CHAPTER 2: HEAT EXCHANGER (HE-102)

2.1 Sizing and Configuration Design

2.1.1 Selection of Equipment Type and Justification

Two fluids flow through the heat exchanger at different starting temperatures. One
flows through the tubes (the side of the tube) and the other flows into the shell (the side
of the shell) outside the tubes. Through the tube walls, heat is transferred from tube
side to shell side or vice versa. The fluids on either the shell or the tube side can be
either liquids or gasses. A large heat transfer area should be used to transfer heat
efficiency, so there are plenty of tubes. Waste heat can be used in this way. This is a
great way of saving energy.

A shell and tube heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger design. HE-102 is a shell
and tube heat exchanger that allows heat transfer between process stream S-13 and
cooling water S-14. Therefore, the chemicals such as tetrahydrofuran,1-4 butandiol
and gamma-butylactone is pre-heated by utilizing the heat duty of water stream. The
type of heat exchanger used is shell and tube heat exchanger with counter-current
flow.

The temperature of the solution is based on the physical properties of the mixtures of
compound entering in the design of this heat exchanger, the inlet temperature is higher
than the outlet temperature, and the solution is flow through cold water in counter
current direction of the heat exchanger. In counter-current heat exchangers, the fluid
routes flow in opposite directions, with each leaving where the other enters.
Counter-current heat exchangers tend to be more effective than other types of
exchangers. For a shell and tube heat exchange, the maintenance can be done easily
(Sunden, 2005). The shell and the tubes can be made of different provisions.
Moreover, extended heat transfer surfaces (fins) can be used to develop heat transfer.
Cleaning and repair are relatively forthright, because the equipment can be dismantled
for this persistence (Mukherjee, 1998).
The heat exchanger inlet temperature and heat exchanger outlet temperature vary.
Since this design focuses on the heat exchanger, the heat exchanger inlet temperature
is lower than the heat exchanger outlet temperature. The selected temperature of inlet
is based to increase the temperature of fresh toluene. The process utility choose
process stream as the medium of heat transfer.

2.1.2 Method of Design and Assumption

The major inputs of thermal design of heat exchangers are the flow rates of both hot
and cold streams, their terminal temperatures and fluid properties. The reference of
the design specifications and calculation for the heat exchanger is the Coulson and
Richardson which is based on the conceptual design for shell and tube heat
exchanger. Several methods for determining the heat exchanger design include the
overall heat transfer coefficient, the size of the tube and shell, tube arrangements, type
of head, the optimum baffle cut point as well as pressure drops in both shell and tube.

Figure 2.1: Fixed Tube Sheet Exchanger

In a fixed tube sheet exchanger, the tube sheet is welded to the shell. This results in a
simple and cheap construction and the tube bores can be cleaned mechanically or
chemically. However, the outside surfaces of the tubes are unreachable except to
chemical cleaning. If large temperature differences exist between the shell and tube
materials, it may be necessary to include an expansion bellows in the shell, to
eliminate excessive stresses caused by expansion. Such bellows are often a source of
weakness and failure in operation. In circumstances where the consequences of
failure are particularly serious, U-Tube or Floating Header units are normally used.
This is the cheapest of all removable bundle designs, but is generally more costly than
a fixed tube sheet design at low pressures.

2.1.2.1 Shell

Shell is the vessel for the shell fluid and the tube bundle is placed inside the shell.
Shell diameter should be designed in such a way to give a close fit of the tube bundle.
The clearance between the tube bundle and inner shell wall depends on the type of
exchanger. Shells are usually fabricated from standard steel pipe with reasonable
corrosion allowance. The shell thickness of 3/8 inch for the shell ID of 12-24 inch can
be reasonably used up to 20.69 Bar of operating pressure.

