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A ChEs
Guide
to CHEs Vishwas V. Wadekar,
HTFS, AEA Technology
Hyprotech
 Compact Heat Exchangers
Copyright 2000
American Institute
of Chemical Engineers.
All rights reserved.
Copying and
downloading permitted
with restrictions.
Compact heat exchangers
(CHEs) offer high
heat-transfer coefficients
and large surface areas with
a small footprint, making
them a cost-effective
alternative to shell-and-tube
exchangers in many

A applications.
variety of heat exchangers can
be employed to heat or cool process streams.
More often than not, though, shell-and-tube ex-
changers are selected for most chemical process
industries (CPI) applications.
However, this situation is gradually chang-
ing, and compact heat exchangers are now gain-
ing increased attention as viable cost-effective
alternatives. Several factors are responsible for
this change:
The advantages of CHEs are becoming in-
creasingly apparent in their original fields of ap-
plication, such as refrigeration and air condi-
tioning, cryogenics, food processing, etc.
In recent years, new CHEs have been intro-
duced, including some specifically for high-
temperature, high-pressure applications in the
CPI.
Software tools for the selection and design
of CHEs are now available from independent
sources.
There is increased awareness about CHEs
through specialist conferences and study
groups.
In many retrofit applications, equipment
with increased throughput yet occupying less
floor space is required, forcing engineers to
look for alternatives to conventional shell-and-
tube exchangers.
Offshore applications, where incentives are
much greater for weight- and space-saving
equipment, have become test beds for new CHE
applications, highlighting the practicality and
advantages of some of the CHEs.
Of course, compact heat exchangers do have
a number of real (and some perceived) limita-
tions and disadvantages. Generally, though, the
cost and energy saving benefits offered by
CHEs over the conventional shell-and-tube heat
exchanger make it imperative that they be con-
sidered as a serious alternative.
This article gives a broad overview of com-
pact heat exchangers. It provides some back-
ground on the thermal benefits of CHEs, the
concepts of thermal effectiveness and tempera-
ture approach, and the degree of compactness
of an exchanger, and it describes the different
types of CHEs. Finally, it offers guidelines for
selecting an appropriate CHE for a particular
application.
Thermal benefits of CHEs
To understand some of the advantages of
compact heat exchangers, lets start with the
basic question for the overall heat transferred
within a heat exchanger:
Q = UAFtTlm (1)
Due to their inherently complex, often tortu-

CEP December 2000 www.aiche.org/cep/ 39

Compact Heat Exchangers
T1,
in
T2,
out
T2,
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of stream
temperatures in a two-stream exchanger.
ous and noncircular flow passage
structure, CHEs tend to have higher
heat-transfer coefficients for both the
hot and the cold streams. This in-
creases the CHEs overall heat-trans-
fer coefficient, U.
Due to the higher area density
(heat-transfer area per unit volume of
the exchanger), the incremental cost
of incorporating a larger heat-transfer
area is generally less for CHEs than
for shell-and-tube exchangers. This
means that the value of the heat-
transfer area, A, in Eq. 1 is likely to
be higher for CHEs. Some CHEs,
such as plate-fin exchangers, contain
extended surfaces or secondary heat-
transfer area, which further increases
the total effective heat-transfer area
significantly.
In Eq. 1, Ft is a correction factor
for the log mean temperature differ-
ence, Tlm, to account for the depar-
ture from pure countercurrent flow.
Thus, if the streams within a heat
exchanger are flowing in a true
countercurrent manner, Ft = 1. Com-
pact heat exchangers can generally
be configured as essentially pure
countercurrent flow devices, with Ft
nearly approaching the value of
unity.
In view of the high values of the
overall heat-transfer coefficient and
the heat-transfer area, coupled with
the value of Ft close to unity, Eq. 1
can be interpreted in two ways. For a
given mean temperature difference,
the heat duty that could be achieved
in a compact heat exchanger will be
higher. Alternatively, for given heat
duty, a smaller mean temperature dif-
ference will be required.
40 www.aiche.org/cep/ December 2000
Figure 2.
Thermal effectiveness
vs. number of transfer
units.
T1,
out
Thermal Effectiveness
in
Thermal effectiveness
and temperature approach
These two terms are often used
in connection with heat exchangers.
Because they characterize the ther-
mal performance of an exchanger,
they are especially relevant and fre-
quently used in quantifying the
thermal benefits of compact heat
exchangers.
Thermal effectiveness is a ratio of
the actual heat transferred in the ex-
changer to the thermodynamic maxi-
mum. If a two-stream heat exchanger
is handling streams with equal ther-
mal capacity, mcp (flow rate times
heat capacity) [i.e., (mcp)Stream 1 =
(mcp)Stream 2], then the thermal effec-
tiveness, , is simply given by the
ratio of the actual temperature change
for a stream to the maximum possible
temperature change. For the example
depicted in Figure 1, the temperature
change for Stream 1 is (T1,out T1,in).
If the heat exchanger had an infinite
area, the outlet temperature of Stream
1 would be equal to the inlet tempera-
ture of Stream 2. The maximum pos-
sible temperature change for Stream
1 is, therefore, (T1,in T2,in). Thus, the
thermal effectiveness will be given by
T1,out T1,in
= down asymptotically. It should be
T1,in T2,in
(2)
The temperature approach is the
minimum difference between the
CEP
1.0
Countercurrent
0.8
0.6 Crossflow
0.4 Cocurrent
0.2
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
NTUmax = UA/Cmin
local stream temperatures in the ex-
changer. For the unit shown in Figure
1, it remains the same everywhere
throughout the exchanger because the
two stream temperature profiles are
parallel to each other.
Exchangers that contain more
heat-transfer area, provide high over-
all heat-transfer coefficients, and
have pure countercurrent flow tend to
have a higher thermal effectiveness.
This is illustrated in Figure 2, which
plots thermal effectiveness against
the maximum number of transfer
units (NTUmax).
Cmin is the minimum of
(mcp)Stream 1 and (mcp)Stream 2. Note
that for a given position along the
x-axis, the countercurrent flow ar-
rangement provides the maximum
thermal effectiveness, followed by
crossflow, and then cocurrent flow.
The curves approach different limit-
ing values of thermal effectiveness
asymptotically 0.5 and 1.0 for
cocurrent and countercurrent flow,
respectively, with an intermediate
value for crossflow.
For any given flow arrangement,
the thermal effectiveness rises with
an increase in the overall heat-trans-
fer coefficient and heat-transfer area,
although the rate of increase slows
noted that exchangers with higher
thermal effectiveness result in closer
temperature approaches.

