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CONTENTS
SECTION
INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE
SCOPE
FIELD OF APPLICATION
DEFINITIONS
CHOICE OF COOLANT
LAYOUT CONSIDERATIONS
5.1
5.2
5
5
CONTROL
6.1
6.2
6.3
Distillation Columns
Water Cooled Condensers
Refrigerant Condensers
5
5
6
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
6
7
7
8
8
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8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
8.7
8.8
9
11
15
15
16
16
16
16
BIBLIOGRAPHY
17
FIGURES
SPRAY CONDENSER
10
10
12
13
18
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INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE
This Process Engineering Guide is one of a series on heat transfer prepared for
GBH Enterprises.
SCOPE
FIELD OF APPLICATION
This Guide is intended for process engineers and plant operating personnel in
GBH Enterprises world-wide, who may be involved in the specification or design
of condensers.
DEFINITIONS
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HTRI
TEMA
CHOICE OF COOLANT
For condensers for fluids with a wide condensing range, cooling to low
temperatures, it may prove more economic to perform the condensation in two
stages, taking out most of the heat load in an air or water cooled unit, and
following it with a refrigerated condenser for the final cooling. This will reduce the
load on the refrigeration system, which is an expensive form of cooling.
A combination of air cooling followed by water cooling is sometimes used for
wide temperature ranges above ambient. However, GBHE-PEG-HEA-513
suggests that this is often not economic.
In recent years there has been an increased tendency to heat integration on
plants. If a suitable process stream is available, it can be used as the coolant.
However, it should be remembered that the control requirements of the plant may
impose a fluctuating demand on the coolant, which may influence the operability
of the total exchanger network.
A special case of heat integration in distillation columns is mechanical vapor
re-compression, where the overhead vapor is compressed and condensed at a
higher temperature to provide the heat input to the column reboiler.
LAYOUT CONSIDERATIONS
5.1
One of the major factors influencing the layout, and sometimes the choice, of the
condenser for a distillation column is whether the reflux liquid is to return to the
column under gravity, or a pumped reflux system is to be used. In the former
case, the condenser has to be mounted above the top plate of a trayed column
or the distributor of a packed column. The use of a gravity reflux return may also
impose a lower design pressure drop for the condenser than is necessary for a
pumped system.
With a pumped reflux system, the designer has more flexibility. However, the
potential savings in mounting the condenser near grade level must be offset
against need for a pump and the increased cost of vapor and liquid pipework to
link the condenser with the top of the column. Moreover, a pumped reflux system
usually requires a reflux drum; for a gravity return system, particularly if the top
product is to be removed as vapor, it may be possible to dispense with this.
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With a free standing column, a pumped reflux system has to be used unless
either the column is located close to a structure as high as the column on which
the condenser can be mounted, or the condenser is supported directly from the
column. The latter favors either an internal condenser or a reflux condenser
(dephlegmator), where the condensate flows counter-current to the vapors. See
GBHE-PEG-HEA-516 for a discussion of reflux condensation.
Air cooled exchangers require a relatively large plot area. Because of this, it may
be difficult to find a suitable location for one which would allow gravity
condensate return.
5.2
For most other plant condenser duties, layout does not have a major influence on
the choice of condenser: the structure is usually present to support any design at
a suitable elevation.
CONTROL
6.1
Distillation Columns
The operation of a distillation column is usually coupled to the column
pressure control. There are many ways in which this can be done. The
choice of method depends amongst other factors on whether the vapor is
totally condensed, or the top product leaves as a vapor. Some of the
methods can be applied to any type of condenser, but others are specific
to certain designs. Reference [1] and GBHE-PEG-MAS-608 give good
reviews of alternative methods, discussing their advantages and
drawbacks.
6.2
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It is preferable to control the heat load either by bypassing the hot fluid or
by recycling the cooling water round the exchanger, thus maintaining an
optimum velocity. See GBHE-PEG-HEA-511 for more details.