2.1.2.2 Tube Pitch

Tube OD of ¾’’ and 1‟ are very common to design a compact heat exchanger. The
most effective condition for heat transfer is to have the maximum number of tubes in
the shell in order to reduce turbulence. The tube thickness should be sufficient to
withstand the internal pressure along with the tolerable corrosion allowance. The tube
thickness is expressed in terms of BWG (Birmingham Wire Gauge) and outside
diameter (OD). The tube length of 6, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 ft. are preferably used.
Longer tube decreases shell diameter at the expense of higher shell pressure drop.
Finned tubes are also used when fluid with low heat transfer coefficient flows in the
shell side. Some of the commonly used tube materials are stainless steel, admiralty
brass, copper, bronze and alloys of copper-nickel.

2.1.2.3 Tube Sheet

The tubes are fixed with tube sheet that form the obstacle between the tube and shell
fluids. The tubes can be fixed with the tube sheet using ferrule and a soft metal
packing ring and the tubes are devoted to tube sheet with two or more grooves in the
tube sheet wall by “tube rolling‟ The tube metal is forced to move into the channels
forming an brilliant tight seal. This is the most common type of fixing arrangement in
large industrial exchangers. The tube sheet thickness should be greater than the tube
outside diameter to make a good seal (Kuppan, 2000).

2.1.2.4 Baffles

Baffles are used to increase the fluid velocity by diverting the flow across the tube
bundle to obtain higher transfer coefficient. The distance between adjacent baffles is
called baffle-spacing. The baffle spacing of 0.2 to 1 times of the inside shell diameter is
commonly used. Baffles are held in positioned by means of baffle spacers. Closer
baffle spacing gives greater transfer coefficient by inducing higher turbulence. The
pressure drop is more with closer baffle spacing In case of cut-segmental baffle, a
segment (called baffle cut) is removed to form the baffle expressed as a percentage of
the baffle diameter. Baffle cuts from 15 to 45% are normally used. A baffle cut of 20 to
25% provide a good heat-transfer with the reasonable pressure drop. The percentage
cut for segmental baffle refers to the cut away height from its diameter.

2.1.2.5 Flanges

Flanges are used on the shell of a vessel to permit disassembly and removal or
cleaning of internal parts. They are also used for making connection for piping and
nozzle attachments. The standard types of flanges for different pressure ratings are
welding neck type, slip on type, screwed type, lap joint blind type, etc (Sinnott &
Towler, 2013).

2.1.2.6 Gaskets

The purposes of a gasket are to interrupt a semi plastic material between the flange
facings, by which the material seals (through deformation under load) the minute
surface irregularities to prevent the leakage of the fluid. The amount of force required
for this purpose is known as yield or seating force (Sinnott & Towler, 2013. They are of
different types; the most commonly used are fabricated with a metal jacket and a soft
filler (usually of asbestos). Such gaskets can be used up to temperatures of about 850
F and require comparatively less bolt load to seat and keep tight.

2.1.2.7 Channel

Channel is a tube side element. It has also got a cylindrical section. The tube side
through the channel. Partition plates are made use for multi-pass flow. The effective
thickness of the channel cover will be the thickness measured at the bottom of the
pass portion groove minus tube side corrosion allowance (Kuppan, 2000).

2.1.2.8 Nozzles

In the situation of heat exchangers, nozzles are the pass ways for the in and out flow of
the hot and cold fluids. The strength of shell will be reduced due to the drilling of holes
for the insertion of nozzles. If the thickness of the shell is not sufficient to withstand the
differential stress thus developed additional metallic plate must be introduced

2.1.2.9 Fouling Considerations

The most of the process fluids in the exchanger foul the heat transfer surface. The
material deposited reduces the effective heat transfer rate due to relatively low thermal
conductivity. Therefore, net heat transfer with clean surface should be higher to
compensate the reduction in performance during operation. Fouling of exchanger
increases the cost of (i) Construction due to oversizing, (ii) Additional energy due to
poor exchanger performance, (iii) Cleaning to eliminate deposited materials. A spare
exchanger may be considered in design for uninterrupted services to allow cleaning of
exchanger. The effect of fouling is considered in heat exchanger design by including
the tube side and shell side fouling resistances.

