Mind the gap

Alfa Laval WideGap – heat exchangers for fluids containing solids or fibres
Wide, wider, WideGap
Alfa Laval WideGap is the perfect heat exchanger for those thick,
fibrous, viscous, coarse, dirty, rough, crude and clumpy fluids you
work with.

The wide gaps between its plates allow fibres and particles to easily
pass through the heat exchanger with minimum clogging and
maximum process uptime as a result.

A WideGap heat exchanger has much higher thermal efficiency and

better flow geometry than a conventional alternative. This leads to
a number of benefits such as compact size, better heat recovery,
lower cooling water consumption, the possibility to use lower grade
steam and increased production.

Visit www.alfalaval.com/widegap or contact your local

Alfa Laval representative to learn more.
SantelisaVale replaced 15 inefficient shell-and-
tube units with six Alfa Laval WideGap plate
heat exchangers. The WideGaps recover heat
from two process streams and use it to preheat
mixed juice. The revamp led to a cut in live steam
consumption by 40-50%. The excess steam is
now used for electricity generation.

Higher heat recovery,

maximum process uptime
WideGap plate heat exchangers A lightweight, requiring much less WideGap expands with your plant
minimize clogging and maximize floor space Whatever your future plans, WideGap
process uptime. The secret is in the The high thermal efficiency of a heat exchangers offer a flexible solution.
wide gaps between the plates, the WideGap makes it very compact. When your WideGap duty changes,
plate pattern and the smooth port Compared to a shell-and-tube, a you can easily optimize performance by
design which allow fibres and particles WideGap occupies as little as 20% of reconfiguring the plates to fit the new
to flow easily. the floor space and is about 80% lighter operating conditions.
when filled with process media.
Recover more heat, reduce your
energy costs Increased uptime
An Alfa Laval WideGap offers a higher With WideGap, service intervals are
degree of heat recovery than shell-and- longer because clogging is minimized.
tube heat exchangers. Thanks to its For applications with fibrous media,
counter-current flow a WideGap can regular backflushing ensures even
heat the cold stream to a temperature longer service intervals.
very close to that of the entering hot
stream, maximizing energy recovery. For fouling duties, regular cleaning is
usually performed using CIP (cleaning in
Heat sources can be utilized that were place) equipment that flushes cleaning
previously seen as waste heat. As a chemicals through the unit while it
result live steam consumption can be is closed. WideGap’s small hold-up
reduced and excess steam can be volume minimizes chemical and water
used for electricity production. consumption, and shortens cleaning time.

Flow principle of a WideGap plate

heat exchanger
“We have installed three Alfa Laval WideGap 350s
for cooling of bleaching filtrate by cooling water
before biological treatment. They were started up in
April 2008 and, since then, their performance has
lived up to all our expectations, despite the fibrous
nature of the product. They are easy to open and
we clean them using high pressure water only. The
glued gaskets stay firmly in place on the plates
during re-assembly.”
Zellstoff Pöls AG

Why waste your energy?

There are thousands of WideGap units WideGap heat exchangers can help petrochemical industries. It can also be
saving energy for our customers worldwide recover and re-use far more energy used as a partial condenser to remove
in a range of applications and industries. from the industry’s warm, fibrous waste vapours from inerts, offering low pressure
streams than conventional technologies. drop and more efficient subcooling
Fuel ethanol of process media. The result is better
WideGap is the perfect choice for fibrous Sugar product recovery and energy savings
raw materials like grain, cassava or WideGap is an excellent solution for raw through reduced load on the vacuum
cellulose. During both fermentation and juice and limed juice containing fibres. pump. Savings can also be made on
distillation, WideGap enables heating and Liquid, steam or low pressure vapour can chilled water in systems where a second
cooling processes to be optimized and be used as heating media. Pan vapour stage condenser is used, thanks to better
more valuable energy to be recovered. or vapour from the last evaporation effect utilization of the cooling water.
Cooling liquefied mash using WideGap have historically been regarded as waste
makes it possible to recover heat from heat, but a double-sided WideGap makes Condensers for heat recovery
any stream in the plant – process water, use of this energy. This saves more WideGap is the perfect heat exchanger
beer or mash – helping reduce overall valuable heat sources for other duties, such for condensation of medium and low
energy consumption. Likewise, when as production of electricity that may be fed pressure process vapours to heat
cooling fermented mash using WideGap, to the national grid, or production of hot process media. The wide channel helps
no chilled water is necessary. water for the local district heating network. keep the pressure drop low on the vapour
side while it is possible to choose the right
Pulp and paper Petrochemicals channel width on the process media side.
In today’s pulp and paper industry, there WideGap is the ideal buy-and-forget This provides opportunities to recover the
is intense focus on recovering heat. solution as a pellet water cooler in the energy of low grade vapours.

Alfa Laval Service – Extending performance

360° Service Regular maintenance is key to achieving With Alfa Laval as your service partner,
optimal operating efficiency and return you get full support on a global scale.
Portfolio on investment. Alfa Laval Service offers
UPTIME
UPTIME a wide range of services and products Over the past 130 years, Alfa Laval has
that cover the entire life cycle of your built a global service network with a
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WideGap heat exchanger – from start-up strong local focus. Alfa Laval has service
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to monitoring services. Examples specialists ready to assist you in nearly
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include installation and commissioning, 100 countries and our efficient logistics
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regular maintenance, genuine spare chain makes sure you get the spare
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parts, reconditioning, redesign, parts you need.

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cleaning services, condition audits and

performance audits.
Configurations and models
An Alfa Laval WideGap can be configured to handle fibrous/dirty fluids in either one or two channels, so that an optimised fit can be
made to the actual process fluids. The pictures below show cross section views of the two different plate pack configurations.

Single sided WideGap

One extra wide channel for fibrous/dirty fluid (A) and one channel for non-fibrous fluid (B).

Double sided WideGap

Two wide channels for fibrous/dirty fluids (C).

Alfa Laval WideGap is available in four different sizes and with a variety of plate and gasket materials to ensure trouble-free operation,
regardless of process media. WideGap 350 is available with two types of plates: S plates and X plates. The X plate offers extra wide
distance between plates.

WideGap WideGap WideGap WideGap MA30-S MA30-S/M

100S 200S 350S 350X
Plate material
- Alloy 316 X X X X X X
- Alloy 254 X X X
- Titanium X X X X

Gasket material
- NBR X X X X X X
- EPDM X X X X X X
- FKMG X X X

Design pressure, max 11 bar 11 bar 11 bar 11 bar 11 bar 11 bar

Design temperature, max 160°C 160°C 180°C 145°C 140°C 130°C
PV code ALS, PED, ALS, PED, ALS, PED, ALS, PED, ALS, PED, ALS, PED,
ASME ASME ASME ASME ASME ASME
Port diameter 100 mm 200 mm 350 mm 350 mm 300 mm 300 mm
Free channel* 11/5 or 8/8 mm 11/5 or 8/8 mm 11/5 or 8/8 mm 17/5 or 11/11 mm 11/11 mm 11/5 mm

*The average distance between the plates

Alfa Laval in brief

Alfa Laval is a leading global

provider of specialized products
and engineered solutions.
Our equipment, systems and
services are dedicated to helping
customers to optimize the
performance of their processes.
Time and time again.
We help our customers to
heat, cool, separate and transport
products such as oil, water,
chemicals, beverages, foodstuffs,
starch and pharmaceuticals.
Our worldwide organization works
closely with customers in almost 100
countries to help them stay ahead.

How to contact Alfa Laval

Up-to-date Alfa Laval contact details

for all countries are always available
on our website at www.alfalaval.com

PFL00039EN 1505