TOCE – Module III

Heat Exchanger
• Heat exchanger is an equipment used to transfer heat from one media to another.
• There can be two or more fluids involved in the process of exchange. Due to temperature
gradient heat flows from the hotter fluid to the colder one.
• The rate of heat exchange between the hot and cold fluid is dependent on the physical
properties of fluid, flow rates, temperature and by the surface separating the two streams.
• In industrial application this above fundamental is used in many different arrangements
with variation to serve the purpose. Heat exchangers can be classified according to transfer
process, no of fluids involved in process, fluid phases involved, according to exchanger
construction, according to fluid flow path arrangements inside exchangers and many more.
Heat
Exchanger
Classification according to transfer process:
• Indirect contact type:
In an indirect type heat exchanger the fluids which are involved in heat transfer do it through
a separating wall, they do not mix with each other Eg: a shell and tube heat exchanger where
heat transfer takes place through tube wall.
This can be further divided into
• Direct transfer type:
Those exchangers in which the heat transfer between fluids takes place directly through a
separating wall (for e.g tube/pipe wall) is called a direct transfer type or simply a
recuperators. Here the fluids do not mix with each other, there is a continuous flow of heat
from hot fluid to cold fluid and there are no moving parts.
Example- shell & tube heat exchanger, tubular heat exchanger, plate heat exchangers.
 Heat
•Exchanger
Storage type:
In the regenerators, the hot and cold fluids flow alternatively through a solid matrix of high
heat capacity. When the hot fluid flows through the matrix in an interval of time, heat is
transferred from the fluid to the matrix, which stores it in the form of an increase in its
internal energy. This stored energy is then transferred to the cold fluid as it flows through the
matrix in the next interval of time.
 Heat
•Exchanger
Direct contact type:
In direct contact type heat exchangers the two fluids are not separated by the wall and come
into direct contact, exchange heat and are then separated.
As there is no extra wall or barrier for heat transfer, closer temperatures are attained. Very
often this heat transfer is accompanied by mass transfer.
Example- cooling towers, scrubbers etc.
Classification according to flow arrangement:
• Parallel flow: Here both fluids enter at the same end, flow parallel to each other in the
same direction and leave at the other end.
• Counter flow: Here both fluids flow parallel to each other but in opposite direction. This is
the most efficient flow arrangement among others in single pass arrangement with same
parameter.
Heat
Exchanger
 Heat
•Exchanger
Classification according to pass arrangement:
Single pass:
Here the fluid flows through the heat exchanger along its length once.
Multi pass:
Here the fluid flows through the heat exchanger along its length and then it’s reversed to flow
again through the whole length again. In multi pass arrangements the flow can pass along the
length of heat exchanger 2 or more times. Multi pass arrangements are used when design of
heat exchanger results in extreme length, significantly low velocities or low effectiveness.
Heat
Exchanger
 Heat
•Exchanger
Classification according to phase of fluid:
Gas-Liquid:
Gas liquid heat exchangers are mostly tube-fin type heat exchangers. The air cools the fins
and tubes through which the liquid is flowing just like a radiator.
Liquid-Liquid:
Liquid- liquid exchangers are either shell & tube type or plate type heat exchangers and very
common in process applications.
Gas – Gas:
The transfer of heat from one process gas to another process gas is done in gas-gas heat
exchanger.
Heat
Exchanger
• Heat exchangers are also classified according to process function and usage in
petrochemical industries as stated below.
Exchanger:
Heats one stream and cools the other. There is no heat loss or physical change in either of the
flowing media.
Cooler:
Cools liquid or gases without condensation, by transferring heat to cooling water, atmosphere
and other medias.
Condenser:
It condenses vapour or vapour mixture by transferring heat to cooling water, atmosphere and
other Medias. Condensers are used for efficient heat transfer during phase change from gas
to liquid.
Heat
Exchanger
Chiller:
It uses refrigerant to cool a process stream below the freezing point or below the cooling
water temperature available in plant.
Heater:
Heaters generally heats up the process fluid up to its boiling point without much of the
vaporization. The heating process can be accomplished by steam, or hot oils.
Reboiler:
It is generally used in bottom of towers for fractionation process. The reboiler takes the colder
fluid from the bottom of the tower, re-boils it and sends it back to the tower for further.
Waste heat boiler:
It uses heat from exhaust gases of gas turbines that would have been otherwise wasted, to
generate steam.
Heat
Exchanger
Steam generator:
It uses heat of the process fluid to produce steam.
Vaporizer:
It vaporizes parts of process liquid just like an evaporator.
Evaporator:
Evaporator is used to concentrate the solutes within a solution by adding heat and vaporizing
a portion of the liquid solution.
 Heat
•Exchanger
Heat exchangers can be classified according to its construction as stated below.
- Shell and tube heat exchangers
- Plate heat exchangers
- Spiral heat exchangers
- Double pipe heat exchangers
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Cont’d…
• Shell: its an enclosure and passage of the shell side fluid. It has a circular cross section and
is made by rolling a metal plate of suitable dimensions into a cylinder and welding along its
length. The selection of material for the shell depends upon the corrosiveness of the fluid
and the working temperature and pressure. Carbon steel is a common material for the shell
under moderate working conditions.
• Tubes: Tubes provide the heat transfer area. One of the fluids flows through the tube side
and other flows through the shell side. The fluids are brought in to thermal contact through
the tube wall. Low carbon steel, stainless steel, copper, brass, aluminium etc are used as
material for tubes. The choice of material is depends upon the applications.
Tubes of 19mm and 25mm diameter are commonly used than larger tubes of 1-1/4
inch and 1-1/2 inch size. Narrower tubes may be used in small heat exchangers working with
clean fluids.
The selection of wall thickness depends mainly on three factors (i) max operating
pressure (ii) corrosion characteristics of both tube and shell side fluids (iii) thinning of the
tube wall during bending when a U tube heat exchanger is used.
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Cont’d…
The length of the tubes is chosen during design depending upon factors such as heat load,
rooms available for installation.
Tubes are generally arranged in a triangular pitch or square pitch. Tube pitch is centre – centre
distance of two adjacent tubes, should not be less than 1.25 times the tube diameter.
A square pitch arrangement allows easy cleaning of the outer surface of the fouled or scaled
tubes by using brushes.
• Tube sheets: It’s a circular, thick metal plates which holds the tubes at the ends. Fixed tube heads/
fixed tube sheets are shown in the figure. Here the tube sheets are welded to the shell at the
ends. Tubes are inserted into the holes of the two tube sheets. Perfect alignment of the holes is
required.
The diameter of the holes is made slightly larger than tube diameter. The arrangement of the
tubes on a tube sheet in a suitable pitch is called tube sheet layout.
Low carbon steel tubes are used in non corrosive services. Sometimes a thin layer of corrosion
resistant alloy is metallurgically bonded to a low carbon steel tube sheet.
The cluster of tubes so fixed into the tube sheets is called a tube bundle.
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Cont’d…
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Cont’d…
• Bonnet and Channel: Both the tube sheets of STHx’s should have closures or heads. This
closure is called bonnet or channel depending on its shape and construction. A bonnet as
an integral cover, a channel closure as a removable cover. The space inside a closure is
occupied by the tube side fluid.
Bonnet closure consists of short cylindrical section with a bonnet welded at one end
and a flange welded at other end. Bonnet – tube sheet connection – gaskets – leak proof.
Pieces of pipes of suitable diameter called nozzles are welded to the channels and
serve as the inlet and outlet for the tube side fluids.
• Pass partition plate: Pass partitions are required in channels of heat exchangers with
multiple tube passes. The pass partition plates direct the tube side fluid through multiple
passes. The number of tube side passes is normally less than eight.
Most heat exchangers with large tube side volumetric gas flow rates have a single tube
pass.
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Cont’d…
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Cont’d…
• Nozzles and Impingement: For shell side nozzles the ρv 2
should not be greater than about
9000 in kg/m·s . For tube side nozzles the maximum ρv should not exceed 2230 kg/m·s2 for
2 2

