Lecture 12

ChE 333 1
Design Problem
Superheater for a Polymer Solution
1
Ethylene-propylene rubber (EPR) is polymerized in a solvent. The
product of the reaction is a 6% (by weight) solution of EPR in
perchloroethylene. The polymer is recovered as "crumbs" from a drum
dryer. Production capacity is limited by the capacity of the dryer. It is
believed that concentrating the feed to the dryer will provide the sufficient
increase in capacity.
Your problem is to specify the design of a superheater that would
heat the solution sufficiently so that upon flashing to atmospheric pressure
the solution is concentrated to at least 12%.
Task 1 Determine all the physical properties to use in this problem
heat capacities, densities, chemical activity as a function of concentration
Task 2 Write a computer program or spreadsheet to calculate the
prescribed pressure and temperature required at the end of the superheater
Task 3 Write a computer program or spreadsheet to calculate the size
of the heat exchanger.
Data
The production of rubber is 300lbs./hr or 0.0379 kg/hr
The feed temperature is 35C
Note: This is an open-ended problem with insufficient
information given for you to solve the problem. You have to find the data
and make a reasonable set of assumptions about the fluid to be used to
heat the rubber.

1
NOTE This is an open ended, somewhat poorly defined, problem.
Lecture 12
ChE 333 2
Heat Transfer Analysis in Pipe Flow
Consider the problem of flow in a long pipe of circular cross-section. The
inside diameter of the pipe is D and is maintained at a constant
temperature T
o
. The fluid flow through the pipe at a flow rate, Q.
The goal is to describe the average temperature as a function of distance in
the pipe.
MODEL
Energy balance
C
p
u
z
T
z
k
1
r

r
r
T
r


_
,
+

2
T
z
2



1
]
1
Momentum balance
0 =
p
z
+ u
1
r

_
,
r
u
z
r

Initial and Boundary conditions
at z = 0 T = T
i
for all r
at r = 0
T
r
=
u
z
r
= 0
at r = R T = T
R
; u
z
= 0
Lecture 12
ChE 333 3
Adimensionalization and Scaling
The convective heat transfer equation
C
p
u
z
T
z
k
1
r

r
r
T
r


_
,
+

2
T
z
2



1
]
1
can be scaled using a set of reference parameters

=
T T
R
T
1
T
R
; =
z
L
; =
r
R
; v =
u
z
v
The equation is

C
p
v v T
1
T
R
L

=
k T
1
T
R
R
2
1

+
R
2
L
2

2
which after some multiplication becomes

v

=
kL
C
p
v R
2
1

+
R
2
L
2

2
It follows that if R/L is amall then only the first term in the Laplacian is
important and the equation can be written ignoring axial heat conduction.
Lecture 12
ChE 333 4
The dimensional form of the equation is:
C
p
u
z
T
z
= k
1
r

_
,
r
T
r
along with the boundary and initial conditions
T = T
1
at z = 0
T = T
R
at r = R
T
r
= 0 at r = 0
We could solve for the temperature profile in detail, but it might be better if we
seek a solution for the average temperature by integrating over the crossection at
position z.

0
R
C
p
u
z
T
z
r dr =

_
,
r
T
r
dr
0
R
If the velocity field is independent of axial position, we can write
C
p

z
u
z
Tr dr k
0
R

r
T
r


1
]
0
R
kR
T
r
R
0
Examine an average temperature <T>, the mixing cup temperature, the
mean temprature of the fluid that leaves cross section at z = z

T =
u
z
T 2r dr
0
R
u
z
2r dr
0
R
=
u
z
T 2r dr
0
R
Q
Lecture 12
ChE 333 5
This last equation can be re-written as

u
z
Tr dr
0
R
=
Q
2
T
The integrated energy equation is :
C
p
d
dz
Q
2
T


1
]
kR
T
r
R
The material balance teaches us that
Q = w = constant
So that we can write:
wC
p
d T
dz
k2R
T
r
R
Recall that we can define a heat transfer coefficient by an expression such
as :
k
T
r
R
h T T
R
[ ]
and the equation for the mixing cup temperature is :
wC
p
d T
dz
Dh T
R
T [ ]
Lecture 12
ChE 333 6
This can be prepared for integration
2
:
d T
R
T ( )
T
R
T

Dh
wC
p
dz
The relation is integrated readily if h is not a function of z
3
T T
R
T
1
T
R
exp
Dhz
wC
p



_
,
exp 4St
z
D


_
,
The definition of the Stanton Number is :
St
h
C
p
U

Nu
RePr

Nu
Pe
where Pe = Re Pr
T
2
T
R
T
1
T
R
exp 4St
L
D


_
,
exp
DLh
wC
p



_
,


2
From here on, ,we drop the brackets on T<>T> for convenience and the experinced players
benefit!!!
3
We can still use the same relation for St = h/C
p
U where

h
1
L
hdz
0
L
Lecture 12
ChE 333 7
Other Ways of Defining and using Heat Transfer Coefficients
Q
H
= hA(T)
Questions
What is Q
H
and what is T
We know that an energy balance contains:
Q
H
= +wC
p
(T
1
T
2
)
We can rewrite as
T +
wC
p
T
1
T
2
( )
DLh
After integrating we find that

DLh
wC
p
ln
T
2
T
R
T
1
T
R
It follows that I can write
Q
H
= hA(T)
if the temperature difference is T
T
T
2
T
1
ln
T
2
T
R
T
1
T
R



_
,

T
1
T
2
ln
T
1
T
R
T
2
T
R



_
,

T
1
T
R
( ) T
2
T
R
( )
ln
T
1
T
R
T
2
T
R



_
,

T
ln