Hydraulic Diameter, mm
60 10 1 0.1
Human Lungs
Specialty
Plate-Fin
Plate
Shell-and-Tube
100 1,000 10,000
Area Density, m2/m3
Figure 3. Flow channel size and heat-transfer area density for various types of heat exchangers.
As mentioned earlier, compact Degree of compactness
heat exchangers offer high overall Heat exchangers can be classified in
heat-transfer coefficients and heat- a variety of ways. One way that is espe-
transfer areas. Hence, they can oper- cially relevant to compact heat exchang-
ate at a high thermal effectiveness, ers is based on two closely related pa-
making them especially suitable for rameters the flow channel size and
close temperature approach duties. the heat-transfer area density. Normally,
Again, many CHEs can be config- the smaller the flow channel size in the
ured as nearly ideal countercurrent exchanger, the higher the area density.
flow devices. Thus, they fall on or Figure 3 compares several broad
very near the high thermal effective- categories of heat exchangers. Shell-
ness curve for countercurrent flow in and-tube exchangers use plain tubes
Figure 2. that are typically 10 to 30 mm in di-
The flow passages of compact ameter, which translates to area den-
heat exchangers offer another advan- sities of about 100 m2/m3. Plate-type
tage. The flow velocities of the exchangers (e.g., plate-and-frame ex-
streams tend to be more uniform changers) generally have 5-mm to 8-
across the flow width thereby mini- mm channels and area densities more
mizing the stagnant or low-velocity than 200 m2/m3. Plate-fin exchang-
zones within the exchanger. Because ers, the category to which car radia-
such zones are more susceptible to tors belong, have channel sizes of
fouling, their elimination means that about 2 mm and area densities be-
CHEs have less propensity to foul. tween 800 and 1,500 m2/m3. Special-
Although compact exchangers are ity heat exchangers, which include
less likely to foul on this basis, the the printed circuit heat exchanger,
possibility of blockage of the small have channels with hydraulic diame-
flow channels by suspended particles ters of roughly 1 to 2 mm and area
needs to be taken into account for densities of over 2,000 m2/m3. The
not-so-clean fluids. In many cases, human lung, with flow passages of
this calls for the installation of 0.2 mm equivalent diameter and area
strainers before the streams enter the densities of more than 10,000 m2/m3,
exchanger. is shown for comparison.
CEP
Plate heat exchanger
In the broadest sense, this category
includes all heat exchangers that use
plates in their construction. Examples
are the various types of exchangers
containing cross-corrugated channels,
spiral plate heat exchangers, and
some proprietary welded exchangers.
Gasketted plate-and-frame
heat exchanger
This exchanger, referred to as a
plate-and-frame heat exchanger or
simply a plate heat exchanger, con-
sists of a pack of plates held together
in a frame. Figure 4 shows an explod-
ed view of the assembly of a plate
heat exchanger. More details of con-
struction are available from a number
of sources (e.g., Ref. 1).
As shown in Figure 4, the two
streams flow in alternate channels be-
tween plates, entering and leaving via
ports in the corners of the plates.
Each plate has a gasket around the
edge and around the ports. The gas-
kets around the plate edge define the
flow paths and are arranged to make
the two streams flow in alternate plate
passages.
The exchanger can be completely
dismantled for cleaning. This is the
main reason for its widespread use in
the food industry and other clean
applications.
Figure 5 shows a typical chevron
pattern, which forms the cross-corru-
gated passages in the plate heat ex-
changer with chevron patterns of the
consecutive plates pointing in oppo-
site directions. The plates are normal-
ly made of stainless steel; they are
also available in other higher alloys
and metals (such as titanium) for spe-
cial duties. Plates can be from 0.2 m
to over 3 m long, with widths typical-
ly 20% to 40% of their length. The
plate thickness is usually in the range
of 0.4 to 0.9 mm, and the plate spac-
ing varies between 2.5 and 5 mm, ex-
cept for special wide-gap plates
sometimes used for viscous or fibrous
materials. The hydraulic diameter for
flow between plates is approximately
twice the plate spacing.
December 2000 www.aiche.org/cep/ 41
Compact Heat Exchangers
Figure 4. Exploded view of a plate-and-frame heat exchanger. Courtesy of Alfa Laval Thermal Inc.
Operating pressures up to 20 bar
are standard, and somewhat higher
pressures can be achieved using
heavy-duty frames. The gaskets, em-
ployed to seal the flow passages, usu-
ally limit the operating temperature
range, with a lower limit of 25C
and an upper limit of 160C to
180C, depending on the specific gas-
ket material.
The main advantage of this type of
exchanger is that it can be opened,
providing complete accessibility to
the heat-transfer surface. This also
gives the flexibility of adding or re-
moving some plates to accommodate
changes in the heat duty.
The main limitation of the plate-
and-frame heat exchanger is that the
process fluids must be compatible
with the gasket material. The gasket-
ted construction also makes these
units unsuitable for refinery applica-
tions where prolonged resistance to
fire may be required. Partially welded
plate-and-frame exchangers (dis-
cussed later) allow the user to balance
the advantages of flexibility and ac-
cessibility arising from the gasketted
construction against the higher tem-
perature and pressure operation with
a wider range of fluid types offered
by the welded construction. (Fully
welded exchangers can operate at
42 www.aiche.org/cep/ December 2000
even higher temperatures if flexibility
and accessibility are not necessary.)
For single-phase liquid duties in-
volving moderate temperatures and
pressures, plate-and-frame exchangers
can be a cost-effective alternative to the
conventional shell-and-tube exchanger.
Flow passage structure
in plate exchangers
Plate heat exchangers have cor-
rugated plates. The corrugations
provide both support against in-
ternal pressures and heat-transfer
enhancement.
The most common type of plate
has crossed corrugations, that is, the
corrugation patterns in adjacent plates
are at an angle to each other, giving a
lattice of support points where they
touch and a complex flow channel
shape between the plates. The corru-
gations are usually formed as
chevrons. There may be a single
chevron pattern, as in Figure 5, or
multiple rows of chevrons across the
plate width. Other variants have the
chevron pattern running along the
length rather than width of the plate.
In all cases, however, the local flow
geometry has the same cross-corru-
gated structure.
For the cross-corrugated plates
formed from the chevron pattern,
CEP
Soft Plate Hard Plate
Figure 5. Typical chevron pattern
on a plate
chevron angle is an important design
variable. The chevron angle is the
angle of the corrugations with respect
to a horizontal line, designated as in
Figure 5. A plate with a low chevron
angle offers a high heat-transfer coef-
ficient and high pressure drop, where-
as a plate with a high chevron angle
has lower heat transfer and lower
pressure drop. The low- and high-
chevron angle plates can also be re-
ferred to as hard and soft plates, re-
spectively, reflecting the resistance
that they present to a flowing fluid.
For single-phase duties, reliable
information is generally available on
the effect of chevron angle on heat
transfer and pressure drop (for exam-
ple, Ref. 2). Therefore, selecting soft
or hard plates (or a combination) to
match specific pressure drop and
heat-transfer requirements is relative-
ly straightforward.
In addition to the main chevron
pattern, the pattern on the distribution
regions of the plates is also important
and plays a significant role in uniform
distribution of a stream in a given
plate channel (34).
Partially welded
plate heat exchanger
This variant of the plate-and-frame
heat exchanger attempts to combine
some of the advantages of gasketted
and welded construction. This design
is useful when a suitable gasket mate-

