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A mixture of flammable fluids and air is dangerous because of the possibility of explosion. So before adding a
liquid or a gaseous flammable fluid to an exchanger, inert gas or steam is used to purge air from the exchanger.
The shell and tube bundle of an exchanger may be made of different metals that react differently to temperature
changes. In this case, the shell and tube bundles expand at different rates when heated to a particular
temperature. Then, the metals are subjected to stress.
Moderate.
Cold fluid should never be introduced suddenly into a hot exchanger. And, a hot fluid should never be introduced
suddenly into a cold exchanger.
During start-up and shutdown, temperature changes should be made slowly. During start-up, introduce the
cooling fluid first. Then, gradually add the hot fluid, and the exchanger will be brought down to operating
temperature.
During shutdown, the flow of hot fluid is shutdown first. With no input of hot fluid, the exchanger will gradually
cool. Then, the flow of cold fluid is stopped.
The exchanger should not be valve closed while it is full of fluid. Just like a solid, a liquid expands when it is
heated. This is called thermal expansion. When a liquid expands, its volume increases. If the expanding liquid is
enclosed, it exerts force on its container. So, a filled exchanger that is valve closed can be damaged by
expanding fluid.
If the outside temperature is low, water left in the exchanger tubes can
freeze. When water freezes, it:
Contracts.
Water in the tubes can also freeze as a result of the rapid depressurizing of light liquid in the shell-side of the
exchanger. If a light liquid is suddenly depressurized, it evaporates. As a liquid evaporates, it cools the surface
from which it evaporates.
The evaporating liquid _______ the inside walls of the shell and the outside
of the tubes.
Heats.
Just like in the start-up operations, you must take care to avoid potentially explosive mixtures of air and
flammables during shutdown. So, you must purge some exchangers of air with steam or inert gas after
shutdown.
Operating Pressure and Temperature OPERATING AND MAINTAINING HEAT EXCHANGERS
Every exchanger is designed to operate at a pressure and temperature listed on a plate attached to the
exchanger. When the exchanger is operated at a pressure higher than the rated pressure, chances of tube or
shell failure increase.
High temperature causes this scale to precipitate out as solids in the exchanger. Such precipitates collect in the
tubes and restrict flow.
In some fluids, precipitation occurs if the temperature is too low. Temperature must be held within the selected
range so that fouling is prevented. In water dropout processes, where heat is used to separate water from
product, too low a temperature decreases efficiency.
If the outlet temperature is too low, decreasing the rate of water flow will
_______ the rate at which heat leaves the exchanger.
Decrease.
The velocity must not be allowed to drop too low and the cooling water temperature must not be allowed to get
too high. Otherwise, solids may precipitate and foul the exchanger.
In some cases, the outlet temperature can be raised by bypassing some of the product stream around the
exchanger and joining it to the product flow that has passed through the exchanger. In this method, part of the
product is cooled.
The exchanger is part of a system that includes other pieces of equipment. Because they are connected,
whatever physical change happens in one piece of equipment affects the operation of each piece of equipment
within the system.
You should consider what changes will occur in other parts of the system if a change is made in the operation of
an individual exchanger.
You should observe _______ both before and after changes are made.
Temperature.
Exchanger Fouling OPERATING AND MAINTAINING HEAT EXCHANGERS
Fouling is a general term that describes the buildup of various kinds of deposits on the
parts of an exchanger. Because fouling particles adhere to the tube wall, fouling
increases the thickness of the tube wall.
Once the wall is fouled, it takes heat longer to pass through the wall. In other words,
the time of heat transfer increases. And, the flow of fluids through the exchanger is
restricted.
If fouling restricts the passage of fluid, the drop in pressure across the
exchanger will:
Decrease.
Answer
Regardless of the type of fouling, deposits reduce the rate of heat transfer. The kind and degree of fouling are influenced by
the materials used in an exchanger. For example, surface roughness provides cavities for the buildup of solids.
Some materials corrode faster than others, introducing corrosion products
which decrease heat transfer. The higher the corrosion rate, the ________
fouling occurs.
Later.
Maintenance OPERATING AND MAINTAINING HEAT EXCHANGERS
Detailed maintenance is required to protect exchange tubes from fouling. For example, dispersants prevent the
coagulation of insoluble materials that are suspended in the fluids.
The method used for removing the deposits depends on the type and severity of deposits. If a fouling problem
has been neglected for some time, mechanical cleaning, such as cutting or scraping, may be necessary. The
exchanger must be disassembled to use mechanical cleaning techniques. But, many deposits can be removed
without shutting down the exchanger.
On-line.
This is how sodium chloride (salt) deposits can be washed from the outside of the
tubes, while the exchanger is in use.
Water is injected into the process product inlet. As the mixture of water and
product flows over the tubes, the water dissolves the salt. In the accumulator,
the product and the salt water solution are separated. In some cases, it is better
to shut down the exchanger for either chemical or mechanical cleaning.
