CHE 165 – Plant Design; D.

Wagner 1

Heat Exchanger Design

Lecture 11 – Friday, November 8, 2019
 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

25 Heat Exchanger Design

Towler and Sinnott 19
SSL Chapter 12
 Heat Exchanger Design
26 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

 Heat Duty
 Heat-transfer media
 Temperature driving force for heat transfer
 Pressure drop
 Exchanger Temperature Profiles
27 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner
 Heat Exchangers

• Heat Transfer Basics

• Tubular Exchangers

• Heat Exchanger Design

• Compact Heat Exchangers

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 Three Mechanisms of Heat Transfer
• Conduction
Q = A k dT
dx
• Affects wall resistances, which are usually negligible for heat transfer equipment

• Convection
Q = U A ∆T
• Usually the governing mechanism in most process applications

Q = heat duty
• Radiation A = area
Q = A σ ε (ΔT4) T = absolute temperature
k = thermal conductivity
• Important in fired heaters
U = heat transfer coefficient
σ = Stefan Boltzman const.
ε = transmission factor

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 Convective Heat Transfer in a Tube
 Cp μ 
1/3 0.8
hi di  ρ v di 
Dittus-Boelter Equation: Nu = = 0.023    
k  k   μ 
(for inside h.t.c. hi based on
inside diameter di)
k 2/3
= 0.023 0.2 C p μ −0.467 (v ρ )
1/3 0.8
Collect variables: hi
di

So if we increase then hi will:

Fluid thermal conductivity, k increase

Fluid heat capacity, Cp increase
Fluid density, ρ increase
Velocity, v increase
Fluid viscosity, μ decrease
Pipe diameter, di decrease

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 Combined Conduction and Convection
L
• For a flat plate, overall resistance is the
sum of the individual resistances
h1 h2
Q1 L 1 
hot cold  + +  = Th − Tc
A  h1 k h 2 

• Hence overall heat transfer coefficient, U is

k given by
T Q = U A (Th − Tc )
Th
Tc
1 1 L 1
= + +
U h1 k h 2
x

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 Cylindrical Geometry (Tubes)
• By convention, U is based on outside diameter

Q = U A (Th − Tc )
ro

ln (ro / ri )
ri
1 1 1
= + +
ro U ro h o k ri h i

• Add terms for fouling:

1 1 1 ln (ro / ri ) 1 1
= + + + +
ro U ro h o ro f o k ri f i ri h i

Outside h.t.c. ho depends strongly on equipment type: see Chapter 19

for correlations
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 Counter Current Heat Transfer
Tc, in
Hot End Cold End
ΔTh = Th,in – Tc,out Th, in ΔTc = Th,out – Tc,in
Th, out
Tc, out

• Q = U A ΔTm

• For perfect counter current flow, ΔTm is the log mean

temperature difference:
∆Tlm =
((T h,in − Tc,out ) − (Th,out − Tc,in ))
 (Th,in − Tc,out ) 
ln 
 (Th,out − Tc,in ) 


• Easiest to remember as: (ΔTh − ΔTc )

∆Tlm =
 ΔT 
ln h 
 ΔTc 
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 Counter-current Flow in Real Exchangers
• Most real heat exchangers do not have pure counter-
current flow

• We apply a correction factor for this in design

Q = U A F ΔTlm

• F is usually > 0.8 unless the design is poor (see later)

• F is sometimes called Ft
hot out

hot in
cold out cold in

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 Heat Exchanger (HE) Basics
35 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

 Most designs of HE assume steady-state operation

 Conduction, convection, radiation
 Batch systems may use non-steady-state exchangers
 Exchangers can be sized by inside or outside wall area
 Less frequently sized by mean area
 Use correction factors for multi-pass heat exchangers
 Effectiveness factors for countercurrent systems as design guideline
 Target between 0.4 and 0.8
 Selection of Exchanger Type
36 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

 TEMA (Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association)

 ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
 General guidelines
 Thermal and hydraulic requirements
 Material compatibility

 Operational maintenance

 Environmental, health, and safety considerations and regulations

 Availability

 Cost
 Key Heat Exchanger Types
37 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

 Double-pipe and multiple double-pipe

 Shell-and-tube
 Scraped-surface – highly viscous or crystallization systems
 Gasketed and welded plate – easily modified
 Spiral plate and tube – minimize need for insulation, reduce fouling
 Compact – high contact area, low volume
 Gas-to-gas – combustion systems
 Air-cooled – no shell required
 Condensers and Evaporators – phase change
 Double-pipe Exchangers
38 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner
 Heat Exchangers