Endplate Welded Flowplate Welded
Gasket Seal Gasket Seal
Service
Head
Process
Endplate Flowplate
Pair Pair
Figure 6. Partially welded, or welded-pair, plate heat exchanger. Courtesy of APV Heat Exchanger
Product Group.
rial cannot be found because of the
chemical aggressivenes of one of the
fluids.
Pairs of plates are welded together
around the edges to form gasket-free
channels through which the aggres-
sive fluid can flow. Gaskets are used
between the welded pairs for the less
aggressive fluid. Such a heat ex-
changer is referred to as a welded-
pair plate exchanger (Figure 6).
The aggressive fluid, while flow-
ing through the ports, does come in
contact with the circular port gaskets
mounted on the gasketted side of the
plates. Because these gaskets are cir-
cular and therefore easy to seal, and
are relatively small, they can be made
from a less flexible but more chemi-
cally resistant material, such as poly-
tetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, or Teflon).
Welded-pair plate exchangers have
the same operating temperature and
pressure limits as the fully gasketted
plate-frame exchangers. Advantages
of accessibility and flexibility also re-
main the same except for the access
to the welded side of the plates.
Completely welded
plate heat exchanger
Recently, a fully welded plate-
pack construction has been intro-
duced in the market. In this arrange-
ment, the plate pack is welded fully
Flowplate Welded Flowplate Welded
Gasket Seal Gasket Seal
Flowplate Sealplate
Pair Pair
and is completely free of gaskets. The
plate pack is held within a frame in a
conventional manner. Ducts of the
same material as the plates are weld-
ed to the plate pack at the port holes
and carry fluids to and from the
flanges attached to the frame and the
plate pack, eliminating the need for a
gasket between the front plate and the
head plate of the frame.
The welded construction allows
the exchanger to operate at tempera-
tures up to 350C and pressures up to
40 bar. However, because it is weld-
ed, the plate pack cannot be opened
for cleaning and plates cannot be
added or removed from it.
Brazed plate heat exchanger
This design (Figure 7) has a plate
structure similar to that of the con-
ventional plate-and-frame heat ex-
changer, but the plate pack is brazed
together using copper as the brazing
material. Plates are made from stain-
less steel or higher alloys. Brazing
eliminates the need for both a frame
and gaskets.
Brazing also increases the operat-
ing temperature and pressure range
considerably. The exchanger can op-
erate from 195C to 200C at pres-
sures up to 30 bar.
Plate lengths are usually 1 m or
less, although larger units with longer
CEP
plates are continually becoming
available. The exchangers overall
size is still relatively small compared
to the large plate-and-frame units.
These exchangers are now widely
used in the refrigeration industry for
single-phase and two-phase duties.
They are probably the cheapest stain-
less steel exchangers available on the
market today. They should be used
only for relatively clean fluids be-
cause of their small passages and in-
accessibility of the heat-transfer sur-
face for mechanical cleaning.
More recently, nickel brazed plate
heat exchangers have been introduced
to the market. They are particularly
useful for duties involving ammonia
as a working fluid where copper
brazed heat exchangers cannot be
used.
Plate-and-shell
heat exchanger
An interesting variant of the plate
exchanger is the plate-and-shell heat
exchanger (Figure 8). It consists of a
stack of welded circular cross-corru-
gated plates fitted into a cylindrical
shell. The stack is formed by welding
the plates alternately around the ports
and around the outer periphery. One
stream flows through the plate pairs
and the other between the alternate
plate gaps.
The plates are made of stainless
steel and higher alloys. Plate diame-
Figure 7. Brazed plate heat exchanger.
Courtesy of Alfa Laval Thermal Inc.
December 2000 www.aiche.org/cep/ 43
Compact Heat Exchangers
ters range from 200 to 1,000 mm.
Standard designs can accommodate
heat-transfer areas from 0.5 to 500 m2
in a single unit. These units can oper-
ate in the temperature range of
200C to 600C and at pressures up
to 40 bar.
It is claimed that plate-and-shell
exchangers can handle duties involv-
ing thermal cycling, because the plate
pack is able to expand and contract
within the shell. These exchangers
have been used in single-phase and
two-phase duties in refrigeration and
other industries.
Plate-fin heat exchanger
The conventional brazed alu-
minum plate-fin heat exchangers are