noncorrosive, nonabrasive single phase fluids and 740 kg/m·s2 for other fluids.
Impingement protection is always required for gases which are corrosive or abrasive,
saturated vapors and two phases mixtures. Shell or bundle entrance or exit areas should be
designed such that a ρv2 of 5950 kg/m·s2 is not exceeded.
• Baffles: Baffles are installed on the shell side to give a higher heat-transfer rate due to
increased turbulence and to support the tubes thus reducing the chance of damage due to
vibration. There are a number of different baffle types, which support the tubes and
promote flow across the tubes.
The center-to-center distance between baffles is called the baffle-pitch and this can
be adjusted to vary the crossflow velocity.
In order to allow the fluid to flow backwards and forwards across the tubes part of the
baffle is cut away. The height of this part is referred to as the baffle-cut and is measured as a
percentage of the shell diameter, e.g., 25 per cent baffle-cut.
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Cont’d…
baffle arrangements:
• Single Segmental (this is the most common),
• Double Segmental (this is used to obtain a lower shell side velocity and pressure drop),
• Disc and Doughnut.
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Cont’d…
• Tie rods and baffle spacers: Tie rods and spacers are used to hold the tube bundle together
and to locate the shell baffles in the correct position. Tie rods are circular metal rods
screwed into the stationary tube sheet. The number of tie rods depends on shell diameter
and is specified, by TEMA.
• Flanges and Gaskets: Three types of flanges are found in shell and tube exchangers,
namely, Girth flanges for the shell and channel barrels; internal flanges in the floating head
exchanger to allow disassembly of the internals and removal of the tube bundle; and nozzle
flanges where the flange and gasket standards, the size and pressure rating will be set by
the line specification.
A flange consists of three subcomponents: the flange ring, the gasket and the
bolting. The gasket is a key component in a flange assembly. The gasket is contained in a
flange facing.
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Cont’d…
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Cont’d…
• Expansion Joints: An expansion joint is a specially-designed component of compact
dimensions that allows differential movement between two adjacent components and
maintains the pressure envelope.
More common are the metallic expansion bellows used in the shell of fixed tube sheet
exchangers or at the floating end of single-pass floating head exchangers.
Applications-
STHx’s
• The shell-and-tube heat exchanger is by far the most common type of heat exchanger used
in industry. It can be fabricated from a wide range of materials both metallic and non-
metallic. Design pressures range from full vacuum to 6,000 psi. Design temperatures range
from -250oC to 800oC. Shell-and-tube heat exchangers can be used in almost all process
heat transfer applications.
• The shell-and-tube design is more rugged than other types of heat exchangers.
• Typical applications include condensers, reboilers and process heaters and
coolers. C:\Users\HP\OneDrive\Desktop\Shell & tube Heat Exchanger
Animation.mp4
Fouling
factor
• Fouling is generally defined as the deposition and accumulation of unwanted materials such
as scale, algae, suspended solids and insoluble salts on the internal or external
surfaces of processing equipment including boilers and heat exchangers.
• Fouling on process equipment surfaces can have a significant, negative impact on the
operational efficiency of the unit.
• Deposition of any undesired material on heat transfer surfaces is called fouling, and the
heat transfer resistance offered by the deposit is called the fouling factor or dirt factor
commonly denoted by Rf.
• Fouling increases the overall thermal resistance and lowers the overall heat transfer
coefficient.
• The fouling factor is zero for new heat exchanger.
Overall heat transfer Coefficient
• In industry, heat transfer problems are usually resolved for composite materials or systems
with different layers which involve different modes of heat transfer such as conduction,
convection, and radiation. The thermal resistance that is offered by the different layers in
a system is referred to as the Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient. It is also known as the U-
factor.
• The U-factor that is used in calculating overall heat transfer is analogous to the convection
heat transfer coefficient used in Newton’s law of cooling. The overall heat transfer
coefficient is dependent on the geometry of the object or surface.
• The overall heat transfer coefficient of the wall is taken to be a sum of the convective heat
transfer coefficient and the conductive heat transfer coefficient.
• In short, the overall heat transfer coefficient is the summation of the individual heat
transfer coefficient.
• In industrial applications, it is essential to know the overall heat transfer coefficient,
especially in cases where the heat transfer rate needs to be optimized for better
performance of a system. To calculate the heat transfer rate Q(dot) for any system with
different fluids or different layers, it is essential to know the overall heat transfer
coefficient.
Overall heat transfer Coefficient Cont’d…
• The overall heat transfer coefficient is influenced by the thickness and thermal conductivity
of the mediums through which heat is transferred. The larger the coefficient, the easier
heat is transferred from its source to the product being heated. In a heat exchanger, the
relationship between the overall heat transfer coefficient (U) and the heat transfer rate (Q)
can be demonstrated by the following equation:

