One Step Ata Time...... oo PERC reese Desalting Options for Process Cooling-tower & Ethics Vs e Water Boiler Feedwater Treatment Focus on Steam Safety Heat Exchangers Pumps Equipment 4 Continue to Add Capabilities Pneumatic Conveying a Tips for Fact at Your Fingertips: Problem Heat Transfer Equations Powders An Access Intelligence Publicationprinted with permission trom CHE (Chemical Engineering), November 2004, Copyright © 2008 Access nttigenc Engineering Practice Steam Heat Exchangers Are Underworked And Over-suriaced An ‘Extended Stall Chart’ delivers effective condensate drainage James R. Risko TLV CORPORATION ne of the more difficult chal: lenges facing process and maintenance engineers is to fally understand the steam- pressure dynamics in over surfaced heat exchangers using modu- lating control with varying load conditions. And this challenge can be common because indirect heating by steam is often employed for heating process streams. Heat exchangers em- ployed in this service are known as process heaters, ‘The stall chart, which compares steam pressure at various steam- heater turndown ratios with the sys- tem back pressure, provides a general overview of a given steam heating ap plication. A basic understanding of this industry tool is necessary, and ean be acquired from a variety of sources [J]. However, the basic stall chart as- sumes that the steam heater has not been oversized, which is usually not the case; heat exchanger area is gen- erally over-surfaced for fouling factors and capacity eonsiderations, An effective alternative is the ex- tended stall chart (ESC), Easy to em- ploy, this plot readily accommodates oversizing, Condensate return header FIGURE 1. It the inlet pressure (P,) to the condensate-drainage solution (CDS) drops below the back pressure (Pa), there will be a negative pressure differential across the CDS, and a “stall” condition will occur Review of the stall chart As the demand load varies ia any heat exchanger using _inlet-modulating steam control, the detivered steam- pressure profile will correspondingly change. As an example, consider the heat exchanger (process heater) shown in Figure 1. For this sotup, the steam- supply pressure (P,) can be relatively constant at a typical value of 150 psig. But the pressure (P,) of the steam de- livered direetly to the heat exchanger 58 CHEMICALENGINEERING WWWCHECOM NOVEMBER 2004 by the control valve may vary greatly. ‘That means the inlet pressure (Py) to the condensate-drainage solution (CDS) will also vary considerably. (For simplicity, it is assumed that no pres- sure drop occurs across the heat: ex- changer, s0 P, = P2). If the pressure Ps falls below the back pressure (Py), there will be a negative pressure differential across the CDS. When this situation arises, the condensate cannot drain out, s0 itSTALL CHART 400 233 : ‘SUPPLY 380 t 101 oa + 240 ¥ ‘00 : 220 ‘ a 300 : so & 280 35 3 mecieaea|* | 260 2 : z + 20 w 5 $ 20 3 : — 2 200 6 Fie & 2 2 160 2 = te § 140 ay 120 ae r oe z io + ™m™ & 80 60 71 : a : : 20 t ; < : DEMAND 100 90 90 70 60 so 0 % 2 10 0 ood, percent FIGURE 2, The stall point for this example, described in the text, ozcurs at 65% load backs up into the steam side of the | ‘The 115 psig value for P. is shown in heater. This state of affairs is com- | the stall chart in Figure 2. monly refered to as a system “stall.” ‘The second condition to review is The first condition to understand | the effect that varying load conditions when making the stall chart is that, | have on the supply steam require- even under fall demand load, the | ments for pressure and temperature. maximum Py pressure will be the P, | The control system adjusts the steam prooruieinivos the cmtrol valvepeee” | ‘recsure ind bmparatare to belaies sure drop. If, for this example, the | the delivered heat with the load. So, if control valve pressure drop is 25 psi, | the demand load drops, the steam and the steam-supply utility line loss | pressure will also drop. Since less tem- equals 10 psi, then the delivered- | perature is needed with decreased de- steam pressure (P2) will be a maxi- | mand, lover temperature can balance mum of 115 psig. the need and this causes the steam Therefore, a Py of 119 psig is the | pressure to lower, pressure that should be converted to ‘This can be seen by looking at the Steam temperature and itis this value | basic heat-tranafer equation that is input into the stall chart as the steam profile at 100% demand, not the (UANLMTD) supply steam pressure, P;, of 150 psig. | where UA is the characterizing coeffi- cient (the product of the heat-transfer coefficient and surface area), and LMTD is the logarithmic mean tem- perature difference across the heat ‘exchanger. Because the product UA is relatively constant, the steam temper- ature must drop when the load drops. For this example, suppose that the back pressure (Pp) is 20 psig (solid green line) and that the product tem- perature increases from 50°F (T;) to 150°F (T,). The mean temperature of the process fluid, Ty, is 100°F, which is entered on the right (Note that the values of T,, and Ty are found on the left exis but plotied on the right axis.) Control adjustments affect the steam-pressure profile, and the result- ing steam pressure for a load pereent- age is recorded on the stall chart as the descending solid red line on Figure 2. Its formed by connecting the points Pz (actually its equivalent on the tem perature seale) and Ty ‘The stall point (S) occurs where the red and green lines intersect, or at at ‘65% load for this example, The dashed ‘orange vertical line through the