used extensively in cryogenic appli-
cations, such as air separation and
ethylene plants. However, because
they are made from aluminum, they
cannot be used for higher temperature
applications. Their derivatives made
of stainless steel and titanium have
more potential applications in the
CPI.
Brazed aluminum
plate-fin heat exchanger
A typical brazed aluminum ex-
changer handling multiple streams is
illustrated in Figure 9. It consists of
alternating layers of plates (referred
to as parting sheets) and corrugated
fins. Flow passages are formed be-
tween the consecutive parting sheets,
with the sealing provided by the side
bars along the edges. The parting
sheets and fins provide the primary
and secondary surface for heat-trans-
fer, respectively. In addition to pro-
44 www.aiche.org/cep/ December 2000
viding the secondary area for heat
transfer, the brazed fins hold the heat
exchanger together. In most plate-fin
exchangers, the effective length of
the block consists of finning laid par-
allel to the block axis, to give true
counterflow heat exchange among the
streams.
At the end of the exchanger, pads
of finning are laid at an angle and
serve as distributors. These distribute
the flow coming from the headers and
nozzles into the main heat-transfer
passages or collect the flow coming
from the passages and direct it into
the headers and nozzles. The headers
and nozzles are welded onto the out-
side of the block.
Within the plate-fin core, each
stream flows in a number of layers,
each of which is divided into numer-
ous parallel, nearly rectangular sub-
channels by the fins. Fin heights and
fin frequencies determine the size of
these subchannels. Fin heights are
typically between 5 and 9 mm, while
fin frequencies, in the main heat-
transfer region, are typically 590 to
787 fins/m (15 to 20 fins/in.). The
equivalent hydraulic diameters of
these subchannels are, thus, only a
few millimeters. These small pas-
sages result in heat-transfer area den-
sities of about 800 to 1,500 m2/m3.
Such high area density, coupled with
the aluminum construction, means
that for a given heat-transfer area, the
exchangers are smaller and lighter
than any other exchanger type.
The overall size of these exchang-
ers can be up to 1.2 m wide, 1.2 m
deep (the stack height), and 6.2 m
long. They are used for single-phase
CEP
Figure 8.
Plate-and-shell heat exchanger.
and two-phase duties involving boil-
ing and condensation. In low-temper-
ature cryogenic applications, they
provide the benefit of a multistream
capability, ensuring that all the cold
streams produced in a process are
used to cool the incoming warm
streams. They can operate at a ther-
mal effectiveness up to 98% and are
able to handle temperature approach-
es down to less than 2C. In cryo-
genic duties where economics are
dominated by the cost of energy re-
quired to generate the low tempera-
tures, such close temperature ap-
proach is of vital importance.
Brazed aluminum exchangers can
be used for streams at pressures up to
100 bar and generally within a tem-
perature range of 269C to 100C;
with appropriate alloys for the head-
ers and nozzles, they can be used at
temperatures up to 200C. However,
the maximum operating temperature
for aluminum alloys decreases rapid-
ly with increasing pressure.
Four basic fin geometries (Figure
10) are used in plate-fin exchangers.
All manufacturers make plain, perfo-
rated, and serrated (offset strip) fins.
Some make wavy fins; others prefer
serrated fins with a long serration
length.
The perforations provide a small
enhancement over plain fins for im-
proved single-phase performance.
Perforated fins are often used for
boiling. The perforations help to
equalize flows among the subchan-
nels, mitigating against local block-
age or pressure fluctuations arising
from the evaporation process.
Serrated fins significantly increase
 Figure 9. both heat transfer and pressure drop
Brazed aluminum over plain fins. They are used for sin-
Nozzle plate-fin heat
gle-phase gas duties, where the increase
Inlet exchanger.
Header in heat-transfer coefficient is most de-
Outlet
sirable. Sometimes, they are also used
for boiling duties because they are
thought to aid the onset of boiling.
Distributor Plain fins find applications in con-
Fin Wear densation and single-phase duties,
Plate where lower pressure drop character-
Heat istics may be more important. For
Transfer Fin serrated fins, the standard length of
the serrations is 3 mm (q in.). A
Spacer longer length (12 or 15 mm) results
Bar in a fin whose performance is be-
Parting Sheet tween that of perforated fins and stan-
dard serrated fins.

