Compact heat exchangers

Book · Mon Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1999

OSTI ID:687562

This report aims to increase the market penetration of compact heat exchangers (CHEs) in industry by detailing current experience of their use. CHEs are characterized by having a comparatively large amount of surface area in a given volume, compared to traditional heat exchangers, in particular the shell-and-tube type. The most basic CHEs have volumes of less than 50% of that of a comparable shell-and-tube heat exchanger, for a given duty. Some new designs can, under appropriate process conditions, have only 5% of the volume of traditional equivalents. An essential component of many of these compact concepts is heat (and mass) transfer enhancement. This report also details some of the main enhancement methods which are used in the implementation of compact systems. CHEs are of interest for a number of reasons. As well as being, in general, highly efficient, allowing greater amounts of energy to be recovered between process streams, they are more versatile in terms of the number of process streams that can be handled. Some CHEs can handle only two streams. Others can handle four or more with ease. That, coupled with the availability of units to cater for most operating temperatures and pressures, makes them of interest to operators of complex thermal processing plants. Of even greater long-term importance to the process industries is the ability to use CHE manufacturing technology to integrate effective heat transfer with other unit operations, such as reactors, in one unit. This radical approach to process plant design has fostered many exciting concepts for combined unit operations, some of which are discussed in this report. Topics covered are: types of CHE; (2) the role of heat transfer enhancement; (3) benefits and perceived limitations of CHEs; (4) costs; (5) fouling; (6) specification, installation and operating procedures; (7) the new opportunities; and (8) conclusions.

• OSTI ID: 687562
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
AUGMENTATION
DESIGN
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
FOULING
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER
INSTALLATION
MARKET
MASS TRANSFER
OPERATION
SIZE
USES