6.3
Refrigerant Condensers
7.1
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The vapor phase resistance for multi-component condensation arises from the
difference in composition between the bulk vapor and the interface, and is
complicated by mass transfer effects. The full analysis for other than binary
systems is extremely complex; even for binary mixtures the calculations are
tedious. It is therefore usual for engineering calculations to use an approximate
method known as either the Silver or Bell and Ghally method, which is given in
Reference [5] In its simplest form, this relates the local vapor film heat transfer
coefficient f to the heat transfer coefficient that the gas/vapor phase
would have at that point in the exchanger in the absence of liquid film and
condensation g by the equation:
It can be seen from the above that high condensing side coefficients are favored
by high vapor velocities, both to improve the condensate film coefficient and to
give a good gas phase coefficient. Unfortunately, pressure drop also rises with
vapor velocity, limiting the velocity that can be used. During the course of
condensation, the vapor flow falls, causing a reduction in coefficients. This can
be particularly important in the latter stages of a condensation with small
quantities of non-condensables present, where very poor coefficients can result.
These effects can be reduced in some designs of condenser by reducing the flow
area as the condensation proceeds. For example, the number of channels per
pass in a multi-pass exchanger can be reduced for the later passes. For a
shell and tube exchanger with condensing on the shell side, the baffle pitch can
be decreased at the cold end of the exchanger. Where it is not practical to
reduce the flow area, it may be worth considering dividing the duty into two, with
a small vent condenser following the main unit.
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Although experience indicates that the Silver/Bell and Ghally method, as used in
most computer programs, generally results in a reasonable estimate of the heat
duty of the exchanger, it cannot give accurate information on non-equilibrium
effects. In practice, the exit condensate is generally at a lower temperature than
the vapor, and the vapor may be super- or sub-saturated with respect to one or
more components. This can be particularly important when the vent from a
condenser is exiting to the environment. Unfortunately, suitable reliable programs
for calculating these cases are not available and hand calculations are difficult. If
this is important, a heat transfer specialist should be consulted.
7.2
Pressure Drop
7.3
Handling of lnerts
Many process fluids, even when nominally totally condensable, contain trace
quantities of non-condensable gases, often referred to as inerts. Unless some
care is taken at the design stage these may build up in the exchanger and, by
lowering the local dew point, result in significant loss of performance. lnerts can
generally be removed from an exchanger by a suitable purge, either continuous
or intermittent, depending on the inlet concentration.
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Bell in Reference [7] claims that more than half of all the operational troubles with
condensers are caused by poor venting. He states the four principles of
condenser venting as:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
7.4
(b)
(c)
Vibration damage may occur, particularly with shell and tube exchangers.
For shell and tube exchangers, a vibration analysis should always be
performed using either the methods within the computer programs or a
suitable hand method such as Reference [8].
(d)
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7.5
Drainage of Condensate
If condensate and uncondensed vapors and gases are to be withdrawn from the
condenser through a single nozzle, this must be adequately sized for the flow,
remembering that two phase pressure drops are considerably greater than single
phase ones. It is more usual to arrange for vapor-liquid disengagement within the
exchanger, with separate outlet nozzles for the two phases. If liquid carry-over
with the vapors is undesirable, a demister before the vapor outlet, or a separate
separator may be necessary.
The liquid outlet should be designed to avoid carry under of the vapors, using the
recommendations in GBHE-PEG-FLO-301 for self-venting flow. A vortex breaker
is recommended; for shell side condensation in a shell and tube exchanger this is
not necessary provided that the bottom tubes are close to the outlet, but is
required if tubes have been removed in this region to aid condensate drainage.
8.1
Direct contact condensers are the simplest and cheapest form of condenser.
They are also less prone than other types to problems associated with dirty or
corrosive fluids. However, they are only suitable where there is no objection to
mixing the process fluid and the coolant.