Stainless steel
Support plate-fin heat exchanger
Plate
Plate-fin heat exchangers can be
Cap Sheet manufactured of materials other than
aluminum so that they can be operat-
ed at higher temperatures and pres-
sures. Stainless steel exchangers have
been used for some time in vehicle
and aerospace applications, mainly
for single-phase duties. These are
typically small exchangers blocks
with sides less than 0.3 m. Some
manufacturers, however, can supply
larger brazed stainless-steel plate-fin
units (up to 0.6 m by 0.6 m by 1.5 m
long) for CPI applications.
Brazed stainless steel exchangers
are geometrically similar to brazed
aluminum plate-fin exchangers, but
they normally have lower fin heights
(less than 5 mm high) because of the
relatively poor thermal conductivity
Plain Fins Serrated (Offset) Fins of stainless steel. They generally em-
ploy plain fins, because other fin
types are difficult to manufacture in
stainless steel. Copper is used as the
braze metal for stainless steel ex-
changers.
The effect of the braze on process
fluids has sometimes been of concern
to potential users. Therefore, some
Perforated Fins Wavy (Herringbone) Fins manufacturers are trying to develop
diffusion bonding techniques for
stainless steel plate-fin exchangers to
avoid problems associated with the
Figure 10. Plain, serrated, perforated, and wavy fins. copper braze.

