Heat Transfer Operations

• How to heat/cool fluids (gas/liquid) in a plant?

• What are HT equipment? How do they look?
)How many types? Advantages & disadvantages?
)How do they operate? How much heat transfer?
)How to select & design (size or specify) them?
• Useful references
)Process heat transfer, McGraw Hill, 1964, by DQ Kern
)Perry’s handbook, McGraw Hill.
)A guide to ChE process design & economics, John Wiley,
1984, by GD Ulrich
)Process design principles, John Wiley, 1999 by WD Seider,
JD Seader, DR Lewin

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 Select Process Utilities for Various Ts
• Media external to process vs. process fluid
• Refrigerants: –60 - 5 C
)Freon, ammonia, methane, ethane, ethylene, CO2, etc.
)How do we use them? Recall refrigeration cycle?
• Brine or chilled water: 5 - 10 C (e.g. NaCl solution)
)Any liquid cooled by a refrigerant and used as a cooling agent
• Cooling water (CW) & air: 20 - 40 C
)Natural water (sea, pond, river) at 20-30 C, discharge 45 C
)Closed-circuit CW at 40 C, discharge at 50-60 C is air-cooled
)Cooling tower CW at 30 C, discharge 45 C max (Why?)
• Process steam: 100 - 300 C
)High P (HP): 45 bar, 400 C (Superheated)
)Medium-High P (MHP): 33 bar, 239 C (Saturated)
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 Select Process Utilities for Various Ts
)Medium P (MP): 17 bar, 204 C (Saturated)
)Medium-Low P (MLP): 9 bar, 175 C (Saturated)
)Low P (LP): 4.5 bar, 148 C (Saturated)
• HT oils or heavy oils: 250 - 400 C
)Dowtherm A, Dowtherm E, mineral oil, silicon oil, etc.
)Stable, noncorrosive, low vapor pressure fluids
• Liquid metals, molten salts (Why?): 250 - 600 C
)Sodium, potassium, mercury, alkali nitrates, etc.
)No appreciable vapor pressure
• Boiler feed water (BFW) or demineralized water
(DMW): 100 - 300 C
)30-40 ppm solids for BFW, 320 ppm solids for cooling tower
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 Three Types of HT Equipment
• Direct fired equipment burn fuel, generate hot flue gas &
use the gas to heat
)Coal, heavy oil, natural gas, solid waste, etc.
)Boiler produces steam at different levels from BFW
)Furnace heats or vaporizes a process fluid to high T
• Indirect fired equipment burn fuel, use hot flue gas to
heat a thermal fluid, which in turn heats the process fluid
)Dowtherm, mineral oil, liquid metals, etc.
• Unfired equipment do not burn fuel, but heat or cool via
a process fluid or utility
)With phase change: Change sensible & latent heat contents
)Without phase change: Change sensible heat content only
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 Two Types of Unfired HT Equipment
• Unfired equipment without phase change
)Cooler cools by indirect HT using CW or air
)Cooling tower cools hot CW by direct air contact
)Chiller cools by brine or refrigerant
)Heater heats by a process utility (steam / oil)
)Exchanger exchanges heat between two process fluids
• Unfired equipment with phase change
)Condenser liquefies a vapor (Total vs. partial)
)Vaporizer vaporizes a liquid other than water (e.g. reboiler)
)Evaporator concentrates a solution by evaporating water
)Waste heat boiler (WHB) produces steam by evaporating
BFW

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 Specification of HT Equipment
• Total HT rate or heat duty Q (J/s or Btu/h)
• Total HT area A (m2 or ft2)
• HT media and/or process fluids
)Operating conditions (inlet/outlet T & P)
• Equipment type, size, material, mechanical details
)Travel paths of hot and cold fluids
• Sufficient for preliminary cost estimation
• Rating (vs. Design): Given a HT equipment, analyze its
performance for a given application
)Identify outlet fluid temperatures & pressures
)Simulation vs. design