• Heat Transfer Basics

• Tubular Exchangers

• Heat Exchanger Design

• Compact Heat Exchangers

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 Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers

How do we turn this -

Into this -

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 Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers

Source: Perry’s Chemical Engineers Handbook, McGraw-Hill

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 Shell and Tube Exchangers

Source: Riggins Company:

www.rigginscompany.com
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 S&T Exchanger Construction

Baffle assembly

Inserting
Welding the shell tubes

Final
product
Tubesheet
Source: Bos-Hatten Inc.: www.Bos-Hatten.com
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 Tube Bundles

U-tubes

Tubesheet

Baffles

Source: UOP

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 Heat Exchanger Design

• Heat exchange design must:

– Provide required area
– Contain process pressure
– Prevent leaks from shell to tubes or tubes to shell
– Allow for thermal expansion
– Allow for cleaning if fouling occurs
– Allow for phase change (some cases)
– Have reasonable pressure drop

• S&T heat exchangers are built to standards set by the Thermal Exchanger
Manufacturers Association (TEMA)

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 TEMA Nomenclature: Front Heads
• A Type
• Easy to open for tubeside access
• Extra tube side joint

A B • B Type
• Must break piping connections to open
exchanger
• Single tube side joint

C N • C Type
• Channel to tubesheet joint eliminated
• Bundle integral with front head

• N Type
D • Fixed tubesheet with removable cover
plate

• D Type
• Special closures for high pressure
applications

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 TEMA Nomenclature: Shells
E • E Type
• Most common configuration without phase change

F • F Type
• Counter current flow obtained. Baffle leakage problems.

G
• G Type
• Lower pressure drop

• H Type
H • Horizontal thermosyphon reboilers

• J Type
J • Older reboiler designs

• K Type
K • Phase separation integral to exchanger

• X Type
X • Lowest pressure drop, low F factor

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 TEMA Nomenclature: Rear Heads
• L Type
• Same as A type front head

• M Type
L M • Same as B type front head

• N Type
P • Same as N type front head
N

• P & W Types
• Rarely used
S T

• S Type
• Floating head with backing ring

U W
• T Type
• Floating head pulls through shell

• U Type
• Removable bundle without floating head

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 Selection of Exchanger Type: Examples
1) Feed preheater 2) Crude preheat train

Low pressure Low pressure

Tubeside - Steam Tubeside – Vacuum Residue

Shellside – Naphtha Shellside – Crude oil

BEU AES or AET

3) Reboiler 4) Sterilizer Preheat

Medium pressure Low pressure

Tubeside - Steam Tubeside - Milk

Shellside - Kerosene Shellside - Steam

BKU or BHM AET
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 Lmtd Correction Factors
E Shell - 1 Shell Pass: Similar correlations exist for other shell arrangements

Source: Perry’s Chemical Engineers Handbook, McGraw-Hill

T1
t2

t1 R = (T1 - T2)
T2 (t2 – t1)

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 Temperature Cross
• When Th, out < Tc, out we have a T
“temperature cross”

• Temperature cross causes problems

if exchanger is not counter-current
and gives low F factors
Duty, or Enthalpy, H
• If Tc,out – Th,out > 5% of Lmtd then F <
0.8 and it is usually best to split the
exchanger into multiple shells in T
series

• Number of shells can be estimated

by stepping off on T-H diagram
H
Note: • Real exchangers can have non-constant Cp
• Size & duty of HX in series is not necessarily the same
• Large number of shells in series approximates pure counter-current exchange
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 Tube Pitch
Pitch

30 60 90 45

• Triangular or square pitch, each with two orientations

• TEMA minimum pitch is 1.25 x tube outside diameter

• Sometimes use larger pitch for easier cleaning (but bigger shell,
lower shellside h.t.c.)
FEATURE USE PATTERN:
lower ∆P on shellside square (effective only at low Re number)
shellside fouling square - easier cleaning
horizontal shellside square - prevent vapor blanketing
boiling
decrease shell size fit 15% more tubes if triangular pitch used
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 Flow Over Tube Banks
53 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner
 Conventional Tube Layouts
54 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner
 Baffle Types & Shell Flow Patterns
max unsupported
tube span

FULL
TUBEFIELD

max unsupported
tube span

FULL
TUBEFIELD

max unsupported
tube span

empty space empty space

PARTIAL
TUBEFIELD

empty space empty space

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 Shell-and-Tube Exchangers - Internals
56 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner
 Kettle Reboiler (vaporization or boiling)
57 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner
 Exercise: Selection of Sides
Process Fluid Side Selection Reason
Fouling fluid Tube Easier to clean
Viscous fluid Shell Lower Δp
Suspended solids Tube No dead spots for settling
Highest T Tube Cheaper, mechanically stronger
Highest pressure Tube Cheaper, mechanically stronger
Cooling water Tube Easier to clean
Corrosive fluid Tube Cheaper, easier to replace tubes
Much larger flow Shell Lower Δp
Condensing fluid Shell Drains better

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 Heat Exchangers

• Heat Transfer Basics

• Tubular Exchangers

• Heat Exchanger Design

• Compact Heat Exchangers

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 Heat Exchanger Design
1. Determine duty, check for temp cross Q = (m Cp ΔT) + (δm ΔHvap)

2. Estimate U and hence calculate area Q = U A F ΔTlm

3. Determine exchanger type and tube layout

4. Pick d, L and calculate number of tubes, hence shell diameter

5. Calculate hi, ho and confirm U. Return to 2 if needed.

6. Calculate Δp. Return to 3 if needed.

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 Approximate Heat Transfer Coefficients
More examples (in metric units) in Chapter 19
Fluid h (Btu/(hr.ft2.F))
Shell-side Tube-side
Liquids
Water solutions, 50% water or more 300 300
Alcohols, organic solvents 200 200
Light Hydrocarbons (naphtha, gasoline) 190 190
Medium Hydrocarbons (kerosene, diesel) 130 120
Heavy oils (gas oils, crude oil) 30 20

Vapors
Air, 10 psig 10 10
Hydrogen, 50 psig 100 100
Hydrogen, 500 psig 400 400
Hydrocarbon vapor, 50 psig 60 60
Noncondensible gas, 2 psig 5 5

Note: Coefficients are based on 3/4 inch diameter tubes. For Tube side flows, correct by
multiplying by 0.75/Actual OD. Estimated accuracy is 25%. For 50% hydrogen in
vapor, reduce h to 2/3 of pure H2 value.
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 Approximate Fouling Factors
Fluid f (Btu/(hr.ft2.F))

River water 600

Sea water 500
Cooling tower water 600
Town water (soft) 700
Town water (hard) 300
Flue gas 800
Steam 1000
Steam condensate 1000
Light & medium hydrocarbons 800
Heavy oils 200
Boiling organics 400
Aqueous salt solutions 600
Fermentation broths 300

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 Hydraulics & Pressure Drop
• Heat exchanger design is a trade off between better heat
transfer (high velocity, low diameter) and pressure drop

• In early stages of design, we usually allow for a “typical”

pressure drop:
• 5 psi shell-side
• 10 psi tube-side
– But we have to calculate Δp rigorously where it is critical to
performance, e.g. thermosyphon reboilers

• In detailed design, use correlations or simulation programs

to more rigorously optimize if pressure drop is important to
process performance – see Chapter 19 for examples

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 Example: S&T HX Design
• What size of exchanger is needed to heat 375,000 lb/h of naphtha from
150F to 300F using medium pressure steam at 360F?
• Q = m.Cp.ΔT = 375 x 103 x 0.5 x 150 = 28.125 MMBtu/h
• Put steam shell-side, oil tube-side, TEMA BEU
• Estimate hi = 190 Btu/(h.ft2.F), ho = 1500 Btu/(h.ft2.F)
• Estimate fi = 400 Btu/(h.ft2.F), fo = 1000 Btu/(h.ft2.F)
• Estimate 1/U = 1/190 + 1/400 + 1/1000 + 1/1500
U = 106 Btu/(h.ft2.F)
• R ≈ 0 (negligible ΔT on shell-side) so F = 1.0
• Lmtd = (60 – 210)/ln(60/210) = 119.7°F
• Hence A = Q/U.F.Lmtd = 28.1 x 106 / (106 x 1.0 x 119.7) = 2215 ft2
• For 20’ long 3/4” tubes area/tube = 3.9 ft2, hence need 564 tubes
• From table in Perry’s Hbk, 1” triangular pitch TEMA U, nearest shell size is 29”
i.d., with 648 tube count.

