Patent ID: 7517432

Claim:
A plant for concentration of tomato juice, said plant comprising: an evaporator provided with an external sleeve, in which a heating fluid circulates, and which surrounds a vertical tube bundle, said vertical tube bundle arranged in a central part of the evaporator and comprising tubes in which the tomato juice circulates, the tubes being divided into a plurality of sectors all operating at a same temperature and pressure and in which the tomato juice circulates in succession; an upper plate and a lower plate, which, together with the sleeve, delimit the central part, on which the upper plate and the lower plate ends of the tubes are keyed in so that the upper ends of the tubes open into an inlet zone of the evaporator in which the tomato juice is distributed, and the lower ends of the tubes open into a bottom zone which is a separation chamber of the evaporator; circulating members for removing the tomato juice from one of said plurality of sectors of the separating chamber and sending the tomato juice to an inlet zone of a successive one of said plurality of sectors; at least one heat exchanger arranged externally of the evaporator and divided into a plurality of sectors in each said sector the tomato juice exiting from the sector of tubes of the evaporator is heated to a same temperature as a temperature present in the central part of the evaporator, before being sent on to a successive sector.