Hydroblasting
Steam jets are also commonly used for heavy deposits. The heat generated by the
steam softens the deposits and the force of the steam jet washes them away.
For any kind of hydroblasting, the exchanger must be at least partially dismantled. For
example, the end plates (bonnet covers) must be removed to expose the tube sheets.
Chemical.
Condenser OPERATING AND MAINTAINING HEAT EXCHANGERS
A condenser is a type of heat exchanger that removes heat from a fluid that requires
cooling and converts a vapor stream to liquid.
The shell-side fluid in this condenser is steam and the tube-side is cool water. As the steam flows across the tubes, it releases some
of its heat to the water.
Heated.
Answer
This is an air-cooled condenser. Air-cooled condensers are especially valuable where
water is scarce. In this type of condenser, the steam is fed into the tubes. A fan is used
to blow air across the tubes. The tubes have fins, which increase the heat transfer across
the surface area.
As the cool air blows across the tubes, it absorbs heat from the steam inside the tubes.
This lowers the temperature of the steam, causing it to condense to water.
Air-cooled.
Depropanizer and Reboiler OPERATING AND MAINTAINING HEAT EXCHANGERS
Cooled oil from the reboiler flows back to the furnace for reheating. Because it relates to independent parts of the system, the central
part of this system is the reboiler. The purpose of this system is to cause isobutane to vaporize, using heat generated by the furnace.
Notice that the tube-side fluid is oil and the tube bundle is U-shaped.
Double-pass.
The weir at the right of the reboiler functions as a sort of dam. By assuring that the tubes are always fully
submerged in hot liquid, the weir increases the efficiency of the reboiler.
The greater the contact, the greater the rate of heat transfer. The tube-side fluid provides the heat required to
cause the shell-side isobutane to boil. The domed area of the reboiler allows the isobutane vapor and liquid to
separate.
In this system, vapors from the reboiler are used to heat liquid in trays in the depropanizer. The amount of vapor
produced in the reboiler depends on how much is needed in the depropanizer.
Increase.
Another way to add heat to the boiling fluid is to increase the rate of hot liquid flow through the exchanger.
Adding heat to a boiling liquid makes it boil faster.
The faster the fluid boils, the ________ vapor it produces in a given time.
More.
Answer
Shell-side.
This represents flow on the outside of one tube and on the inside of another.
As the steam loses heat, it condenses on the outside of the tubes as water. The water
collects and runs out the bottom of the exchanger.
Inside the tubes, the heat given up by the steam causes some of the propane and
propylene to boil.
Top.
Answer
Because the vapor-liquid mixture is lighter than the liquid entering the inlet, it moves upward in the tubes. So,
moving products through a thermosyphon reboiler does not require a pump. A flow of liquid is produced by the
formation of vapor.
Slowly.
The hot process product (the shell fluid), makes a ________ pass through
the shell.
Single.
In many cases, more than one unit is required to do the heat transfer job. In this example,
two heat exchangers are used to pre-heat a feedstock. Two more are used to cool the
process product for storage.
This shows two ways a stream can be connected to heat transfer units.
The incoming flow is split in a parallel connection. In a series connection, all of the stream
goes through each exchanger. The process product flows first through one cooler, then out
and into the next.
Series.
Waste Heat Boilers OPERATING AND MAINTAINING HEAT EXCHANGERS
This system includes a fractionating tower, a steam oil drum, and a waste heat
boiler. Hot bottoms product, the shell-side fluid, is drawn off the bottom of the
fractionating tower. The tube-side fluid is water, drawn from the steam drum.
The boiler uses waste heat from the hot bottoms, which must be cooled before it is
stored, to produce steam for the plant steam system.
The shell-side of the exchanger or boiler has baffles every six inches. Bottoms
product entering the shell flows back and
forth across the outside of the tubes.
The water leaves the boiler as a mixture of steam and droplets of water.
When the vapor-liquid mixture of water enters the steam drum, the droplets
of water fall to the bottom. The lighter steam remains in the ________ half
of the steam drum.
Bottom.
To maintain a constant amount of water circulating in the system, treated make-up water is added at the bottom of
the steam drum. In the steam drum, the new incoming water mixes with the hot water recirculated from the
boiler.
The steam drum is usually positioned above the boiler. When it is overhead, boiling induces a flow upward. The
boiler with a steam drum above it creates a natural circulation similar to a thermosyphon reboiler.
For maximum heat transfer in a boiler, it is better to have ________ in contact
with the tube walls.
Steam.
Answer
In this example, the tubes are extremely hot. If the water does not flow rapidly through the tubes, it is vaporized
near the beginning of the tube. The steam then passes through the remainder of the tube and absorbs less heat
than the water would.
If the water boils too soon, much of the heating surface of the tube is wasted. The hot bottoms product simply
retains more of its heat and leaves the boiler at a higher temperature.
True.
The new makeup water is treated at water treatment facilities to remove minerals. Some minerals remain in
the water even after treatment.
