Sulzer Evaporation
Technology
High-purity separation engineered for heat-sensitive and complex products
Sulzer Chemtech delivers a proven, end-to-end portfolio of evaporation technologies built around our EvapCare™ product line including a Falling Film (F), a Wiped/thin Film (W), and a Short Path (S) evaporator. Designed for processes where purity, yield, and product integrity are non-negotiable, our systems are widely deployed across the pharmaceutical, petrochemical and fine & specialty chemical industries, minimizing thermal stress, maximizing separation efficiency, and scaling reliably from pilot to industrial production.
How film evaporation works
Film evaporation is a high-efficiency separation process that uses the combination of heat, vacuum, and a thin liquid film to purify heat-sensitive substances
The process begins by pumping the liquid feed through a proprietary distribution system that spreads the product into a even thin film across all heated surfaces, eliminating 'dry spots', preventing localized degradation, and ensuring consistent residence time across every batch.
Controlled feeding & distribution
Once distributed, the liquid forms a thin, uniform film, often less than one millimeter thick, that travels rapidly within the heated surface. This thin film maximizes the surface area-to-volume ratio, enabling extremely fast, efficient heat transfer while minimizing the time any molecule spends at elevated temperature.
Thin-Film formation
Under vacuum, the boiling point of volatile components (solvents, impurities, light fractions) drops significantly, allowing separation to occur at temperatures lower than ambient boiling points. This dramatically reduces thermal stress on the product and preserves sensitive bioactive compounds.
Rapid evaporation under vacuum
Vapors generated at the film surface, travel counter currently or co-currently (depending on design) toward the condenser. Entrained liquid droplets are removed by a mist eliminator, ensuring that only purified vapor reaches the condensation stage — a critical step for achieving distillate purity above 99%.
Vapor-liquid separation
The process yields two precisely separated output streams:
• The Distillate consists of purified condensed vapors, your target compound or recovered solvent, ready for downstream processing or reuse.
• The Concentrate is the stripped residual liquid, now freed of volatiles, and discharged for further processing or refining.
Discharge and Recovery
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Model of a two-stage skid-mounted evaporation unit, including EvapCare™-F and an EvapCare™-W evaporators
Explore a comprehensive range of evaporation technologies designed to maximize purity and protect heat-sensitive products across industries
Falling Film Evaporators
Wiped Film Evaporators
Short Path Evaporators
How it Works: Liquid feed is introduced at the top of heated vertical tubes and distributed into a uniform thin film that flows downward under gravity, maximizing surface contact and heat transfer efficiency.
Key Feature: Sulzer's proprietary sleeve inserts and precision liquid distribution system guarantee uniform wettability across all tube surfaces, eliminating 'dry spots', preventing localized overheating, and protecting product integrity even at high evaporation ratios.
Best For: High evaporation ratios and energy-efficient multi-effect configurations make this evaporator ideal for continuous processing of heat-sensitive, low-to-medium viscosity feeds including the concentration and preservation of bioactives, removal of residual impurities and recovery of high-value solvent.
Learn more about EvapCare™-F
What is evaporation
Film evaporation is a cornerstone unit operation for any process where preserving product quality is non-negotiable. Our portfolio ranges from static to mechanically-driven evaporators, covering full spectrum of viscosities, fouling tendencies, and thermal sensitivities.
With decades of evaporation expertise and an installed base covering food, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and fine & specialty chemical industries, Sulzer Chemtech brings deep application know-how to every project. Our global pilot plant network with test centers in Switzerland and Singapore, lets you de-risk scale-up and validate performance before committing to full industrial investment.
Main Benefits
Thermally optimized by design
Your product stays protected from the first drop to the last. Every EvapCare™ unit is engineered using advanced CFD simulations and validated through in-house pilot testing, delivering precise temperature control, maximum heat transfer efficiency, and predictable scale-up performance.
Uncompromising product quality
Short residence times (often just seconds) combined with deep vacuum operation, protect heat-sensitive molecules from thermal degradation, preserving bioactivity, organoleptic properties, and the sensory properties that define your products’ quality and market value.
Proprietary hardware advantage
Sulzer's in-house-designed liquid distributors, rotor assemblies, and sleeve inserts provide superior wettability and mixing control, enabling reliable and consistent performance even with viscous, fouling-prone, or solids-content feeds.
Typical Applications
Product purification
Solvent recovery with minimal product loss
Concentrations of solutions and slurries
Removal of soluble impurities
Degasising & deodorization
Recover value from industrial waste streams
Industries and Products
Chemical and fine chemical industry
Pharmaceutical industry
Food, Flavors and Fragrances industry
Biotech industry
Oleochemical industry
Nutraceutical industry
Agrochemicals industry
Download our technical resources
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1 document
Brochure
Film Evaporation Technology
12 pages
Brochure
12 pages
EvapCare™ film Evaporation technology by Sulzer Chemtech
Overview
The EvapCare brochure provides a comprehensive overview of Sulzer Chemtech's film evaporation portfolio covering operating principles, technical specifications, application case studies, and selection guidance for Falling Film, Wiped Film, and Short Path configurations. This document is essential for manufacturers evaluating evaporation solutions for fine & specialty chemical, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical or F&F applications.
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Contact an expert
Our technical specialists are ready to help you find the optimal evaporation solution for your specific application
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Dr. Gerardine Epane
Global product line manager
Sulzer Advantage
Proven Process Solution Provider for complex and challenging separations
Full Service Provider for proprietary process equipment and plant solutions, backed by guaranteed performance
Provide solutions from design to operation
Unique technology portfolio and extensive application know-how
Unique experience in combining unit operations
Unlike bulk boiling — where the entire liquid volume is exposed to heat for extended periods, risking degradation, discoloration, and polymerization — EvapCare™ film evaporation exposes only a thin, continuously renewed liquid layer to the heated surface. Combined with vacuum (which reduces boiling points by 30–100°C), residence times are reduced to seconds. The result: preserved bioactivity, intact organoleptic profiles, and consistent product quality across every run.
It comes down to viscosity and fouling risk.
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EvapCare™-F falling film suits low-to-medium viscosity and clean feeds that flow easily under gravity and have little to no risk of scaling on the tubes. It is the most energy-efficient choice for high evaporation ratios and multi-effect configurations.
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EvapCare™-W thin/wiped film handles viscous, sticky, or solid-containing feeds where mechanical agitation prevents fouling and preserves film integrity.
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Yes. Our evaporators are widely used as column reboilers in high-vacuum rectification systems. Replacing a standard reboiler with an EvapCare™ unit lowers the column bottom temperature, reduces thermal stress on the product, and improves overall separation efficiency.
Multi-effect configurations reuse latent heat across successive evaporation stages, while Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) recycles vapor energy back into the process, cutting energy consumption by up to 70% compared to conventional single-stage systems. The actual savings depend on your feedstock, throughput, and utility costs
Our pilot facilities in Switzerland and Singapore test your actual feedstock under real process conditions, measuring heat transfer coefficients, evaporation rates, and fouling behavior. This data feeds directly into our engineering models, so full-scale equipment is specified with confidence, and performance is guaranteed by evidence, not assumptions.
150+ Years Experience
Proven track record in chemical process engineering and equipment manufacturing.
Global Presence
Worldwide support network with local expertise and rapid response capabilities.
Quality Assurance
ISO certified processes and rigorous quality control for reliable, safe operations.