CEP December 2000 www.aiche.org/cep/ 45

Compact Heat Exchangers
Literature Cited
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3. Kumar, H., M. F. Edwards, P. R. Davi-
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U.K. and New York, pp. 195199 (1997).
46 www.aiche.org/cep/ December 2000
Diffusion-bonded titanium
plate-fin heat exchanger
Another development in the manu-
facture of plate-fin heat exchangers
capable of high-pressure, high-tem-
perature operation is the application
of superplastic forming and diffusion
bonding technology (which was orig-
inally developed for titanium turbine
blades) (5). The manufacturing tech-
nique is illustrated in Figure 11.
Three sheets of titanium are diffu-
sion bonded at selected positions
using a bond inhibitor. These three
sheets are then expanded superplasti-
cally in a closed die at elevated tem-
peratures by pressurizing the unbond-
ed regions between the plates. This
forms a single element equivalent to a
single layer of plate-fin geometry,
where the middle sheet forms the
subchannels (i.e., the secondary sur-
face). The subchannels, however, are
trapezoidal rather than rectangular,
and somewhat larger than the sub-
channels in aluminum plate-fin ex-
changers. The heat exchanger core is
assembled by diffusion bonding these
elements together.
The typical height of the trape-
zoidal subchannels is 2 to 5 mm.
They are made as wavy rather than
straight subchannels. Different wavy
frequencies are offered to accommo-
date a range of pressure drop and
heat-transfer characteristics.
In terms of general heat transfer
and pressure drop performance, these
exchangers are similar to aluminum
plate-fin exchangers, offering the
same advantage of high thermal ef-
fectiveness. The use of titanium cou-
pled with the metallurgical benefits of
the manufacturing technology allow
them to operate at temperatures
above 550C and at pressures above
200 bar. The other main advantage of
this type of exchanger is that titanium
which is a highly corrosion-resistant
material, and no other metal is in-
volved as a braze.
All the existing applications of
these exchangers are for single-phase
duties (6).
CEP
Printed-circuit
heat exchanger
The printed-circuit heat exchang-
er is manufactured by diffusion
bonding technology. The term
printed circuit is used because
semicircular flow passages are
chemically etched onto flat plates,
which resemble printed circuit
boards (Figure 12). The plates are
then stacked and diffusion bonded
together to produce an exchanger ca-
pable of operating at pressures up to
1,000 bar and temperatures up to
900C. The exchangers can be man-
ufactured of either stainless steel or
various higher alloys.
The flow passages in a printed-cir-
cuit heat exchanger are normally be-
tween 0.5 and 2.0 mm deep, and the
cross-section approximates a semicir-
cle. Zigzag, as well as other more-
complicated patterns, can be etched.
Various combinations of crossflow
and counterflow can be employed in
the exchanger as required.
Welded compact
heat exchanger
Plate-and-frame exchangers with
After Bonding
After Superplastic Forming
After Ironing
Figure 11. Steps in manufacturing an
element for a diffusion-bonded titanium
plate-fin exchanger.

Figure 12. Printed-circuit heat exchanger.
Courtesy of Heatric.
fully welded plate packs were dis-
cussed earlier. There are also other
types of proprietary welded designs.
In one, large plates up to 10 m long
and 1.5 m wide are welded together
and the plate pack is contained within
Air In
Gas Out
Gas In
Air Out
a cylindrical shell. This arrangement
can operate at pressures up to 300 bar
and temperatures ranging from
200C to 700C. Because of the
large plate size, the heat-transfer area
of a single unit can be as high as
10,000 m2. A typical application for
this type of exchanger is feed effluent
duty in a catalytic reforming plant.
All welded exchangers are more
expensive than the gasketted plate heat
exchanger. But, the use of large plates
helps reduce the cost differential.
Some of the proprietary exchanger
types and their pressure and tempera-
ture limits, along with examples of
their applications, are described in
Ref. 7.
Spiral recuperator
A new recuperator has been devel-
oped to withstand thermal cycling
(8). Unlike existing recuperators, it is
made from two continuous sheets of
metal wound into a spiral with a cor-
rugated sheet providing finned chan-
nels for the hot gas stream (Figure
13). Air enters the top and flows
down, while the gas enters at the bot-
tom and flows upward.
An unusual feature of the spiral re-
cuperator is that the fins on the gas
side of the matrix are not physically
Figure 13.
Construction of a
spiral recuperator.
CEP
attached to the pressure retaining
sheets. Instead, the high pressure on
the air side maintains the contact be-
tween the gas-side fins and the adja-
cent sheet.
This exchanger is not yet being
manufactured on a commercial scale.
But when it is, it is likely to be cost-
effective because it can be manufac-
tured by a continuous process.
Nonmetallic exchangers
Compact heat exchangers can also
be fabricated of nonmetallic materials
of construction, such as graphite,
polymer films, and ceramics, for spe-
cialized applications.
Graphite is used in making plates
for the conventional plate-and-frame
heat exchanger. With special gaskets
made from carbon fibers, these ex-
changers are used for highly corro-
sive fluids such as acid and salt solu-
tions in the mineral processing in-
dustry. Graphite is also used as a
material of construction for carbon
block exchangers, where circular
passages are machined in a solid car-
bon block, typically in a crossflow
arrangement.
A detailed discussion of ceramic
and polymer film heat exchangers is
given by Ramshaw (9). More recent-
ly, Ferrato and Thonon (10) have in-
vestigated the use of ceramic plate-fin
heat exchangers for high-temperature
applications.
Selection
Choosing an appropriate compact
heat exchanger for a given duty is a
complex process. However, a prelimi-
nary selection procedure can be com-
pared to a simple two-stage separa-
tion process that applies a coarse fil-
ter followed by a fine filter.
In this case, we are separating the
various types of CHEs into suitable
and unsuitable designs using techni-
cal criteria as the filters. The
coarse filter makes a preliminary
cut by rejecting the obviously unsuit-
able types and leaving behind those
that are capable of performing the
specified duty. The fine filter then
December 2000 www.aiche.org/cep/ 47
Compact Heat Exchangers