As the water is partly boiled and the steam drawn off, the mineral concentration
in the water tends to:
Decrease.
If you suspect a leak inside the exchanger, preliminary tests can be made without dismantling. Such tests can be
run on either the tube-side or shell-side of the exchanger.
If the two fluids in the exchanger have different physical properties (like water and oil), it is usually easy to tell
them apart. The easiest way to test for leaks is to take a sample from the lower pressure fluid.
If the fluids are water and oil, then it is easy to see if there is a leak by just looking at the sample.
Visual.
In the case of a tube-side test, the shell-side fluid is drained, and a drain point, like a disconnected lower nozzle
or bleeder valve, is left open.
The tube-side fluid is replaced with water under pressure, which fills the tube bundle. If there are leaks in the
tubes or at the tube ends, the pressurized water in the tube bundle will be forced through the leak points into the
shell.
The fluid will accumulate in the bottom of the shell and eventually run out of the drain points, and you will be
able to see it.
Because the leak may be very small, and because fluid must accumulate in
the shell before it will run from the drain point, this test usually:
In the case of a fixed tubesheet exchanger, the end plates or bonnet covers are
removed. Then, you can directly observe the tubesheets and tube ends. The
shell is filled with water under pressure and the pressurized fluid enters any
leaking tube at the point where the tube leaks.
This fluid accumulates in the tube and runs out of the tube end. By observing the
tubesheet, it is possible to tell which tube is leaking.
Examine this tube, which has come loose in the tubesheet. You will be able to readily observe
this leak on the face of the tubesheet.
To correct this, the tube must be rerolled or welded back into the tubesheet.
This shell cover has been removed, and the tube bundle is filled with water under
pressure.
It is possible to observe the leak if it is located:
In the tube ends at the floating head. If the leak is located in the tube walls
farther back in the exchanger or at the
Either of these. tube ends in the stationary head, you
will observe fluid in the shell. But, you
will not be able to locate the source of
these leaks because the tube bundle and
Answer stationary head are not visible.
If the leak is coming from one of these areas, a different test is required.
The channel cover is removed and tube-side fluid is drained.
Then, the shell is filled with water under pressure. Fluid will enter the tubes
at the points where they leak, accumulate in the tubes, and run out the
tube ends.
Also, you must always be aware of danger from thermal expansion of fluids
under test pressure. A fluid expanding in a confined space can rupture the
exchanger.
Test pressure is generally 1.5 times the design pressure and stated on the
specification plate for the heat exchanger. Test pressure is used during a hydrostatic test that detects leaks on the heat exchanger.
Suppose that the pressure in the fractionator is too high. The problem may
be caused by too ________ a reflux rate.
Low.
An overload of vapor will build up pressure in the overhead vapor line and in the condenser itself.
High.
Changes in temperature and pressure on the water side may also indicate problems with the water supply.
Condenser malfunction may also be caused by air in the cooling water system. Air causes vapor binding, which
reduces the efficiency with which heat is exchanged. To help eliminate vapor binding, a vent is provided with
water in the exit line.
Noncondensable vapors in the process side of the exchanger can also cause a
pressure buildup in the fractionator.
True.
Heat Exchange Systems OPERATING AND MAINTAINING HEAT EXCHANGERS
The reaction in this process unit requires 1,000º F, and the furnace
provides this heat. A catalyst promotes the reaction.
Trace the path of the product stream. The product leaves the reactor,
flows through the secondary exchanger, through two reboilers and two
primary exchangers, and finally, through the condenser.
Now, trace the path of feed stream. The feed leaves the pump and passes through the primary exchangers, the
secondary exchanger, the furnace, and the reactor. During this process, the feed absorbs a large part of the
heat given up by the product stream. The product cooling system is used to preheat the feed. Some of the
heat is transferred through the reboilers to other processes.
Because heat is recaptured in the system, the furnace uses less fuel. The cooling problem is also simplified.
The entire process is more efficient and economical.
First, you should check temperatures at various points along the system. If
the furnace inlet temperature is stable at 700º F, but the outlet temperature is
below the 1,000º F control point, the problem is probably in the:
Condenser.
This means that there is less heat to the reboilers and primary exchangers. Because of this, when readjusting
the bypass to get maximum heat to the feed stream, be sure to maintain the necessary heat input to the
reboilers.
Another cause for difficulty in maintaining the 1,000º F control point might be an overload on the reboilers. Too
much heat is being transferred through the reboilers to the stream that leads outside the system. You should
reduce the load on the reboilers.
If the inlet temperature has dropped below the 700º F level, the problem
could be with the:
Bypass valve.
If the bypass valve is completely open, most of the product stream will bypass the secondary exchanger. So, a
minimum amount of heat will be transferred to the incoming feed stream. When less heat is being transferred
to the feed stream through the secondary exchanger, the temperature of the feed stream at the furnace inlet
drops. It is difficult for the furnace to raise the feed stream temperature to the required 1,000º F.
Open.
Answer