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 Steps in Designing a HT Equipment
• Primary goal: Find HT area A across which heat
transfers in the equipment
• Step 1: Total heat duty Q (W or Btu/h)
)Steady state rate of total heat transfer between streams
• Step 2: Select equipment type, assign fluid paths
• Step 3: Overall temperature driving force ΔT (K or F)
)Average ΔT between streams, which varies with fluid contact
pattern and temperature profiles
• Step 4: Overall HT coefficient U (W/m2-K)
)Coefficient measuring the rate of heat transfer as a function of
fluid flows and properties
• Step 5: Compute HT area A (m2) = Q / [U ΔT]
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 Step 1: Compute Heat Duty Q
• FIX inlet and outlet temperatures of streams
)Problem specifies or use thumb rules (CW 30-45 C, 40-60 C)
)Select appropriate for economic design
• Overall energy balance (No heat loss or gain)
Hot Fluid
Tha HT Thb
Tcb Equipment Tca
Cold Fluid
General: Q = mh(Hha – Hhb) = mc(Hcb – Hca)
No phase change: Q = mhcph(Tha – Thb) = mccpc(Tcb – Tca)

Step 2: Select equipment type: Four main types of HE

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 Double Pipe Exchanger (DPE)
• Simplest, but large & cumbersome heat exchanger
)Two long, concentric pipes; one (the inner pipe) inside the
other (the outer pipe)
)One fluid flows in the inner pipe, the other in the outer
)Heat transfers across the wall of inner pipe.
)Counter (countercurrent): Fluids flow in opposite directions
)Parallel (cocurrent): Fluids flow in the same direction
)Heat transfer A < 10 m2, P < 1000 bar, T < 150 C
Outer Pipe
Annulus Outside Fluid HT

Inside Fluid
Outside Fluid
Inner Pipe
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Double Pipe Exchanger (DPE)

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 Shell & Tube (S&T) Heat Exchanger
• The most common, very compact heat exchanger
)Outer pipe of DPE becomes shell and a bundle of small tubes
replaces the inner pipe
)Double pipe exchanger is a special case of S&T HE
)One fluid flows in the tubes, the other in the shell
)Heat transfers across tube walls
)A < 1000 m2, P < 140 bar, T < 350 C
)Larger area, lower cost per unit area, but lower pressure
)Wide variety of types, configurations & sizes

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Shell & Tube Exchanger (S&T)

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 Plate HE & Air Cooler (Fin-Fan)
• Plate & Frame HE (resembles a plate & frame filter)
)Fluids flow between large, parallel, corrugated, flat plates
)Heat transfers across plates and high HT coefficients possible
for viscous, corrosive, fouling fluids
)Widely used in food processing
)A < 1500 m2, P < 20 bar, T < 260 C
• Air cooled exchanger (e.g. car radiator)
)Industrial units are huge, attractive if CW is scarce & costly
)Banks of tubes with external fins, fans blow air perpendicular
to tubes (cross flow pattern)
)Hot fluid in tubes, heat transfers across tube walls to air
)A < 2000 m2, P < 140 atm, T < 260 C

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Flat Plate Heat Exchanger

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Air Cooled Exchanger

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 Stpes 3 & 4: Overall ΔT & U
• Most HEs use indirect HT across metal (tube) wall
• Small tube element of length Δx with rate of HT = dq
)Cold fluid inside with bulk T = Tc, hot fluid outside with bulk
T = Th
)How many resistances for heat transfer? What are they?
dq dq = hi dAi (Twi − Tc )
dq = ho dAo (Th − Two )
Δx D i Do dq = k w dAw (Two − Twi ) / tw
dAi = π Di Δx
Metal Tube (ID = Di & OD = Do) dAo = π D0 Δx