Table 1. A preliminary selection guide to compact heat exchangers.

Partially Diffusion-
Plate-and- Welded Bonded
Frame Plate-and- Brazed Plate and- Brazed Titanium Printed
(Gasketed) Frame Plate Shell Plate-Fin Plate-Fin Circuit

Compactness (m2/m3) Up to 200 Up to 200 Up to 200 8001,500 700800 >2,000

Stream Types Liquid-Liquid Liquid-Liquid Liquid-Liquid Liquids Liquid-Liquid Liquid-Liquid Liquid-Liquid

Gas-Liquid Gas-Liquid Two-phase Gas-Liquid Gas-Liquid Gas-Liquid
Two-Phase Two-Phase Two-Phase Two-Phase Two-Phase

Materials Frame: Frame: Stainless Stainless Aluminum, Titanium S/S,

Carbon Steel Carbon Steel Steel Steel, Stainless Nickel,
Plates: Plates: Titanium Steel, Titanium
Stainless Steel, Stainless Steel, Nickel Alloy Inconel
Titanium, Incoloy, Incoloy
Incoloy, Hastelloy,
Hastelloy,
Graphite

Temperature Range (C) 35 to +180 35 to +180 195 to +200 200 to +600 269 to +100 <550 200 to +900

Maximum Pressure (bar) 25 25 30 40 90 200 300400

Cleaning Methods Mechanical Chem/Mech* Chemical Chem/Mech* Chemical Chemical Chemical

Multistream Capability Not Common No No No Yes Yes Yes

*Chemical cleaning on the welded side and mechanical cleaning on the other side.

Source: Adapted from (7).

further narrows the choice based on
heat-transfer area and exchanger cost.
Step 1: The coarse filter
Based on considerations of operat-
ing temperature, pressure, and fluid
compatibility, the exchangers that
cannot be used for a given duty can
be rejected. Other factors, such as
mechanical or chemical cleaning of
the heat-transfer surface, multistream
capabilities, and so on, can also be
taken into account.
Table 1 can be used to apply this
coarse filter to the CHEs covered
here. This involves considering the
following:
1. Maximum pressure. Many
CHEs can be employed only up to
moderate pressures, and these will
be ruled out for higher-pressure
services.
2. Temperature range. Different
exchangers have different tempera-
tures ranges, so some exchanger
types can be ruled out on this basis.
3. Fluid compatibility. Compatibili-
ty refers to that between the fluid and
the materials of construction for the
heat exchanger. Gasketted exchangers,
for example, may be excluded if there
is a problem of compatibility between
the fluid and the gasket material.
4. Other issues. This could include
such factors as the consequences of
leakage of one stream into another.
For example, if there is a likelihood
of a violent chemical reaction, a dou-
ble-wall type heat exchanger should
be considered. Another factor is tem-
perature cross i.e., where the outlet
temperature of the hot stream is high-
er than the inlet temperature of the
cold stream. If there is a temperature
cross, then only exchangers that can
be configured as countercurrent de-
vices can be used.
As a result of this filtering, one or
more exchangers could be left as vi-
able. Note that Table 1 is by no
means exhaustive and could be sup-
plemented with relevant data from
manufacturers, especially for the pro-
prietary exchanger types.
Step 2: The fine filter
All of the exchangers identified in
Step 1 as capable of performing the
duty need to be investigated further in
Step 2 to narrow down the choice.
This involves approximating the heat-
transfer area and cost for each ex-
changer. Based on these two parame-
ters, a final selection can be made.
To determine the heat-transfer
area, Eq. 1 can be rearranged:
A = 1/U (Q/T) (3)
In principle, the heat-transfer area
can be multiplied by cost per unit
area to obtain the cost of the ex-

