Changing mercerising

waste water into money

Caustic recovery for mercerising lye
The Körting
Caustic Recovery Plant (CRP)
During the mercerising process the diluted caustic soda (weak lye) from
the stabilisation compartment is normally drained. Körting has found a way
to recover this diluted caustic soda by evapo­rating water. We have been
supplying Caustic Recovery Plants (CRP) for mercerising lye to the textile
industry since 1956 and have installed around 200 plants world-wide.

As shown in the sketch, the CRP sepa- the mercerising or bleaching machine,
rates the weak lye (washing liquid) into or in other pre-treatment. The CRP re-
strong lye and vapour condensate. The quires heating steam and cooling water.
strong lye (recovered lye) can be reused Almost the same amount of steam which
at the mercerising machine. is used for the recovery of the merceris-
ing lye can be saved in the hot water
Depending on the quality of the fabrics generation. This hot water generation is
an additional lye cleaning with hydrogen a by-product in which the cooling water
peroxide might be advisable. Körting has is heated up to 60 °C to 85 °C. The CRP
developed a lye cleaning system with is very energy efficient, especially when
peroxide to ensure that the recovered lye hot water generation is integrated in the
can meet the high quality standards of a central hot water system.
modern production. The vapour conden-
sate is slightly alkaline soft water without There is no direct contact between the
any hardness. heating steam and the lye, therefore the
heating steam condensate can be reused
It has a temperature of approximately as boiler feed water without additional
90 °C. It can be used for washing, e.g. in treatment.

Mercerising machine water acid water

fabrics fabrics
impregnation stabilisation washing neutralisation rinsing

fresh lye weak lye/ washing liquid

Körting CRP
strong lye/
recovered lye vapour condensate
for other uses

heating steam cooling water in

pure condensate cooling water out (hot water)

back to boiler house to central hot water tank
 Payback time:
n e y ear!
Example L e s s t h a n o

Fabrics for dry mercerising: 50 000 m/day, width = 2.0 m, specific weight =
150... 250 g/m2 (average 200 g/m2 = 0.2 kg/m2). The mercerising machine is
in operation for 20 hours a day.

50 000 m/day
Quantity of fabrics = x 2.0 m x 0.2 kg/m2 = 1 000 kg/h
20 h/day

1 000 kg/h dry fabrics are processed every hour. As a rule of thumb you can
calculate with 5 to 6 litres of weak lye per kg of fabrics. With 5.0 litres you get
5 000 l/h with approximately 8° Bé = 55 g/l.

l g kg
5 000 x 55 = 275 (100 % NaOH)
h l h

With the price of caustic soda equalling 0.30 € per kg and a production time
of 20 h/day, 25 days/month, wastage would amount to:

kg € h days month €
275 x 0.30 x 20 x 25 x 12 = 495 000
h kg day month year year

The savings of 495 000 €/year are just for caustic soda. Other savings are
in the neutralisation process, the waste water rates, waste water treatment
and the generation of soft water for rinsing. These costs can also be reduced
considerably by our Caustic Recovery Plant.

Advantages
· Payback-time is less than one year!
· no alkaline waste water from mercerising machine
· generation of hot water from the waste energy
· generation of soft water, the vapour condensate is
slightly alkaline
· recovery of surplus lye for wet-on-wet mercerising
· no contamination of the heating steam
· environmental protection: less chemicals for
neutralisation are needed
continuous
self-cleaning
weak lye filter

swirl generator in each

separator for low pH-value
of vapour condensate

control cabinet with PLC and touch

panel for automatic operation
lye cleaning system for effective
cleaning of recovered lye to ensure
a constant quality of the lye and
hot water up to 85 °C
therefore of the fabrics

membrane pump peroxide can be delivered

for hydrogen with forklift, it is sucked
peroxide into the lye cleaning system
Operating method
of the evaporation plant
The weak lye is reconcentrated by water The separated lye flows back to the eva­
evaporation. The CRP is based on the natu- po­rator through a return pipe. A swirl droplet
ral circulation evaporation. The heating steam separator integrated into the separator
is condensed on the outside of the tubes prevents the alkaline liquid from being carried
and heats the lye inside. The lye boils up in over into the vapour phase.
the heating tubes, the mixture of lye and va-
pour flows into the laterally arranged separa- The evaporation plant is driven by the
tor, where the vapour is separated from the pressure gradient between the stages.
circulating lye. The vapour is used as heat- The highest pressure is in the first stage.
ing steam in the next stage. A partial vapour The last stage operates under a vacuum
flow is used to preheat the weak lye. maintained by a steam jet vacuum ejector (v)

