Training Program on

Petroleum Refining
Technology
Session 4: Thermal Design
of Reboilers
Faculty: R. Mukherjee
Heat Transfer Consultant
New Delhi
Topics

 Pool boiling
 Parameters affecting boiling

 Types of reboilers: features,

advantages and disadvantages

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Boiling
 Extremely complex heat transfer
phenomenon
 Most researched subject in heat transfer.
 Types of boiling
* Pool (kettle and internal)
* Flow (thermosyphon)
* No-boiling (forced flow)
Thermal Design of Reboilers
R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Pool boiling curve

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Parameters affecting pool boiling

 Temperature difference
 Surface effects

 Mixture effects

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Temperature difference
 ΔT: driving force, even affects boiling
HTC.
 The higher the ΔT, the greater the HTC.

 Consider the following example:

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Case study
Shellside Tubeside
1. Fluid Propane Steam
2. Temp. in/out, oC 72.8 175/126.4
3. Operating pressure, 25.3 2.5
kg/cm2 abs.
4. All. pr. drop, kg/cm2 Negl. 0.1
5. Fouling resistance, h 0.0002 0.0001
m2oC/kcal
6. Heat duty, kcal/h 177,600
Thermal Design of Reboilers
R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Construction parameters
1. Type of reboiler Internal, U-tube
2. Port diameter, mm 337
3. No. of tubes x no. of tube passes 40 U’s x 2
4. Tube OD x BWG x straight length, mm 20 x 2 x 450 (eff. st.)
5. Heat transfer area, m2 2.57
6. Pr. drop, kg/cm2 shellside/tubeside Nil/negl.
7. HTC, kcal/h m2oC shell/tube/overall 12,435/6618/763
8. MTD, oC 53.6

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Effect of variation of delta-T
on boiling HTC

Steam pressure, kg/cm2 abs.

1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Boiling HTC, 10,977 12,806 14,208 15,356
kcal/h m2oC

MTD, oC 37.6 46.5 53.6 59.7

Heat duty, 146,200 185,900 218,500 246,600
kcal/h
Thermal Design of Reboilers
R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Surface effects
 Nucleate boiling is a surface phenomenon.
 A certain degree of superheat essential.
 Rough surfaces yield a higher heat
transfer coefficient.

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Vapor generation and boiling sites

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
High flux tubes

 High flux tubes are sintered tubes which

incorporate stable re-entrant sites.
 Boiling HTC several-fold higher.
 With high flux tubes, lower HT area for
same ΔT or lower ΔT for same HT area.
 Q = U.A.ΔT

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
High flux vs bare tubes

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Mixture effects
 Pure components: only phase change
(boiling)
 Mixtures: additional liquid sensible heating
-> lower HTC (worse for pool boiling)
 Greater no. of components -> higher
boiling range -> lower HTC

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Case study
Shellside Tubeside

1. Fluid circulated Hydrocarbon Steam

2. Temp. in/out, oC 135.5/179.5 (bubble 200/200

pt. = 135.5 C)
3. Boiling range, oC 89.5 -

4. Operating pr, kg/cm2 abs. 26.0 16.0

5. All. pr. drop, kg/cm2 Negl. 0.1

6. Fouling resistance, h m2 oC/kcal 0.0002 0.0001

7. Heat duty, kcal/h 3,840,000

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
 Construction parameters
1.Type of reboiler BKU (kettle)
2. Port/shell ID, mm 950/1350
3. No. of tubes x no. of tube passes 450 U’s x 2
4. Tube OD x BWG x st. length, mm ¾” x 14 x 5000
5. Connections, shellside/tubeside, mm In 300 out 2 x 250/in 200 out
80
6. Effective heat transfer area, m2 285
7. Pr. drop, kg/cm2 shellside/tubeside Nil/negl.
8. HTC shell/tube/overall, kcal/h m2 C 1338/10,248/813.5
9. Mixture correction factor 0.3
10. MTD, oC 20.5

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Mixture correction factor
Boiling range, oC Mixture correction factor Boiling HTC, kcal/h m2oC
89.5 0.3 1338
70 0.34 1447
50 0.4 1606
40 0.45 1717
30 0.5 1862
25 0.53 1954
20 0.58 2066
15 0.63 2205
10 0.7 2388
5 0.8 2651
2 0.89 2893
1 1.0 3194

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Variation in boiling HTC with
boiling range

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
 Flow boiling
 Many principles of  Two distinct groups of
pool apply here as flow regimes: (a) liquid at
well. wall (wet) as in bubble,
 Flow restricted to a slug, churn and annular
channel: and (b) vapor at wall
hydrodynamic (dry) as in mist and film.
effects are much  Evidently, the designer
more pronounced. tries to operate in a wet
regime.
Thermal Design of Reboilers
R. Mukherjee, April 2008
 Types of reboilers
 Kettle and internal
 Horizontal thermosyphon

 Vertical thermosyphon

 Forced flow

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Kettle Reboilers

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
 Kettle Reboilers: Principal
Features
 Can fully vaporise column bottoms:
additional stage for distillation
 Enlarged shell provides disengagement
space.

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Kettle Reboilers: Advantages
 Additional distillation stage
 Pool boiling, hence insensitive to
hydrodynamics. Operation much better (a)
fluctuations (b) low pressure (c) high pressure
(near critical)
 No external two-phase piping, hence higher
reliability

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Kettle Reboilers: Disadvantages
 Relatively costly. AKT even more.
 MTD determination difficult and uncertain, hence
conservative approach often adopted. The higher the
temperature range, the greater the penalty.
200  200
180  158
------ -----
20 42
 Fouling tendency high as little turbulence. Should not be
used for dirty services.

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Horizontal Thermosyphon Reboilers

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Horizontal Thermosyphon Reboilers:
Principal features
 Usually ‘G’ or ‘H’ to
minimise pr. drop,
sometimes ‘E’ or ‘J’ for
vaporising wide-boiling
mixtures
 Longitudinal baffle
prevents short-
 Vaporisation 20-30%,max.
circuiting, minimises
phase separation and 50%: penalties of low HTC,
promotes mixing of light excessive fouling and
and heavy components reduction in MTD

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Horizontal Thermosyphon Reboilers:
Advantages
 High circulation  Lower fouling
rates, high potential compared
convective heat to kettles. Can be
transfer used for dirty boiling
component, high streams.
boiling HTC  Less sensitive than
VTR’s. Kettles least.

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Horizontal Thermosyphon Reboilers:
Disadvantages
 Higher cost than VTR’s. Usually floating-
head. Multiple nozzles and extra piping.
 Fouling on shellside, more difficult to clean
than VTR’s.
 Two-phase flow in exit piping requires careful
analysis and design.

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Vertical Thermosyphon Reboilers

Recirculation type Once-through type

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
 Vertical Thermosyphon
Reboilers: Principal features

 Boiling inside tubes,  As fixed tubesheet,

single tube pass, heating medium has to
fixed tubesheet. be clean.
 Boiling inside tubes  Reboiler-to-column
well researched. piping critical. Unduly
small outlet piping
biggest single cause of
mal-operation.

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
VTR’s: Flow regimes

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Vertical Thermosyphon Reboilers:
Advantages

 Least cost. Fixed tubesheet.

 Fouling less pronounced due to high
circulation and shear stress. Easier to
clean on tubeside.
 Highest MTD – pure countercurrent

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008
Forced flow reboilers

Thermal Design of Reboilers

R. Mukherjee, April 2008