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Title: Reflux condensation of pure vapors with and without a noncondensable gas inside plain and enhanced tubes

Conference ·
OSTI ID:493383
 [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Seattle Univ., WA (United States)
  2. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

Estimates of the surface-area and vapor-release reductions are obtained when commercially available enhanced tubes (spirally ribbed) replace plain tubes in a reflux unit condensing pure organic vapors with different concentrations of a noncondensable gas. This investigation was undertaken because there are no existing data and/or prediction methods that are applicable for these shell-and-tube condensers commonly used in the process industries. To obtain these estimates, existing design methods published in the open literature were used. The major findings are that (1) surface-area reductions can almost approach the single-phase heat transfer enhancement level, and (2) vapor-release reductions can approach a factor of four. The important implication is that enhanced tubes appear to be very cost effective for addressing the recovery of volatile organic vapors (VOCs), and for a vast number of different reflux-condenser applications.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-31109-ENG-38
OSTI ID:
493383
Report Number(s):
ANL/ES/CP-93172; CONF-970824-6; ON: DE97052881; TRN: 97:004332
Resource Relation:
Conference: AICHE/ASME national heat transfer conference: current developments in numerical simulation of heat and mass transfer, Baltimore, MD (United States), 10-12 Aug 1997; Other Information: PBD: 1997
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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