Boiling and Condensation

6/27/2011

Boiling and Condensation

Introduction
Many familiar engineering applications involve condensation and boiling heat transfer. In a
household refrigerator, for example, the refrigerant absorbs heat from the refrigerated space
by boiling in the evaporator section and rejects heat to the kitchen air by condensing in the
condenser section ( the ling coils behind the refrigerator). Also, in steam power plants, heat is
transferred to the steam in the boiler where water is vaporized, and the waste heat is rejected
from the steam in the condenser where the steam is condensed. Some electronic components
are cooled by boiling by immersing them in a fluid with an appropriate boiling temperature.

i.

Boiling Paradigm

Boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which occurs when a liquid is heated to its
boiling point, the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the
pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding environmental pressure. While below the
boiling point a liquid evaporates from its surface, at the boiling point vapor bubbles come
from the bulk of the liquid. For this to be possible, the vapor pressure must be sufficiently
high to win the atmospheric pressure, so that the bubbles can be "inflated". Thus, the
difference between evaporation and boiling is "mechanical", rather than thermodynamically.
The boiling point is lowered when the pressure of the surrounding atmosphere is reduced, for
example by the use of a vacuum pump or at high altitudes. Boiling occurs in three
characteristic stages, which are nucleate, transition and film boiling. These stages generally
take place from low to high heating surface temperatures, respectively.
The boiling point of an element or a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure
of the liquid equals the environmental pressure surrounding the liquid.
A liquid in a vacuum environment has a lower boiling point than when the liquid is at
atmospheric pressure. A liquid in a high pressure environment has a higher boiling point than
when the liquid is at atmospheric pressure. In other words, the boiling point of a liquid varies
dependent upon the surrounding environmental pressure (which tends to vary with elevation).
Different liquids (at a given pressure) boil at different temperatures.
The normal boiling point (also called the atmospheric boiling point or the atmospheric
pressure boiling point) of a liquid is the special case in which the vapor pressure of the liquid

Boiling and Condensation

equals the defined atmospheric pressure at sea level, 1 atmosphere. At that temperature, the
vapor pressure of the liquid becomes sufficient to overcome atmospheric pressure and lift the
liquid to form bubbles inside the bulk of the liquid. The standard boiling point is now (as of
1982) defined by IUPAC as the temperature at which boiling occurs under a pressure of 1
bar.
The heat of vaporization heat is the amount of energy required to convert or vaporize a
saturated liquid (i.e., a liquid at its boiling point) into a vapor.
Liquids may change to a vapor at temperatures below their boiling points through the process
of evaporation. Evaporation is a surface phenomenon in which molecules located near the
liquid's edge, not contained by enough liquid pressure on that side, escape into the
surroundings as vapor. On the other hand, boiling is a process in which molecules anywhere
in the liquid escape, resulting in the formation of vapor bubbles within the liquid.
A saturated liquid contains as much thermal energy as it can without boiling (or conversely a
saturated vapor contains as little thermal energy as it can without condensing).
Saturation temperature means boiling point. The saturation temperature is the temperature for
a corresponding saturation pressure at which a liquid boils into its vapor phase. The liquid
can be said to be saturated with thermal energy. Any addition of thermal energy results in a
phase transition.
If the pressure in a system remains constant (isobaric), a vapor at saturation temperature will
begin to condense into its liquid phase as thermal energy (heat) is removed. Similarly, a
liquid at saturation temperature and pressure will boil into its vapor phase as additional
thermal energy is applied.
The boiling point corresponds to the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid
equals the surrounding environmental pressure. Thus, the boiling point is dependent on the
pressure. Usually, boiling points are published with respect to atmospheric pressure (101.325
kilopascals or 1 atm). At higher elevations, where the atmospheric pressure is much lower,
the boiling point is also lower. The boiling point increases with increased pressure up to the
critical point, where the gas and liquid properties become identical. The boiling point cannot
be increased beyond the critical point. Likewise, the boiling point decreases with decreasing

Boiling and Condensation

pressure until the triple point is reached. The boiling point cannot be reduced below the triple
point.
If the heat of vaporization and the vapor pressure of a liquid at a certain temperature is
known, the normal boiling point can be calculated by using the Clausius-Clapeyron
Clausius Clapeyron equation
thus:

TB = the normal boiling point, K

R = the ideal gas constant, 8.314 J K1 mol1
P0 = is the vapor pressure at a given temperature, atm
Hvap = the heat of vaporization of the liquid, J/mol
T0 = the given temperature, K ln = the natural logarithm to the base e
Saturation pressure is the pressure for a corresponding saturation
saturation temperature at which a
liquid boils into its vapor phase. Saturation pressure and saturation temperature have a direct
relationship: as saturation pressure is increased so is saturation temperature.
If the temperature in a system remains constant (an isothermal system), vapor at saturation
pressure and temperature will begin to condense into its liquid phase as the system pressure is
increased. Similarly, a liquid at saturation pressure and temperature will tend to flash into its
vapor phase as system pressure is decreased.
The boiling point of water is 100 C (212 F) at standard pressure. On top of Mount Everest,
at 8,848 m elevation, the pressure is about 260 mbar (26.39 kPa) and the boiling point of
water is 69 C. (156.2 F). The boiling point decreases 1 C every 285 m of elevation.
For purists, the normal boiling point of water is 99.97 degrees Celsius at a pressure of 1 atm
(i.e., 101.325 kPa). Until 1982 this was also the standard boiling point of water, but the
IUPAC now recommends a standard
standard pressure of 1 bar (100 kPa). At this slightly reduced
pressure, the standard boiling point of water is 99.61 degrees Celsius.

Boiling and Condensation

Relation between the normal boiling point and the vapor pressure of
liquids
The higher the vapor pressure of a liquid at a given temperature, the lower the normal boiling
point (i.e., the boiling point at atmospheric pressure) of the liquid.
The vapor pressure chart to the right has graphs of the vapor pressures versus temperatures
for a variety of liquids. As can be seen in the chart, the liquids with the highest vapor
pressures have the lowest normal boiling points.
For example, at any given temperature, propane has the highest vapor pressure of any of the
liquids in the chart. It also has the lowest normal boiling point(-42.1 C), which is where the
vapor pressure curve of propane (the purple line) intersects the horizontal pressure line of one
atmosphere (atm) of absolute vapor pressure.

Fig.1. typical vapor pressure chart for various liquids.

The element with the lowest boiling point is helium. Both the boiling points of rhenium and
tungsten exceed 5000 K at standard pressure. Due to the experimental difficulty of precisely
measuring extreme temperatures without bias, there is some discrepancy in the literature as to
whether tungsten or rhenium has the higher boiling point.

Boiling and Condensation

Boiling stages
1- Nucleate boiling
Nucleate boiling is characterized by the growth of bubbles on a heated surface, which
rise from discrete points on a surface, whose temperature is only slightly above the
liquids. In general, the number of nucleation sites are increased by an increasing
surface temperature.

An irregular surface of the boiling vessel (i.e. increased surface roughness) can create
additional nucleation sites, while an exceptionally smooth surface, such as plastic,
lends itself to superheating. Under these conditions, a heated liquid may show boiling
delay and the temperature may go somewhat above the boiling point without boiling.

2- Transition boiling
Transition boiling may be defined as the unstable boiling, which occurs at surface
temperatures between the maximum attainable in nucleate and the minimum
attainable in film boiling.

The formation of bubbles in a heated liquid is a complex physical process which often
involves cavitations and acoustic effects, such as the broad-spectrum hiss one hears in
a kettle not yet heated to the point where bubbles boil to the surface.

3- Film boiling
If a surface heating the liquid is significantly hotter than the liquid then film boiling
will occur, where a thin layer of vapor, which has low thermal conductivity insulates
the surface. This condition of a vapor film insulating the surface from the liquid
characterizes film boiling.

Boiling and Condensation

Fig.2. Film Boiling

Applications
1- Distillation
Is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their boiling points.
Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a
chemical reaction.

Commercially, distillation has a number of applications. It is used to separate

crude oil into more fractions for specific uses such as transport, power generation
and heating. Water is distilled to remove impurities, such as salt from seawater.
Air is distilled to separate its componentsnotably oxygen, nitrogen, and argon
for industrial use. Distillation of fermented solutions has been used since ancient
times to produce distilled beverages with a higher alcohol content. The premises
where distillation is carried out, especially distillation of alcohol, are known as a
distillery.