2.1.2.10 Design Procedure

Shell and tube heat exchanger is designed by trial and error calculations. The

main steps of design following the Kern method are summarized as follows:

Figure 2.2: Design Procedure for Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers

2.1.2 Modelling Assumption

There are few assumptions on heat exchanger in thermal design, this assumptions are
consider while designing the heat exchanger:

• The heat exchanger operate under steady-state condition Constant flow rates
Constant temperature.

• Heat losses to or from surrounding.

• There are no thermal energy sources in the exchanger walls or fluids

Electric heating

Chemical reaction

Nuclear processes

• The temperature of each fluid is uniform over every in counter flow and parallel
flow exchangers. Each fluid is considered mixed or unmixed from the temperature
distribution viewpoint at every cross section in single-pass cross flow exchangers,
depending on the specifications.

• Wall thermal resistance is distribute uniformly in the entire exchanger.

• Longitudinal heat conduction in the fluids and in the wall is negligible.

• The individual and overall heat transfer coefficients are constant throughout the
exchanger independent of temperature, time, and position.

• The specific heat of each fluid is constant throughout the exchanger, the heat
capacity rate on each side is treated as constant.

• The velocity and temperature at the entrance of the heat exchanger on each fluid
side are uniform over the flow cross section.
2.1.3 Step-by-step Calculation

S15

B1

S13
S16

S14

Figure 1.3 : Illustration of Heat Exchanger (HE- 102)

Where,

(S13) T1 = inlet shell side fluid temperature

(S16) T2 = outlet shell side fluid temperature

(S14) t1 = inlet tube side temperature

(S15) t2 = outlet tube-side temperature

The log mean temperature difference ΔTlm (LMTD) for counter-current flow

is given by:
 (T1  t 2 )  (T2  t1 )
Tlm 
(T  t )
ln 1 2
(T2  t1 )
(225  70)  (175  45)
Tlm 
(225  70)
ln
(175  45)
 142.13

It is important to consider the correction factor where it is correlated based on the shell
and tube fluid temperatures and the number of tube and shell passes. It is normally
correlated as a function of two dimensionless temperature ratios:

Correction factor Ft is determined in terms of heat capacity ratio R and

thermal effectiveness S.

(T1  T2 ) ( t 2  t1 )
R S
( t1  t 2 ) (T1  t 2 )
( 225  175) (70  45)
R S
(70  45) (225  45)
2  0.138

The factor R is obtained through the shell side fluid flow-rate multiply with the fluid
mean specific heat; and then later divides by the tube side fluid flow-rate multiply with
the tube side specific heat. As for S factor, it is a measure of the temperature efficiency
of the exchanger. Based on the temperature-driving force correction factor the value of
FT tabulated from Figure 2.4\ is 0.97. Thus, it is assumed as a 2 shell 4 tube pass heat
exchanger.

Based on S and R values calculated, the correction factor is approximately

Ft= 0.97 from the figure below.

Figure 2.4: Temperature Correction Factor; Two Shell Passes; Four or

Multiples of Four Shell Passes
Source: (Seider et al., 2000)

True temperature difference:

Tm  Ft xTlm

=0.97×142.13℃

=137.86℃

The heat requirements are calculated as,

Q =UAΔTlm = mCpΔT

Where Q is the exchanged heat duty, U is the heat transfer coefficient, ΔTlm is the
log-mean temperature difference and A is exchange area. The typical range is the
overall coefficient is being referred from the table data provided by Coulson and
Richardson, Which is in the range of 100-300 W/m2 0C. After calculating the value of
Q is 2365650 W, and the estimated overall coefficient is 200 W/m2 0C.

Q
A
U.Tm
2365650W
A
200W / m 2 o C 137.86o C
A  85.79m 2

2.1.3.1 Calculation for Tube Side

The tube diameter choose for heat exchanger is 20mm outer diameter. This

diameter is most commonly used because it has greater heat transfer area,

cleaning considerations and vibration. The diameter is designed that are able

to withstand corrosion and internal pressure. The standard of wall thickness to

resist corrosion is show in table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Standard Dimension for Steel Tubes

