of: brix monitoring, maple sap Brix monitoring, permeate flow reading, pH monitoring and control, conductivity meter readings, preventive management, and or high and low pressure protection.

19 . The process of claim 17 , wherein the process further comprises recovering the concentrated nectar product or the concentrated syrup product in response to receiving a reading from the Brix meter.