The first clear evidence of distillation comes from Greek alchemists working in
Alexandria in the first century AD. Distilled water has been known since at least
ca. 200 AD, when Alexander of Aphrodisias described the process. Arabs learned
the process from the Egyptians and used it extensively in their chemical
experiments.

Boiling and Condensation

Clear evidence of the distillation of alcohol comes from the School of Salerno in
the 12th century. Fractional distillation was developed by Tadeo Alderotti
A
in the
13th century.

In 1500, German alchemist Hieronymus Braunschweig published Liber de arte

destillandi (The Book
Boo of the Art of Distillation) the first book solely dedicated to
the subject of distillation, followed in 1512 by a much expanded version. In 1651,
John French published The Art of Distillation the first major English compendium
of practice,
e, though it has been claimed that much of it derives from
Braunschweig's work. This includes diagrams with people in them showing the
industrial rather than bench scale of the operation.

Fig.3. Distillation Boiling Application.

2- Boiling for water sterilization

Boiling can be used as a method of water disinfection but is only advocated as an
emergency water treatment method, or as a method of portable water purification
in rural or wilderness settings
settings without access to a potable water infrastructure.
Bringing water to the boil is effective in killing or inactivating most bacteria,

Boiling and Condensation

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viruses and pathogens. Boiling is the most certain way of killing all
microorganisms.

According

to

the

Wilderness

Medical

Society[citation

needed],

water

temperatures above 160 F (70 C) kill all pathogens within 30 minutes and above
185 F (85 C) within a few minutes. So in the time it takes for the water to reach
the boiling point (212 F or 100 C) from 160 F (70 C), all pathogens will be
killed, even at high altitude. To be extra safe, let the water boil rapidly for one
minute, especially at higher altitudes since water boils at a lower temperature.

Fig.4. Boiling Curve for Water.

ii.

Internal Condensation
The spectrum of flow processes associated with condensation on a solid surface are
almost a mirror image of those involved in boiling. Thus drop condensation on the
underside of a cooled horizontal plate or on a vertical surface is very analogous to
nucleate boiling. The phenomenon is most apparent as the misting up of windows or
mirrors. When the population of droplets becomes large they run together to form

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condensation films, the dominant form of condensation in most industrial contexts.

Because of the close parallels with boiling flows, it would be superfluous to repeated
the analyses for condensation flows. However, in the next section we include the
specifics of one example, namely film condensation on a vertical surface. For more
detail on condensation flows the reader is referred to the reviews by Butterworth
(1977).
Condensation occurs when the temperature of a vapor is reduced below its saturation
temperature.
In industrial equipment, condensation commonly results from contact between the
vapor and a cool surface. This may occur in one of two ways:

Film condensation
Here, the liquid film covers the entire condensing surface, and under the action of
gravity the film flows continuously from the surface. This is characteristic of clean
uncontaminated surfaces.

Dropwise condensation
Here, the liquid does not wet the surface but forms droplets on the surface. This
occurs when the surface is coated with a substance that inhibits wetting. The drops
form in cracks, pits, and cavities on the surface. They generally flow over the surface
along random paths.
In terms of maintaining high condensation and heat transfer rates, droplet formation is
superior to film formation. It is therefore common to practice to use surface coatings
that inhibit wetting, and hence simulate dropwise condensation. It is often difficult to
maintain the condition of dropwise condensation. For these reasons, condenser design
calculations are often based on the assumption of film condensation.
The total heat transfer by condensation to a surface of area A is calculated as follows:

q = h L A T sat Ts

The total condensation rate may be determined from the relation

m& =

q
h A (Tsat Ts )
= L
hfg
hfg

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where hfg is the latent heat.

Fig.5. Film Condensation.

In both cases, nucleation is typically the rate limiting step, rather than heat
transfer. Most industrial applications are based on film mechanisms, since it is
tricky and expensive to build non-wetting surfaces.
After condensation, the liquid flows down the tube surface under the influence of
gravity. The flow may be laminar or turbulent, depending on the fluid, rate of
condensation, tube size, etc. The film tends to thicken as it flows to the bottom of
the tube, and the weight of the fluid may cause ripples to form. These will cause
deviations from pure laminar flow.

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