Outer Diameter = 20mm

Inner Diameter= 16mm

Tube length = 6m

Tube wall thickness= 2mm

No. of tube per pass= 228 tubes

No. of passes= 57

The wall thickness choose is 20mm, by taking the corrosion allowance of 10% of the
outer diameter, it takes 2mm to withstand internal pressure during the process.
Therefore, the internal diameter is measured as 16mm. The length of the tube is
selected as 6.0m. A longer heat exchanger can reduce the shell diameter and hence
reduce the cost. The wall thickness is defined by the Birmingham wire gage (BWG).
Tube Number and Length Select the number of tubes per tube side pass to give
optimum velocity 1 m/s for liquids. If the velocity cannot be achieved in a single pass
consider increasing the number of passes. Tube length is determined by heat transfer
required subject to plant layout and pressure drop constraints. Long tube lengths with
few tubes may give rise to shell side distribution problems (Edward, 1960).

Number of tubes:

Area of one tube, A= π x 20 x 10-3m x 6m

= 0.377m2

Number of tubes required:

N = Total Area / Area of one tube

= 85.79 / 0.377

= 228 tubes

Therefore for 4 pass tube, tube per pass = 57


Tube cross section area = (18x10 3 ) 2  2.54x10  4 m 2
4

Thus, area per pass = 57(2.54x10-4m2)=0.014478m2

Tube side velocity, Ut

volumetric flow
Ut 
area per passes
2.469x103 m3 / s

0.014478 m 2
 0.1705 m / s

Bundle and Shell Diameter

Number of tubes as well as number of passes will affect the value obtained for

the bundle diameter. It is important that some spaces should be provided in

order to accommodate the pass partition plates. Referring to the Table 1.2, for

four tube passes K1= 0.158, n1= 2.263.

Table 1.2: Constants used to Calculate Bundle Diameter (Db)

Source: (Seider, et al., 2000).

 1
N
D b  d 0 ( t ) n1
K1
 0.270m

From the shell bundle clearance graph, the shell inside diameter-bundle

diameter obtained is 12 mm with the reference value of shell bundle diameter.

Therefore, the shell inside diameter,

Ds= 0.270m + 0.012m= 0.282m

Bundle Diameter Clearance:

 Figure 2.5 Shell-bundle Diameter Clearance
Source: (Seider, et al., 2000)

Tube side Heat transfer coefficient

The Reynolds Number of the flow is:

Ud i
Re 

kg m
994.41 3
x 0.1705 x 0.012m
 m s
kg
4.06x10 3
m.s
 501.123

The Prandtl number is:

Cp 
Pr 
kf
kJ kg
9.9296 0
x 4.06 x10  3
kg. C m.s

kJ
0.134
s.m.0 C
 3.38x10  2
Where,

Cp is the specific capacity;

Kf is the thermal conductivity

The value of Cp is specific heat capacity and kf refers to the thermal

conductivity of tube side process stream. As mention before, the selected

optimum value of the tube length is 6m long due to the consideration of

reduction of the shell diameter as well as the cost of the exchanger. The ratio

of length to pipe inside diameter is:

Ration of the length to pipe inside diameter is:

Length of the tube = 6m

L/di = 6/0.012

=500m

Based on the value obtained for Re, the flow in the tube side is turbulent, the

heat transfer data for turbulent flow inside conduits of uniform cross-section

are usually correlated by Nusselt equation

Nu  jh Re Pr 0.33
 (7 x10 3 )(501.12)(3.38x10 2 )
 1.15

jh refers to the heat transfer factor which can be obtained by interpolation from

the tube side heat transfer factor graph provided by Perry.

