PiEvap is a real-time simulator of a double-effect evaporator (DEE). Live steam drives the first effect at positive pressure, around 110 degrees C, and the vapour produced there drives a second effect under vacuum, around 60 degrees C, the defining feature that makes multi-effect evaporation one of the most energy-efficient unit operations in chemical engineering, because the same steam does duty twice. Built by PiControl Solutions, PiEvap lets a user operate feed, steam, cooling-water, inter-effect transfer, and product-drain valves and watch vessel temperatures, pressures, liquid levels, vapour rates, and steam economy respond at once, the feel of a real instrument panel rather than a static calculation.
Evaporator coursework usually stops at a single-effect heat-duty calculation. That calculation never explains why a plant would build a second effect at all, or how the second effect's vacuum sets its own boiling temperature and lets the same steam evaporate water twice. PiEvap closes that gap by putting the full two-effect system on screen, with per-effect and total steam economy calculated live from measured flows, so engineers and students build the intuition a single-effect textbook problem cannot provide.
The problem: Evaporation is one of the most common concentration operations in chemical engineering, and most students first meet it through a single-effect heat balance: one steam supply, one vapour product, one heat duty. That calculation never explains why real plants add a second effect, or how the second effect reuses the first effect's vapour as its own heat source. A training gap here touches nearly every multi-effect evaporator train a plant runs.
A single-effect heat balance produces one design point. It never shows why a second effect saves steam, or how the vacuum on the second effect sets its own boiling temperature. Engineers who can solve the textbook problem are often unprepared for how a real multi-effect train behaves.
The idea that the same steam evaporates water twice is easy to state and hard to internalize without watching per-effect and total steam economy calculated live from real flow measurements as the system runs.
A single-effect mental model breaks down on a multi-effect evaporator, where the second effect's vacuum sets its boiling point and its performance couples back to the first effect. Engineers who have only balanced a single effect can be caught off guard by that coupling.
PiEvap removes the structural problem: real-time two-effect response, live per-effect and total steam economy calculated directly from flow data, and dynamic models that behave like the actual evaporator train, not the single-effect design-point calculation. Engineers and students who train on PiEvap build intuition that a single-effect heat balance cannot provide.
PiEvap is built to be operated, logged, and analysed like real equipment, from valve control through data export.
Every instrument responds dynamically as feed, steam, or inter-effect valves are moved.
Reflects actual evaporator timing, so learners see how two-effect evaporation behaves under realistic dynamics, not textbook idealization.
Two temperatures, four pressures, four levels, and six flow rates covering the whole two-effect system.
Gives students the same read-and-react workflow a real evaporator operator uses.
Real-time trend charts for temperatures, pressures, levels, and flow rates, with zoom for startup and disturbance transients.
Lets students inspect how the second effect's vacuum and boiling temperature respond as conditions change, not just steady-state values.
Every variable logged with a timestamped header, for post-processing in Excel, MATLAB, or Python.
Lets students verify their own mass-balance and heat-duty calculations against the simulator's live data.
Heat-transfer coefficients, valve Cv values, heat-loss coefficients, and Antoine constants in a plain-text file.
Lets an instructor recalibrate the model or build a new operating scenario without touching source code.
Installs and runs entirely on a Windows PC, no cloud dependency, no DCS hardware.
Fits online teaching and virtual laboratories, wherever the student or engineer is located.
Per-effect and total steam economy calculated directly from measured condensate and feed flow rates.
Turns raw flow readings into the metric that actually measures multi-effect efficiency.
Evaporator and condenser heat duties computed from an IAPWS-validated latent-heat correlation.
Grounds every heat-duty number in a validated thermodynamic reference, not an approximation.
Process engineers and technicians use PiEvap to explore evaporator performance, steam-economy optimisation, and vacuum-system dynamics before making changes on real plant. Practicing on PiEvap lets engineers see how steam economy and heat duty respond to valve changes, without risking product concentration or energy usage on a real industrial process control system.
Engineering colleges and universities use PiEvap in courses and lab sessions covering heat transfer, mass transfer, and evaporation, particularly within chemical engineering. PiEvap replaces a single-effect heat-duty problem with hands-on simulator practice, letting students close real mass balances and calculate steam economy from live flow readings, with no physical equipment required.
PiEvap is part of PiControl's family of real-time process simulators, each built around a different loop or unit operation.
PiDistill simulates a continuous distillation column, another energy-intensive separation unit operation that pairs naturally with evaporator coursework.
PiCoolTower simulates a wet cooling tower using the same live psychrometric approach, a natural companion for a heat and mass transfer curriculum.
PiHEx simulates a shell-and-tube heat exchanger network, another heat-transfer unit operation students meet alongside evaporation.
Multi-effect evaporation is a common concentration and energy-recovery operation across the chemical and process industries.
Steam economy calculations, student exercises, and offline classroom use.
See PiEvap run in real time and watch two-effect evaporation and steam economy play out live. A PiControl engineer will demonstrate the simulator on scenarios relevant to your plant or curriculum, and discuss licensing options for your team.