where
Q = heat transfer rate, W=J/s
A = heat transfer surface area, m2
U = overall heat transfer coefficient, W/(m2°C)
ΔTLM = logarithmic mean temperature difference, °C
Log Mean Temperature Difference(LMTD)
• The log mean temperature difference (LMTD) is used to determine the temperature driving
force for heat transfer in flow systems, most notably in heat exchangers. The LMTD is a
logarithmic average of the temperature difference between the hot and cold streams at
each end of the exchanger. The larger the LMTD, the more heat is transferred.
• For heat exchanger that has two ends (which we call “A” and “B”) at which the hot and cold
streams enter or exit on either side, the LMTD is defined as:
Log Mean Temperature Difference(LMTD) Cont’d…
• Consider a parallel-flow heat exchanger, which is used to cool oil from 70°C to 40°C using
water available at 30°C. The outlet temperature of the water is 36°C. The rate of flow of oil
is 1 kg/s. The specific heat of the oil is 2.2 kJ/kg K. The overall heat transfer coefficient U =
200 W/m2 K. Calculate the logarithmic mean temperature difference. Determine the area
of this heat exchanger required for this performance.
Overall heat transfer Coefficient
Cont’d…
Overall heat transfer Coefficient
Cont’d…
Overall heat transfer Coefficient
Cont’d…
 EVAPORATORS

Evaporators are a type of industrial equipment used to separate a liquid from a solid or another liquid by converting the
liquid to vapor and removing it from the mixture. This process is known as evaporation.

