Saturated Steam vs Superheated Steam in

Heat Exchangers

Superheated steam is sometimes used for process heating in many steam plants around the
world, however it is not the best choice. In refieneries and petrochemical plants, superheated
steam is already available on site for power generation, being the preferred energy source for
steam turbines (STs), rather than because it has any advantage over saturated steam for
heating purposes. In most cases, saturated steam should be used for heat transfer processes,
even if it means desuperheating the steam to do so (to within about few degrees of superheat).
This small degree of superheat (within 10 degrees) is removed readily in the first part of the
heating surface. Greater amounts of superheat are more difficult, and often uneconomic to
deal with and (for heating purposes) are best avoided because of the following:

Superheated steam has to cool to saturation temperature before it can condense to

release its latent heat (enthalpy of evaporation). The amount of heat given up by the
superheated steam as it cools to saturation temperature (Sensible heat) is relatively
small in comparison to its enthalpy of evaporation (Latent heat).
If the steam has only a few degrees of superheat, this small amount of heat is quickly
given up before it condenses. However, if the steam has a large degree of superheat, it
may take a relatively long time to cool, during which time the steam is releasing very
little energy.
Unlike saturated steam, the temperature of superheated steam is not uniform.
Superheated steam has to cool to give up heat, whilst saturated steam changes phase.
This means that temperature gradients over the heat transfer surface may occur with
superheated steam
Superheated steam requires larger heat transfer areas. From the heat transfer equation:

Q= U * A * delta T

If superheated steam has a higher temperature than saturated steam at the same
pressure, surely superheated steam should be able to transfer more heat? The answer
to this is no. It is true that the temperature difference will have an effect on the rate
of heat transfer across the heat transfer surface, as clearly shown in the above
equation, however the equation also shows that heat transfer will depend on the
overall heat transfer coefficient U, and the heat transfer area A.
For any single application, the heat transfer area might be fixed. However, the same
cannot be said of the U value; and this is the major difference between saturated and
superheated steam. The overall U value for superheated steam will vary throughout
the process, but will always be much lower than that for saturated steam. It is difficult
to predict U values for superheated steam, as these will depend upon many factors,
but generally, the higher the degree of superheat, the lower the U value.
Typically, for a shell and tube heat exchanger, U values might be as low as 100
W/m2C for superheated steam but about 500 W/m2C for saturated steam can be
expected.
Predicting the size of heat transfer surfaces utilising superheated steam is difficult and complex.
In practice, the basic data needed to perform such calculations is either not known or
empirically obtained, putting their reliability and accuracy in doubt.

Clearly, as superheated steam is less effective at transferring heat than saturated steam, then
any heating area using superheated steam would have to be larger than a saturated steam heat
exchanger operating at the same pressure to deliver the same heat flowrate.

So, superheated steam is not as effective as saturated steam for heat transfer applications. If
there is no choice but to use superheated steam, the superheated steam for heat transfer purposes
should not hold more than about 10C of superheat.

It is relatively easy and practical to design a heat exchanger with a heating surface area based
upon saturated steam at the same pressure, by adding on a certain amount of surface area to
allow for the superheat. Using this guideline, the first part of a heat exchanger will be used
purely to reduce the temperature of superheated steam to its saturation point. The rest of the
heat exchanger will then be able to take advantage of the higher heat transfer ability of the
saturated steam. The effect is that the overall U value may not be much less than if saturated
steam were supplied to the coil.

From practical experience (as per SpiraxSarco), if the extra heating area needed for
superheated steam is 1% per 2C of superheat, the heat exchanger will be large enough. This
seems to work up to 10C of superheat. It is not recommended that superheated steam above
10C of superheat be used for heating purposes due to the probable disproportionate and
uneconomic size of the heating surface, the propensity for fouling by dirt, and the possibility
of product spoilage by the high and uneven superheat temperatures.

Summary:
Disadvantages of using superheated steam for heating: