che_february-2025 - 13

long run, as it may require more heat
for ongoing operations. "
Hale says that HRS's corrugatedtube
technology provides a number
of
benefits
when compared
to smooth tubes. " The first is that
corrugations create turbulent flow
in the product, helping to prevent
fouling. In turn, this improved efficiency
means that corrugated tubes
provide greater levels of heat transfer
than smooth tubes of the same
length, so corrugated-tube heat exchangers
can be up to half the size
of their smooth tube equivalents.
The turbulence created in the tube
also reduces cleaning frequency and
simplifies maintenance compared to
other heat exchanger designs. "
Meanwhile, Alfa Laval's Maciver
notes that transitioning from shelland-tube
technology to more efficient
plate-type heat exchangers,
where applicable, can help reduce
energy requirements and, consequently,
a facility's carbon footprint
and operational costs. " It's a first,
and easy step on the journey to decarbonization
and it provides several
additional benefits to chemical processes, "
notes Maciver.
Because plate heat exchangers
have a smaller footprint, they are
easier to install, service and maintain.
Plate technology also increases
reliability by reducing fouling, stress,
wear and corrosion to result in better
performance and longer operational
uptime. Additionally, the technology
minimizes energy costs and emissions,
contributing to an improved
bottom line.
As an example of the benefits that
can be achieved, Maciver points to
a collaboration between Alfa Laval
and Dow Chemical (Midland, Mich.;
www.dow.com), in which a number
of heat exchanger positions at different
sites were upgraded to improve
sustainability and profitability.
Specifically, in a project at a Dow
site in Terneuzen, the Netherlands,
the existing shell-and-tube solution
used in a heat recovery role in the
ethylene oxide plant was replaced
with two Alfa Laval Compabloc heat
exchangers to achieve substantial
energy savings and reduced CO2
emissions. The replacement also
mitigated severe fouling problems,
which increased uptime and improved
product yield.
Also aimed at increasing efficiency,
Roy Niekerk, director of application
engineering at Kelvion GmbH (Monzingen,
Germany; kelvion.com), explains
his company's offerings: " The
challenge given by our customers
is to have an as-close-as-possible
temperature approach in their heat
exchangers, which is often achieved
by a fully welded plate heat exchanger,
such as the K°Flex, which
is a high-performance plate heat
exchanger designed for optimal flexibility
and efficiency in heat transfer
applications (Figure 2).
" It features a modular design that
enables easy customization to suit
specific operational requirements, "
Niekerk continues. " The system offers
efficient heat exchange, compact
size and simplified maintenance,
making it ideal for industries such
as chemical processing and power
generation. Its robust construction
and adaptability enhance energy efficiency
and operational sustainability. "
And, as an alternative solution
to increase reliability in difficult-tohandle
process streams that are incompatible
with traditional heat exchangers,
Solex's Chung suggests
the use of heat-pipe heat exchanger
(HPHE) solutions from Econotherm,
a Solex Thermal Science company
(Figure 3). " HPHEs reduce the risks
and the consequences of failure that
commonly plague traditional heat
exchanger types through the inclusion
of multiple redundancies in the
heat exchanger design, " he says.
" By using HPHEs, operators realize
fewer process disruptions and
longer run lengths without having to
sacrifice performance, especially in
particulate-rich and corrosive process
streams.
" Due to the technical limitations of
traditional exchanger types, these
process streams were previously
inaccessible from a heat-recovery
perspective and otherwise considered
wasted, " Chung explains.
" However, HPHEs now enable
chemical processors to unlock incremental
energy-recovery opportunities
within their operations and
present a viable solution for meeting
the evolving challenges. "
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
FEBRUARY 2025
Source: Kelvion
FIGURE 2. Kelvion's K°Flex high-performance
plate heat exchanger features a modular design
that enables easy customization to suit specific
operational requirements. Its robust construction
and adaptability enhance energy efficiency and
operational sustainability
He points to the use of an HPHE
developed by Econotherm for use
as an air preheater in a petrochemical
complex. " The application had
a failed plate-style recuperator that
needed to be replaced. The heat
exchanger outage was causing the
consumption of significantly higher
fuel quantities at the gas-powered
burners with increased associated
emissions, " he says.
" A HPHE unit was custom built
to match the complicated dimensioning
of the existing unit, which
minimized capital investments in fan/
duct work. The HPHE was used to
cool the fluegas to near the acid-gas
dewpoint, enabling incremental heat
recovery from the primary stream of
corrosive fluegas, while minimizing
corrosion risk and lowering fuel consumption
to below the requirements
from when the plate-style recuperator
was in operation. "
Additionally, developments in heatexchanger
coating technologies can
also provide a cost-effective means
of managing corrosion and fouling in
an effort to boost reliability, according
to SWEP's Thomson. " We have
been working on innovating coatings
that we can apply to the heat
exchanger, which allow our customers
to use a less expensive heat
exchanger in complicated systems
where they previously would have
needed more noble materials of
construction, " he says. " Instead, we
13
http://www.kelvion.com http://www.dow.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
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