Industrial evaporators are used in a wide range of industries, including food and beverage processing, pharmaceuticals,
chemicals, and wastewater treatment. They are used for concentration, purification, and drying of various products.

Natural evaporator

Natural evaporators, also known as natural circulation evaporators, are a type of falling film evaporator that rely on gravity
to move the liquid down a heated surface. The liquid is fed into the top of the evaporator, where it flows down a vertical
tube or vessel in a thin film, and is heated by a heat source, such as steam or hot water, on the outside of the tube. As the
liquid flows down, it evaporates, and the vapor is removed from the top of the evaporator. The concentrated liquid is
collected at the bottom and removed periodically. Natural evaporators are commonly used for concentrating heat-
sensitive solutions and are relatively simple and economical to operate.
Construction

Natural evaporators, also known as natural circulation evaporators, are a type of falling film evaporator used for the
concentration of liquid solutions. The construction of a natural evaporator typically includes the following components:

1. Vertical tube or vessel: This is the main body of the evaporator, where the liquid to be concentrated is fed in at the top
and flows down in a thin film. The tube or vessel is usually made of stainless steel or other corrosion-resistant materials.
2. Heating surface: The heating surface is located on the outside of the tube or vessel and is used to transfer heat to the
liquid. The heat source is typically steam or hot water, which is circulated through the heating surface. The heating
surface is designed to ensure efficient heat transfer and to prevent fouling or scaling.
3. Vapor separator: The vapor separator is located at the top of the evaporator and is used to separate the vapor from the
liquid. The vapor is removed from the evaporator and can be condensed and collected as a product or sent to another
process.
4. Condenser: The condenser is used to condense the vapor into a liquid product. The condenser can be located inside or
outside the evaporator and can use various cooling media, such as water or air.
5. Liquid outlet: The concentrated liquid is collected at the bottom of the evaporator and removed periodically through a
liquid outlet.
 Natural evaporators operate using gravity, as the liquid flows down the heated surface in a thin film, and the vapor rises
and is removed from the top of the evaporator. The evaporation process is continuous, and the concentration of the
liquid increases as it flows down the tube or vessel. Proper design, operation, and maintenance are essential to ensure
optimal performance and prevent fouling or scaling of the heating surface.

Short vertical type evaporator

Short vertical type evaporators, also known as calandria evaporators, consist of a vertical vessel with a central heating tube
or calandria, which is immersed in the liquid to be concentrated. The liquid is heated by the calandria, and the vapor is
removed from the top of the vessel. The concentrated liquid is collected at the bottom and removed periodically. Short
vertical type evaporators are commonly used for concentrating viscous solutions, such as syrups and juices, and for
producing high-concentration products. They are more efficient than natural evaporators but are more complex and
expensive to operate.

Construction
Short vertical type evaporators, also known as calandria evaporators, are a type of evaporator used for the concentration of
liquid solutions. The construction of a short vertical type evaporator typically includes the following components:

1. Vertical vessel: This is the main body of the evaporator, where the liquid to be concentrated is fed in at the top and
 flows down around the central heating tube or calandria. The vessel is usually made of stainless steel or other
corrosion-resistant materials
2. Calandria or central heating tube: The calandria is a vertical tube or bundle of tubes that is immersed in the liquid to
be concentrated. The heating source is usually steam, which is circulated through the calandria. The calandria is
designed to ensure efficient heat transfer and to prevent fouling or scaling
3. Vapor separator: The vapor separator is located at the top of the vessel and is used to separate the vapor from the
liquid. The vapor is removed from the evaporator and can be condensed and collected as a product or sent to
another process
4. Condenser: The condenser is used to condense the vapor into a liquid product. The condenser can be located inside
or outside the evaporator and can use various cooling media, such as water or air
5. Liquid outlet: The concentrated liquid is collected at the bottom of the evaporator and removed periodically through
a liquid outlet

Short vertical type evaporators operate by heating the liquid in the vessel through the calandria, which causes the liquid
to evaporate and the vapor to rise and be removed from the evaporator. As the liquid becomes more concentrated, it
becomes more viscous and can form a film around the calandria, which reduces heat transfer and can lead to fouling or
scaling. To prevent this, short vertical type evaporators are equipped with agitators, which continuously mix the liquid and
prevent the formation of a film.

Proper design, operation, and maintenance are essential to ensure optimal performance and prevent fouling or scaling of
the heating surface. Short vertical type evaporators are commonly used for concentrating viscous solutions, such as syrups
and juices, and for producing high-concentration products.