Multi-stage evaporation plant

one stage with a pre-heater
for weak lye
separator

evaporator
vapour
lye + vapour
lye
heating steam vapour to
(or vapour from next stage
previous stage) (or condenser)
vapour for pre-heating
circulating lye

boiling lye

condensate
reconcentrated lye

pre-heater

weak lye for recovery

with an after-condenser (ac), or by a liquid water becomes hot water by utilising waste
ring vacuum pump. In the first stage (1) live heat from the last stage.
steam generates vapour which flows as
heating steam into the second stage (2). The more stages a system has, the less heat-
The heating steam condensate from the first ing steam is required. As textile factories need
stage flows back to the boiler. large quantities of hot water, the number of
stages of the CRP should be adapted to the
The vapour from the second stage heats required amount of hot water. Sometimes a
the third stage (3). The vapour from the last 3-stage evaporation plant is more economi-
stage (here the 3rd stage) is condensed with cal than a 4-stage one.
cooling water in condenser (c). So cooling

3-stage Caustic Recovery Plant (CRP)

with two pre-heaters (p1) and (p2) and a steam jet vacuum ejector (v) with after-condenser (ac)

heating (c)
steam

(1) (2) (3)

(v)
(ac)

air

(p1) (p2) hot water

vapour
condensate
pure
weak lye (i.e. 8° Bé)
condensate
strong lye (i.e. 40° Bé) cooling water

fresh steam heats 1st stage lye concentration during recovery

vapour 1st stage heats 2nd stage

8° Bé 40° Bé
vapour 2nd stage heats 3rd stage

vapour 3rd stage for hot water generation

Lye cleaning system
with peroxide
The lye is reconcentrated by a multi-stage gen peroxide (H2O2) based on the reliable
water evaporation process. As only water is Körting ejector technology. The recovered
removed from the weak lye during evapora- lye from the CRP is cooled down before it
tion, dirt, fibres and size residue from the enters the settling tank through the mixing
earlier treatment remain in the recovered lye and dosing ejector as shown in the figure
and are also reconcentrated. The level of below. In this ejector, per­oxide is added to
pollution depends on the quality of the fabrics the lye and creates fine gas bubbles. The
which are mercerised. In order to remove 3-phase mixture of strong lye, solid dirt
these impurities from the recycled lye, Körting particles and finely dispersed gas bubbles
developed a lye cleaning system with hydro­ passes into the settling tank.

Please take note:

Peroxide dosing system The lye cleaning system
does NOT replace a proper
Körting lye cleaning system consisting washing and desizing
of peroxide dosing system, scraper and of the fabrics before the
settling tank mercerising machine.

scraper

peroxide inlet
(H2O2 50%)
control
unit
floating
sludge
(foam + dirt)

cleaned lye
outlet to
strong lye
tank
settling tank
Körting mixing and
dosing ejector

sample
cooling water outlet
cooling water inlet

sample

recovered
lye inlet
from CRP heavy dirt
Because of the small gas bubbles a large Bleaching and washing of the fabrics before
phase interface for mass transfer and oxida­ mercerisation is the best way to ensure a
tion is generated. The gas bubbles are clean lye. Filters at the circulation pumps of
formed by thermal decomposition of the per- the mercerising machine are recommended.
oxide and chemical reactions on the surface
of the reactive impurities. Most dyes will be destroyed by the peroxide.
To check the effect on a specific lye, a simple
The consumption of peroxide (50 % H2O2) is test can be done in the lab. To get the detailed
approximately 0.25 - 1.5 vol.-% of the strong manual of this test please contact us.
lye flow depen­ding on the quality of the lye.

Strong lye before lye cleaning Strong lye after lye cleaning

The lye cleaning system consists of three main parts:

Peroxide dosing system: It consists of a specially developed mixing-and-dosing-ejector, peroxide
storage tank and lye cooler. There is no moving part in the dosing system,
therefore it is maintenance-free.

Settling tank: In the settling tank the separation of lye and dirt can take place without any
disturbance. The tank is designed in such a way that floating sludge and
sludge on the bottom can be removed easily.

Automatic scraper: The automatic scraper ensures a constant removal of the floating sludge
before it sinks back into the recovered lye.

The peroxide has the following effects on the lye:

Flotation: The majority of dirt particles mixed with bubbles rise to the surface
(flotation) and form a foam layer. Non-reactive particles attach themselves
to rising gas bubbles (physical adhesion), so that they are part of the foam
layer as well. The foam layer or the floating sludge is removed regularly by an
automatic scraper.

Sedimentation: Other dirt particles with higher density, partly agglomerated, sink to the
ground. This is improved by the peroxide treatment, which reduces lye
viscosity, by destroying the starch residuals from sizing. Therefore the
separation of dirt can take place successfully.

Bleaching: The peroxide bleaches the dirt and dye particles. The colour of the lye
is much brighter after the peroxide treatment.
Körting Hannover AG
Badenstedter Straße 56
30453 Hannover
Germany

Tel.: +49 511 2129-359

Fax: +49 511 2129-223

st@koerting.de
270-Caustic Recovery-EN-171127

www.koerting.de