48 www.aiche.org/cep/ December 2000 CEP

 Table 2. Typical heat-transfer coefficient (U) and cost factor (C)
data for a shell-and-tube heat exchanger with Q/DT = 5,000 W/K.
Hot-Side Fluid
Low- High- Condensing
Low- High- Viscosity Viscosity Hydrocarbon
Pressure Pressure Process Organic Organic Condensing Condensing With
Cold-Side Fluid Parameter* Gas Gas Water Liquid Liquie Steam Hydrocarbon Inert Gas

Low-Pressure U 55 93 102 99 63 107 100 86

Gas (1 bar) C 2.13 1.88 1.71 1.76 2.24 1.62 1.74 1.82

High-Pressure U 93 300 429 375 120 530 388 240

Gas (20 bar) C 1.88 1.20 0.95 1.08 1.68 0.99 1.05 1.16

Treated U 105 484 938 720 142 1,607 764 345

Cooling Water C 1.65 1.08 0.81 1.07 1.41 0.48 1.01 1.17

Low-Viscosity U 99 375 600 500 130 818 524 286

Organic Liquid C 1.76 1.08 0.87 1.05 1.55 0.93 1.01 1.26
High-Viscosity U 68 138 161 153 82 173 155 336
Organic Liquid C 2.07 1.46 1.25 1.32 1.91 1.16 1.30 1.62
Boiling U 105 467 875 677 140 1,432 722 336
Water C 1.65 1.13 0.87 0.78 1.44 0.54 1.05 1.20

Boiling U 99 375 600 500 130 818 524 286

Organic Liquid C 1.76 1.08 0.87 1.05 1.55 0.93 1.01 1.26

* Units for U are W/m2K, units for C are $/WK.

Source: Adapted from (1).

changer. However, for some exchang- ferent heat exchangers and flow con- tables of information giving C values,
ers, especially those containing ex- figurations if the value of the correc- as well as software for selection of
tended surfaces, it may be difficult to tion factor is different. heat exchangers, is available from
define the heat-transfer area. For this 4. Obtain values of C and U from commercial sources. CEP

reason, Hewitt et al. (1) proposed tables such as Table 2 (which is

cost factors (C) based on Q/T.
Table 2 presents typical data for
the overall heat-transfer coefficient
and the cost factor at Q/T = 5,000
W/K for shell-and-tube exchangers
handling a variety of streams. (Com-
plete tables for shell-and-tube and
plate-and-frame heat exchangers are
given in Ref. 1.) The steps involved
in the application of this fine filter
can be illustrated as follows.
1. Calculate the heat duty, Q, from
a heat balance.
2. Estimate the mean tempera-
ture difference, T, between the
streams, using a correction factor
(Ft) if necessary.
3. Calculate the ratio Q/T. Note
that the ratio may be different for dif-
adapted from Ref. 1) and using loga-
rithmic interpolation if necessary.
Logarithmic interpolation should be
used to interpolate for in-between
values of Q/T.
5. Calculate the cost of the heat
exchanger by multiplying C and
Q/T.
6. Calculate the area of the heat
exchanger using Eq. 3.
If there is one heat exchanger or
heat exchanger flow configuration
that is significantly better (by a factor
of 1.5 or so), then this type warrants a
detailed design and cost estimation. If
there are several exchangers with
comparable costs, then all of them
need to be investigated in detail.
It should be noted that extensive
V. V. WADEKAR is Research Manager at HTFS,
AEA Technology Hyprotech, Harwell, U.K.
(Phone: +44-1235-434249;
Fax: +44-1235-831981; E-mail:
vishwas.wadekar@hyprotech.com).
In addition to leading his research team at
Harwell, he chairs the HTFS Industrial
Review Panel on compact heat exchangers.
He has authored or coauthored a number of
technical and research papers in the area of
compact heat exchangers, multiphase flow
heat and mass transfer, and boiling heat
transfer. He has lectured internationally and
presented numerous training courses related
to compact and other exchanger types.
Recently, he has started teaching a short
course on compact heat exchangers at the
AIChE Spring National Meeting. He obtained
his BChemEng and PhD degrees from
Bombay Univ. Dept. of Chemical Technology.
He is a member of the Heat Transfer Society,
U.K., and of AIChE.

CEP December 2000 www.aiche.org/cep/ 49