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 Film Heat Transfer Coefficient h
• Measures conductance to heat transfer: Higher the better
)Estimated from empirical correlations obtained from
experimental measurements
• Rough ranges of h (W/m2-K). What does h depend on?
)Steam condensation: 6,000-100,000
)Boiling water: 1,700-50,000 h varies
)Water (heating/cooling): 300-20,000 from point
)Condensing organic vapors: 1,000-2000 to point
)Oils (heating/cooling): 50-1,500 along
)Steam (superheating): 30-100 flow!
)Air (heating/cooling): 1-50
• How can we avoid dealing with wall temperatures?
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 Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient U
• Define local overall HT coefficient (U) to relate local
HT rate dq to local bulk temperatures of fluids
)Defined based on outside tube area
1 1 1 ⎛ dAo ⎞ tw ⎛ dAo ⎞
dq = UdAo (Th − Tc ) & = + ⎜ ⎟+ ⎜ ⎟
U ho hi ⎝ dAi ⎠ k w ⎝ dAw ⎠
• Metal resistance often neglected (How to justify?)
1 1 1 ⎛ Do ⎞
= + ⎜ ⎟
U ho hi ⎝ Di ⎠
• Limiting or controlling coefficient? (Smaller of hi & ho)
)hi << ho ⇒ 1/U ~ 1/hio = Do/hiDi & U ~ hio, then hi limiting
)ho << hi ⇒ 1/U ~ 1/ho & U ~ ho, then ho limiting
)Example: ho = 100 & hi = 5000, then U = 98
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 Resistance from Fouling is Important
• Fluid velocity at metal wall is zero
)Some fluid spends a long time at the wall
)Dirt, scale, corrosion, etc. deposit on tube wall
)Deposit grows thicker with time; becomes an additional and
significant resistance with low k
• Resistance much greater than metal wall, not negligible
• This is called dirt or scale or fouling factor (Rd)
)Depends on nature of fluid (content, fouling, clean, corrosive,
side reactions), fluid temperature, and time between clean-ups
or maintenance etc.
)Normally based on yearly clean-up or maintenance, Rd =
0.001-0.006 Btu/ft2-F-h/Btu (resistance) for most industrial
liquids.
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Must Account for Fouling Resistances
• Ensure satisfactory service over time by using UD =
dirty U or design U that includes fouling resistances
1 1 ⎛ Do ⎞
= + Rdi ⎜ ⎟ + Rdo
U D UC ⎝ Di ⎠
• Local rate of HT: dq(x) = UD(x) [Th(x) – Tc(x)] dAo
)UD, Th, Tc vary with position dAo, as fluids heat/cool
)How to get Q or total rate of HT for the equipment?
dq Q A
Tube: Do Tc Tc+dTc Q = ∫ dq = ∫ U D (Th − Tc )dAo
0 0
dA = πDodx dx
Tedious, trial & error, integration: How to simplify?
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 Overall Temperature Difference ΔT
• Simplify the general integral HE design equation as:
A
Q = ∫ U D ( x )[Th ( x ) − Tc ( x )]dAo = UAΔT
0
)Assume U constant along the length of tube
)Fluid enthalpy H vs. T linear for both fluids (constant heat
capacities and no phase change)
)Negligible heat exchange with the ambient
)Steady state flow (parallel or counter)
)No heat generation/work input in the unit (e.g. reaction)
• Do the simplification for counter flow DPE

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 LMTD for a DPE Cooler
• Process fluid 120 C to 40 C, let CW 30 C to 45 C
• Counter flow: ΔT1 = 10 C, ΔT2 = 75 C
120 C 40 C
Double Pipe Exchanger
45 C 30 C
)LMTD = (10–75) / ln(10/75) = 65/ln 7.5 = 32.3 C
• Parallel flow: ΔT1 = 90 C, ΔT2 = 5 C
120 C 40 C
Double Pipe Exchanger
30 C 45 C
)LMTD = 29.4 C? Is this OK?

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 Impact of Parallel Flow
• What can you do to the parallel flow cooler?
)Process fluid cannot cool to 40 C or CW cannot leave at 45 C
)What are the corresponding min and max T’s?
• What if CW leaves at 35 C & process fluid at 40 C?
)LMTD = 29.4 C ⇒ More HT area vs. counter flow, why?
)More CW required for the same Q
• What if CW leaves at 45 C & process fluid at 50 C?
)Less heat recovered from the process fluid vs. counter flow
)LMTD = 29.4 C, will HT area go up or down? How can you
estimate?

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 Range, Approach & Cross
Hot Fluid
Tha Heat Thb
Tcb Exchanger Tca
Cold Fluid
• Range: ΔT for a fluid
)Hot fluid: Tha–Thb & Cold fluid: Tcb–Tca
• Approach: ΔT between fluids at an end
)Counter flow: ΔT1 = Tha–Tcb & ΔT2 = Thb–Tca
)Parallel flow: ΔT1 = Tha–Tca & ΔT2 = Thb–Tcb
)Minimum approach = min[ΔT1, ΔT2]
• Cross: ΔT by which cold fluid heats above the exit
temperature of hot fluid or Tcb–Thb

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 What if We Decrease Approach?
Hot Fluid
Tha Heat Thb
Tcb Exchanger Tca
Cold Fluid

• LMTD & area for a given Q? Heat recovery Q?

• What if min approach Æ 0?
• How much min approach is economical?
)5-10 K for liquids or systems with high HT coefficients
)50 K for gases or systems with low HT coefficients, why?
)2-5 K for refrigeration systems.
)Select inlet-outlet temperatures as per the above thumb rules

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