Single and

TORI N O
multistage steam
jet ejectors
SCAM ejectors Since 1930, SCAM S.p.A. has been designing and manufacturing about
13,000 ejectors of various types for the most different applications and
can boast, among its Customers, the main Italian and foreign industrial
companies.

TWO-STAGE EJECTOR TWIN ELEMENT with inter surface condensers

 To conclude this outline of possible applications, it is important to mention
two recent uses: the maintenance of vacuum in test rooms for the simulation
of flights at high altitudes - as well as in the space - and the degassing
of molten steel during casting operations in steel mills.
In these cases, the residual pressures on suction are lower than 1 mbar
and the quantities of intaken fluid are considerable. This involves the setting
up of huge plants with suction ducts having a diameter up to 3 m.s.

Three-stage ejector with direct contact inter-after condensers

Applications There are many diversified applications of SCAM ejectors; the original
one, which is the extraction of incondensible substances from the steam
condensers, was followed by many others, mainly in the chemical and
petrochemical fields, thanks to the easy operation and maintenance of
these equipment. One of the most interesting fields of application of
SCAM ejectors is the vacuum cooling branch: water or an aquaeous
solution brought to a suitable temperature under vacuum, literally cools
itself as a result of evaporation.

Vacuum system for small capacity condensing unit

 Similarly, technologies have been developped for the vacuum cooling of
solids which originally contain humidity or which can be sprayed with
water before the cooling phase. For instance, we can mention the cooling
processes of fresh vegetables and of small size fruits.
On this subject, it is important to underline the adoption of ejectors for
“flash” effect cooling (instant vacuum evaporation) of some corrosive liq-
uids and some solutions where the solute is precipitated in consequence
of the cooling action; in such cases, the use of conventional heat exchang-
ers would be expensive and hardly practicable.

Two-stage twin element vacuum group with separate inter-after condenser

SCAM single stage ejectors SCAM SINGLE-STAGE EJECTOR is the most commonly used version.
It is generally recommended for residual pressures at suction not lower
than 100 mbar, with atmospheric or quasiatmospheric exhaust pressure,
i.e. for compression ratii not higher than 10.
SCAM multistage ejectors SCAM MULTI-STAGE EJECTORS without condensers are adopted
whenever lower residual pressures must be reached. These units are
often used when a low installation cost is considered more important
than a low running cost, e.g. when intermittent operation is required or
when cooling water is not available.

single stage ejector, Section Drawing

MOTIVE STEAM INLET

DRAIN

GAS SUCTION
1. Steam Chest 4. Gasket 7. Diffuser
2. Gasket 5. Nozzle
3. Suction Chamber 6. Gasket

MOTIVE STEAM INLET

MOTIVE STEAM INLET

GAS SUCTION

DRAIN
 In processes involving the use of ejectors in the more specific pharma-
ceutical and foodstuff fields include lyophilization, vacuum packaging,
fruit juice concentration as well as sugar and syrup production processes.
In most cases, the intaken fluid consists almost entirely of steam and the
term “thermocompression” is widely employed to define the ejector per-
formance; actually, the intaken steam undergoes a real compression at
the expenses of the motive steam.

Two-stage ejector with Condensers in a Single Body

 An interesting application of thermocompression occurs in compres-
sion-type sea water desalting units, where the “booster ejector” can
suitably replace the mechanical compressor.
The use of ejectors for the discharge of the incondensible substances
present in steam condensers is well known; a similar function is entrusted
to SCAM ejectors running in sea water desalting units for distillation
purposes.
In referring to this sort of application, it can be mentioned that since 1930
SCAM S.p.A. has been equipping more than 1,700 ships of all types and
nationalities with desalting units.

Single-stage hogging ejectors

Operating principle The ejector consists of four main components: the steam chest, the
nozzle, the suction chamber and the diffuser. During the operation, the
motive steam passes through the steam chest and enters the nozzle,
where its pressure decreases but its speed increases; at the nozzle
outlet, the steam reaches the minimum pressure and the maximum
velocity, that is supersonic. The so-accelerated steam jet enters the suc-
tion chamber, where there is the fluid to be evacuated, driving and push-
ing it into the diffuser.
There driving and pushing actions, usually comprised under the phe-
nomenon called “mixing”, occur mainly for two reasons: the formation of
a low pressure area, created by the jet coming out from the nozzle and
the large amount of motion present in the jet itself.

TOP LIMIT CURVE

Thermodynamic transformations inside an ejecting element on the

water steam enthalpy-entropy diagram

PRESSURE DIAGRAM SPEED DIAGRAM

MOTIVE STEAM

MIXTURE
INTAKEN
FLUID
MIXTURE MOTIVE STEAM
INTAKEN FLUID

NOZZLE MIXTURE DIFFUSER

MOTIVE STEAM

SUCTION
 Countless chemical and petrochemical plants adopt ejectors to maintain
the vacuum necessary for the development of processes such as frac-
tional distillation, crystallization, desiccation, deaeration, filtration,
impregnation, deodorization and many others.

Example of optimization curves for two-stage vacuum Mv1 = 1st stage motive steam consumption (Kg/h)
unit with surface inter-after condenser Mv2 = 2nd stage motive steam consumption (Kg/h)
Mv = Total motive steam consumption (Kg/h)
P2 = Intermediate absolute pressure of the unit (mbar)
S1 = Intercondenser surface (m2)
S2 = Aftercondenser surface (m2)
S = Total surface of condensers (m2)
Multistage ejectors with condensers SCAM MULTI-STAGE EJECTORS with condensers may be of
two or multistage type. The condensers placed between one
stage and the other are meant to condensate the steam coming
from the previous stage in order to reduce the quantity of intaken
fluid and, therefore, the motive steam consumption of the following
stage. The number of stages (max. 5-6) is fixed according to the
required operating performances.

Direct contact condenser for vacuum unit

Since 1930 SCAM has been designing and manufacturing:

• Steam jet ejectors • Heat exchangers

LinkDesign
• Booster ejectors • Refrigerating machines
• Vacuum pumps • Air, water and oil coolers
• Evaporating distilling plants • Air/air radiators
• Sea water desalting units • Natural, induced or forced draft

• Boiler feed water heating

cooling towers

and degassing units • Degassing towers

• Surface condensers • SCAMATIC self-cleaning fluid filters
• Direct contact condensers • Corrugated and oiled metal sheet air filters

Head Offices Workshop

SCAM S.p.A. SCAM S.p.A.
TORI N O Via Giolitti, 5 Corso Orbassano, 368/24
I-10121 Torino I-10137 Torino
Ph. +39 011 5622433 Ph. +39 011 3111665
Fax +39 011 5622833 Fax +39 011 3110134
web-site: www.scam-spa.it web-site: www.scam-spa.it
web-site: www.scam-spa.com web-site: www.scam-spa.com