They are mainly used in vacuum or low pressure applications, particularly for
condensing steam; a typical example is for the final condenser in a multi-effect
evaporation train in the production of salt. For vacuum duties, it is usual to mount
the condenser at a sufficient elevation to enable the coolant and condensate to
flow by gravity through a barometric leg, thus obviating the need for a pump.
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Another area of use for direct contact condensers is as a quench condenser for a
hot corrosive gas. Although principally used for condensing steam, organic
vapors can also be condensed. If water is used as the coolant and the organic
material is immiscible with water, a phase separator will be necessary. Often,
however, the product itself is used as the coolant, the mixture of freshly
condensed material and recycled cold product being passed through a separate
single phase cooler and a portion returned to the condenser. See Figure 1. This
may enable a large surface condenser to be replaced by a simple direct
condenser and a small cooler.
FIGURE 1
The most common form of direct contact condenser is the spray chamber shown
in Figure 2. The key to this design is to produce fine sprays which are positioned
so that the liquid is well distributed. This produces a large surface area for heat
and mass transfer. The liquid pressure must be considerably above that of the
vapor to ensure a good spray. However, too fine a spray results in excessive
liquid carryover. Design methods for spray condensers are given in References
[9] and [10].
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FIGURE 2
SPRAY CONDENSER
The spray condenser has the disadvantage that the nozzles can block if using a
dirty coolant such as river water. The tray type of direct condenser shown in
Figure 3 does not have this limitation. Unfortunately, it does not produce a very
high interfacial area. References [9] and [10] can be used for design of this type
also.
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FIGURE 3
8.2
With shell and tube condensers, there is a choice between shell side or tube side
condensation. Tube side condensation is favored when the condensing fluid is at
high pressure, is corrosive or prone to cause fouling. Shell side condensation is
generally used for low pressures, and almost always for vacuum duties. There
are two basic types of shell side condenser, cross-flow condensers and baffled
exchangers where the overall flow direction is along the shell.
Shell and tube condensers can be rated using commercially available computer
programs.
8.2.1 Tube Side Condensation
Vertical tube side condensers are almost always designed as single pass
units, usually with co-current downwards flow of condensate and vapor. It
is feasible to design a two pass condenser with vertical up-flow in the first
pass and down-flow in the second, provided that it can be guaranteed that
the vapor velocity at the top of the first pass is sufficient to carry the
condensate upwards, but this is not recommended. Some condensers are
built in which substantially all the condensation takes place in a down-flow
pass with condensate removal from the base. The non-condensables then
flow back up a second pass having far fewer tubes to effect a final cooling.
This second pass operates with a counter-current flow of condensate and
vapor. The design of such units cannot be performed directly with
computer programs. See GBHE-PEG-HEA-516 for a discussion of reflux
condensers (dephlegmators) in which the condensate and vapors flow
counter-current.
For single pass down flow, the cheapest designs are generally obtained
by using the maximum allowable tube length, subject to pressure drop
constraints. Use of shorter tubes may result in a substantial increase in
required heat transfer surface, particularly for condensation with inerts.
Horizontal tube side condensers give the designer more flexibility in
principle, as multi-pass units are possible. However, except for two pass
U-tube designs, problems can arise in distribution of the two phase
mixture after the first pass. Computer programs for the rating of
condensers generally assume a uniform distribution of liquid and vapor,
but in practice, most of the liquid will flow in the lower tubes of the second
and subsequent passes. For a multi-component mixture, this means that
the vapor in the upper tubes will contain less of the heavier components,
and so be more difficult to condense.
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There are also problems with assessing the pressure drop, as different
tubes will have different flow rates and vapor fractions.
Reference [13] recommends the removal of condensate from the end of each
pass in a multi-pass exchanger, with suitable luting where the individual
condensate streams are combined to prevent vapor bypassing. (See Figure 4).
Although this does get round the problem of phase distribution, because the
composition and flowrate will vary from pass to pass, each pass will have to be
modeled separately; conventional computer programs are not suitable directly for
this task, although they can assist, given some skill on the part of the designer. If
this approach is used, there is a possibility that the mixed stream from the
different passes will flash when the mixing takes place. A check on the vaporliquid equilibrium of the mixture should be made.