• We can now use correlations to confirm design and check hydraulics:

see Ch 19 for details of using commercial design software

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 Design of Key Exchanger Types
65 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

 Parameters typically known:

 Fluids used and their properties
 Inlet and exit fluid temperatures

 Fluid flow rates

 Operating pressure

 Allowable pressure drop

 Fouling resistances
 Design of Key Exchanger Types
66 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

 Additional constraints
 Max. and min. fluid velocities
 Max. and min. temperatures

 Necessary corrosion allowances

 Materials of construction

 Propensity of tube vibration

 Special codes involved

 Optimum Design of Heat Exchangers
67 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

 Typical known variables  Typical unknown variables

 Process fluid flowrate  Heat-transfer area
 Allowed temperature change of  Exit temperature of utility fluid
process fluid  Exit flowrate of utility fluid
 Inlet temperature of utility fluid  Length, number, arrangement,
(heating or cooling) and diameter of tubes
 Pressure drops for the hot and
cold fluids
 Heat Exchanger Cost
68 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

 Heat-transfer area
 Tube diameter and thickness
 Tube length
 Pressure of fluids
 Materials and construction
 Baffling requirements
 Supports
 Auxiliaries
 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

69
 General Method for Designing Heat Exchangers
70 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

1. Determine flowrate and rate of heat transfer required for given system
2. Select the type of exchanger to be used and establish basic
specifications
3. Evaluate overall HT and film coefficients – know limitations
4. Evaluate the temperature driving force throughout the exchanger
5. Determine the required heat transfer area and exchanger dimensions
6. Analyze all results to determine if all design details are satisfactory
7. If step 6 shows inadequate design, start again from step 2
 Heat Transfer in Exothermic reactors
71 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

Many methods dealing with heat transfer in reactors also affect the
distribution of chemicals. Treated first are exothermic reactors.
H21: To remove a highly-exothermic heat of reaction, consider the use
of excess reactant, an inert diluent, and cold shots. These affect
the distribution of chemicals and should be inserted early in
process synthesis.
H22: For less exothermic heats of reaction, circulate reactor fluid to an
external cooler, or use a jacketed vessel or cooling coils. Also,
consider the use of intercoolers

Some content adopted from Wiley Instructor materials for SSL, 4/e
 Heat Transfer in Exothermic reactors
72 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

Heuristics 21 and 22 Examples

Cold Shots

Excess Reactant

Diabatic Operation

Inert Diluent
Intercoolers
 Example: Ammonia Synthesis
73 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

Some content adopted from Wiley Instructor materials for SSL, 4/e
 Heat Transfer in Endothermic reactors
74 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner

Endothermic reactors are treated similarly:

H23: To control temperature for a highly-endothermic heat of reaction,
consider the use of excess reactant, an inert diluent, and hot shots.
These affect the distribution of chemicals and should be inserted
early in process synthesis
H24: For less endothermic heats of reaction, circulate reactor fluid to an
external heater, or use a jacketed vessel or heating coils. Also,
consider the use of interheaters
 Heat Exchangers

• Heat Transfer Basics

• Tubular Exchangers

• Heat Exchanger Design

• Compact Heat Exchangers

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 Hairpin Exchangers
• When small duties are required, hairpin exchangers are specified:
– cheaper than very small shell and tube
– highly effective (single pass, true countercurrent)
– 75 → 1500 ft2 surface area
– 4 → 16" shell diameter, 20 ft long

U
tubes

split flange/ removable

split ring bonnet
arrangement tube
sheets

This design is used for double-pipe and multi-tube exchangers.

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 Plate & Frame Exchangers

Plates

Gasket
Source: Alfa-Laval, www.AlfaLaval.com
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 Gasket Layout of Alternating Plates

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 Plate & Frame Exchangers
• Advantages
• Close to counter-current heat transfer, so high F factor
allows temperature cross and close temperature
approach
• Easy to add area
• Compact size
• Relatively inexpensive for high alloy
• Can be designed for quick cleaning in place

• Disadvantages
• Lots of gaskets
• Lower design pressure, temperature
• External leakage if gaskets fail

• Applications
• Food processing, brewing, biochemicals, etc.

• Design method: see Chapter 19

Source: Alfa-Laval,
Alfa-Laval www.AlfaLaval.com
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 Plate & Frame Exchangers

Source: Alfa-Laval,
Alfa-Laval www.AlfaLaval.com
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 Welded Plate Heat Exchangers
• Advantages
– Higher thermal efficiency
Source: Alfa-Laval Packinox
– Single unit can replace multiple shell &
tube units
– Closer approach to hot inlet temperature
– Low pressure drop
– Little chance of vibration problems
– Excellent distribution of two phase flows

• Disadvantages
– Single alloy material for plates
– Difficult to clean
– Few manufacturers at large scale (Alfa
Laval Packinox)

• Used in large scale clean services that

need close temperature approach
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 Air-cooled Exchanger (Fin-fan)
82 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner
 Spiral Heat Exchangers
83 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner
 Preliminary Design Considerations
84 CHE 165 – Plant Design; D. Wagner