Figure 2.6 : Tube Side Heat Transfer Factor

The heat transfer coefficient for tube side is:

kf
hi  Nu x
di
0.134
 1.15x
0.012
W
 113.76 2 0
m C

2.1.3.2 CALCULATION FOR SHELL SIDE

The procedure for calculating the shell-side heat-transfer coefficient and

pressure drop for a shell pass exchanger is given below by using Kern’s

Method (Incropera, 2016). The shell diameter in our heat exchanger is 0.281

mm. As for the shell inside diameter, the baffle spacing usually 0.3 to 0.5

bigger, therefore the baffle spacing to maximize heat transfer, the baffle

spacing is

Baffle spacing  0.4 x d i

 0.4x 0.281m
 0.1124m

The area for cross-flow AS for the hypothetical row of tubes at the shell
equator is given as:

(Pt  d o )Ds l b
As 
Pt

Where,

Tube pitch, Pt= 1.25×(do) = 25mm

Outer diameter, do= 20mm

Shell diameter, Ds= 281mm

Assume baffle spacing, Ib= 112.4mm

(25  20)(0.1124)(0.281)
As 
25

As = 6.32 x 10-3m2

For equilateral square pitch arrangement, the shell-side equivalent diameter is

expressed as
Volumetric flow rate on shell-side, Gs

kg 1hr 1m 3
3603 x x
hr 3600s 761.69kg
m3
 0.001313
s

Shell side velocity

1.313x10 3

6.32x10 3
m
 0.208
s

Reynold’s Number in the shell side is

0.208x 0.0152 x 761.69

Re 
0.0001191
 20219.64

Prandtl number
 0.0001191x 4.181

0.04730
 1.05x104

The heat transfer factor, jh value is 0.029 obtained from Figure 2.6.

Figure 2.7 : Shell Side Heat Transfer Factors, Segmental Baffles

The heat transfer coefficient in the shell side is

 w
 86.12 2 o
m . C

A baffle with a 45% cut point is selected as it would give a reasonable heat transfer
coefficient without too large of a pressure drop. The heat transfer coefficient in the
shell side is therefore, 86.12 W/m2 ˚C

2.1.3.3 Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient

The overall heat transfer coefficient is given as:

20
20(ln )
1 1 20 16 )  1  6.32x10 3
(  6.32x103 )X( )  (
U 0 113.76 16 2(16) 86.12
w
 221.78
m 2o C

221.78  200
x100%
200
 10.89%  30%
The overall heat transfer coefficient is 221.78 W/m2 0C which is less than the 30%
from the estimated overall heat transfer coefficient. Therefore, the dimension of this
heat exchanger is acceptable.

2.1.3.4 Pressure Drop

Some of the bases of pressure loss on the tube side of a shell and tube

exchanger: the friction loss in the tubes and the losses due to the sudden

contraction and expansion and flow reversals that the fluid experiences in flow

through the tube arrangement. The pressure drop across the tube is

developed in equation below which takes into consideration the pressure

losses due to contraction at the tube inlets, expansion at the exits, and flow

reversal in the headers; and coupling the effect of loss in terms of velocity

heads. For the Shell side, the pressure drop equation is expressed in the

equation which takes into account the friction losses.

Tube Side Pressure Drop

4x 6x (0.1705) 2 x (994.41) 2 x 4.06x10 3


2x 0.012
N
 116709.375 2
m
 1.15atm

Shell Side Pressure Drop

=4.042 kN/m2

2.1.4 Equipment Sizing Specification Sheet

Heat Exchanger Data Sheet (HE-102)

Type of exchanger Fixed shell and tube heat exchanger

Heat duty 2365650 W

Heat transfer area 85.79 m2

Estimated overall heat transfer 200 W/m2 oC

cooefficient

Overall heat transfer coefficient 221.78 W/m2 oC

Operating Data

Tube-side Shell-side

Fluid Process stream Water stream

Inlet Temperature 45oC 225oC

Outer temperature 70oC 175oC

Pressure 2 atm 2 atm

Mass flow 8831.385 kg/m3 3603.056 kg/m3

Density of stream 994.41 kg/hr 761.64 kg/hr

Thermal Conductivity 1.1901 W/m oC 0.0473 W/m oC

 Fouling factor 0.002 (W/m2oC)-1 0.002 (W/m2oC)-1

Tube-side Mechanical Data

Outside Diameter 20mm Inside diameter 12mm

Wall material Stainless steel 304 Tube length 6m

Tube arrangement Square pitch, 23mm Number of tubes 228

Exchanger type 2 shell pass, 4 tube Velocity 0.1705 m/s

passes

Thickness 5mm Bundle diameter 0.281m