FIGURE 4
A multi-pass design allows the number of tubes per pass to be reduced in later
passes, to maintain the vapor velocity, and hence heat transfer coefficient.
However, none of the computer programs available is able directly to model
exchangers with differing numbers of tubes per pass, so some ingenuity is
necessary on the part of the designer.
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Avoiding a very high cross flow velocity in the inlet region, which could
lead to tube damage from erosion or vibration. This is usually done by
providing multiple inlet nozzles to spread the vapor along the shell.
Suitable impingement devices should be provided for each nozzle. There
should be an adequate number of support plates along the shell to prevent
serious tube vibration. These must be shaped to support all the tubes, but
cut clear of the upper and lower spaces where there are no tubes, to allow
longitudinal flow of vapor and condensate.
(b)
(c)
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FIGURE 5
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Tubes are removed from the top of the shell (assuming a top vapor inlet) to avoid
excessive pressure drop of the incoming fluid and to reduce the velocities off the
impingement plate. Tubes may be removed from the bottom of the shell to assist
condensate drainage. The spaces left by the removal of tubes and the pass
partition lanes for multi-pass designs represent by-pass routes for the vapor.
Sealing devices or longitudinal baffles may be necessary to reduce by-passing.
A vent should be provided on the top of the shell at the cold end, opposite the
liquid nozzle. The liquid nozzle should be sized for self venting flow as in GBHEPEG-FLO-301, with a vortex breaker unless the tubes extend to close to the
liquid nozzle. The exchanger should be mounted to give a slight downwards
slope to the cold end, to assist in drainage.
Most process shell and tube exchangers are of TEMA E-type, with a single side
pass. For large volumes of vapors or low pressure drops, it may be preferable to
use a split flow arrangement (TEMA J-shell). See GBHE-PEG-HEA-506 for more
information on the TEMA designations.
Low-fin tubing is more expensive per meter than plain tubing. However, its use
will result in a smaller exchanger. Whether there is an overall saving can only be
determined by performing designs for both plain and enhanced tubes.
8.2.5 Subcooling
It is often desired to subcool the condensate from a condenser. The condensate
from a vertical tube side exchanger is usually subcooled to some extent, and
designs can be performed to give reasonable levels of subcooling.
Note:
Caution: some commercially available programs severely underestimates the
performance in the subcooling zone, as their model is based on full bore pipe
flow rather than the film flow which usually occurs.
In horizontal tube side condensers, subcooling can be achieved by arranging for
the last pass to run full of condensate. It may be advantageous to reduce the
number of tubes in this pass to give a reasonable velocity.
Note:
The computer programs cannot directly model exchangers with different numbers
of tubes per pass.
Subcooling can be done in shell side condensation by arranging for the
condensate to maintain a level in the shell above the bottom few rows of tubes.
However, it must be remembered that this is not a very efficient way of
performing the subcooling. The liquid velocities in the bottom of the shell are low,
so that cooling is performed mainly by natural convection. It is not possible to
predict with any certainty what level of subcooling will be achieved, and the
calculations of subcooling in the thermal rating programs are based on a
physical model of the system which does not correspond to reality. If shell side
subcooling is used, it will usually be necessary to arrange for level control of the
condensate in the shell. Any level control device should preferably be adjustable.
Designs have been produced in which the lower part of the shell is separated
from the condensing region by a horizontal baffle, open to the upper part in the
last baffle space from the vapor inlet end. Condensate is then directed back
along the shell below this baffle. Extra cross baffles are used to give a good flow
pattern and hence heat transfer to subcool the condensate. This type of design is
frequently used for the design of boiler feed water heaters, and has been used
for process condensers.
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There are no computer programs that we are aware of suitable for modeling this
design except for the special case of steam condensation. If it is essential to
guarantee a given level of subcooling, it is preferable to perform this part of the
heat duty in a separate exchanger designed for the purpose.
Vertical shell side condensers, such as steam heated vaporizers, are sometimes
designed to have a variable level of condensate as a means of controlling the
heat duty (see GBHE-PEG-HEA-515). This will lead to some subcooling of the
condensate. Again, it is not possible to predict this with great accuracy.
8.5
Internal Condensers
8.6
Experience of the use of plate heat exchangers for condensing duties, other than
using steam for heating, is limited. Brazed plate exchangers are used as
condensers in some small refrigeration units. The relatively high pressure drop
usually associated with plate exchangers will reduce their applicability. However,
some of the plate manufacturers are pursuing a policy of extending the use of
plate exchangers into new areas, developing modified forms of plate where
necessary, so this situation could change.
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8.7
8.8
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Activation Reduction In-situ Ex-situ Sulfiding Specializing in Refinery Process Catalyst Performance Evaluation Heat & Mass
Balance Analysis Catalyst Remaining Life Determination Catalyst Deactivation Assessment Catalyst Performance
Characterization Refining & Gas Processing & Petrochemical Industries Catalysts / Process Technology - Hydrogen Catalysts /
Process Technology Ammonia Catalyst Process Technology - Methanol Catalysts / process Technology Petrochemicals
Specializing in the Development & Commercialization of New Technology in the Refining & Petrochemical Industries
Web Site: www.GBHEnterprises.com
Refinery Process Stream Purification Refinery Process Catalysts Troubleshooting Refinery Process Catalyst Start-Up / Shutdown
Activation Reduction In-situ Ex-situ Sulfiding Specializing in Refinery Process Catalyst Performance Evaluation Heat & Mass
Balance Analysis Catalyst Remaining Life Determination Catalyst Deactivation Assessment Catalyst Performance
Characterization Refining & Gas Processing & Petrochemical Industries Catalysts / Process Technology - Hydrogen Catalysts /
Process Technology Ammonia Catalyst Process Technology - Methanol Catalysts / process Technology Petrochemicals
Specializing in the Development & Commercialization of New Technology in the Refining & Petrochemical Industries
Web Site: www.GBHEnterprises.com
GBHE-PEG-HEA-502
GBHE-PEG-HEA-506
GBHE-PEG-HEA-511
GBHE-PEG-HEA-513
GBHE-PEG-HEA-515
GBHE-PEG-HEA-516
GBHE-PEG-MAS-608
Refinery Process Stream Purification Refinery Process Catalysts Troubleshooting Refinery Process Catalyst Start-Up / Shutdown
Activation Reduction In-situ Ex-situ Sulfiding Specializing in Refinery Process Catalyst Performance Evaluation Heat & Mass
Balance Analysis Catalyst Remaining Life Determination Catalyst Deactivation Assessment Catalyst Performance
Characterization Refining & Gas Processing & Petrochemical Industries Catalysts / Process Technology - Hydrogen Catalysts /
Process Technology Ammonia Catalyst Process Technology - Methanol Catalysts / process Technology Petrochemicals
Specializing in the Development & Commercialization of New Technology in the Refining & Petrochemical Industries
Web Site: www.GBHEnterprises.com
Refinery Process Stream Purification Refinery Process Catalysts Troubleshooting Refinery Process Catalyst Start-Up / Shutdown
Activation Reduction In-situ Ex-situ Sulfiding Specializing in Refinery Process Catalyst Performance Evaluation Heat & Mass
Balance Analysis Catalyst Remaining Life Determination Catalyst Deactivation Assessment Catalyst Performance
Characterization Refining & Gas Processing & Petrochemical Industries Catalysts / Process Technology - Hydrogen Catalysts /
Process Technology Ammonia Catalyst Process Technology - Methanol Catalysts / process Technology Petrochemicals
Specializing in the Development & Commercialization of New Technology in the Refining & Petrochemical Industries
Web Site: www.GBHEnterprises.com