De- mand section indicates the caution for a stall condition, ‘The demand load can also be graph- ically represented as a product tem- perature increase on the same stall chart as the ascending solid dark blue line, connecting the temperature points T; and Tz, And the equipment’s heat-transfer capability from surface area is noted by the left hand side of the bottom hoizontal axis where the load condition is 100%. ‘To summarize, the basic stall chart actually represents three different en- ‘vironments in one. Those are * The product-demand load, shown by the solid blue line, usually starting in the lower left of the Demand section # The heat supplied by the combina- tion of steam supply and the equip- ment heat transfer surface, shown by the solid red line starting in upper left of the Supply section * The back pressure of the return sys- tem, shown by the solid green line, usually drawn in the Supply section Such a stall chart is relatively com- pact, due to the hypothetical situation where the demand heating require- mont exaetly meets the installed heat exchanger surface area. [In such a CHEMCAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM NOVEMBER2006 59Engineering Practice EXTENDED STALL CHART (ESC) OVERSURFAGING 10 0 80 70 60 60 a 9 20 10 Oversuracing, porcont 10 —j—— ~ 8 2 Conditions ae : = : 1 u 180 _P, = Supply steam pressure, psig 7 : oe 15_P,-dinentean penn | £1 Jt 115 _ P= CDSinlet pressure, psig iro ‘ wi 5_T;=Productinlettemperature,'F | 8 gg | 480 _T,~ Product outlet tomparature, ys ‘ t 00 _Ty=Mean product temperature, °F Ty ‘ 2) _Pp=Totalsystem back pressure, psig | 015% « Percent oversurtcing op DEMAND 6 eae 100 99 90 7 60 50 40 9 0 10 0 Load, percent FIGURE 3. The extended stall chart (ESC) Is formed by adding an additional, equally scaled quadrant (Oversurfacing) in the upper left-hand side. This new quadrant begins at Pg, as shown here. The suriace area equal to 100% of the demand, with no over-eurfacing, ie indiested by the dached light blue line on the left hand vertical axle of the Supply quadrant case, MC,(T~ 7) = Q= UANLMTD), where M is mass flowrate and G, is heat capacity at constant pressure, and the exchanger has no excess sur face area| While nearly impossible to achieve, the heat and surface area sup- plied are exaetly equal to 100% of the demand, and the three environments are superimposed in the 100% seale stall chart shown in Figure 2. ‘The extended stall chart Heat-exchanger area is generally over surfaced for fouling factor and capac- ity considerations. The stall chart dis: cussed above does not provide for recording the amount of over-surfac: ing. Therefore, a new stall chart is needed; one where over-surfacing can be graphically demonstrated in an ad ditional quadrant to acecunt for extra surface area ‘This new, “extended” stall chart (ESC) improves the estimation of available pressure differential across the condensate-drainage device. The conditions of Figure 2 can be input and graphically demonstrated for 60 CHEMICALENGINEERING WWW.CHE.CON NOVEMBER 2004 comparison on the ESC (Figure 3).The surface area equal to only 100% of the demand, with no over-surfacing, is in- dicated by the dashed light-blue line ‘on the left hand vertical axis of the Supply quadrant. So far, the results of Figures 2 and 3 look similar However, the ESC ean be used to predict. extremely valuable informa- tion. A leftward ascending line can be drawn from the point Ty, on the right hand axis of the Demand quadrant through an intersection of the Py line with the left hand axis of the SupplyEXTENDED STALL CHART (ESC) OVERSURFAGING L ny i ‘ 2 a & : : s 1 + 35 ‘ ick P of return. "3 ' sy : £ ‘ a 2 7 mt H * 3 100 9% a0 70 60 50 40 90 20 10 TS 2 "200 6 Oversurtacing, percent : 180 ++} ' 2 : £ Conditions. zee ; ne 140 * m3 1:0 _P = Supply steam pressure psig 2 S i 118 _P;= Delivered steam pressure, psig | § 120 a6 15 _P)=CDSinlet pressure psig § 00 t nd 59_Ty=Proéuctinettemperature,F | Egg 439 _T,= Product oulet temperature, ’F al 100 _ Ty= Mean product temperature, °F Tt | Total system backpressure, psig] “? : 018% = Percent aversurtacing 2 T q : |__| DEMaND 100 9 00 70 0 50 4 39 2 10 0 Load, percent FIGURE 4. A leftward ascending line can be drawn from the Ty point on the right hand axis of the Demand quadrant through an intersection of the Pg line on the left hand axis of the Supply quadrant, and continue into the Oversurtacing quadrant to intersact ‘with the P, proseure quadrant, and continue into the Over- surfacing quadrant to intersect with the P2 pressure line. This is shown by the dashed red line in Figure 4. ‘The intersection of the dashed red line with the back pressure at 100% load provides & useful caution. Itiden- tifies the amount of over-surfacing and the pressure profile where the equipment is always under a stall condition, With this over-surfacing, the equipment will stall even with 100% demand, s0 this is called a full: load stall (FILS). By extending this dashed red line into the Oversurfacing quadrant, one can see in this example that 55% over-surfacing will lead to a FLS, Therefore, the amount of over- surfacing causing a FLS is shown with a vertical cautionary dashed yellow line in the Oversurfacing quadrant. So, the ESC ean be used to warn de- signers if the selected over-surfacing amount will lead to a FLS. Addition- ally, the ESC ean prediet the actual stall point more accurately than ean the older style stall chart. For example, suppose that the heat exchanger of the previous example is 40% over-surfaced. That supply capa- bility of the heat exchanger now can be ‘quickly drawn graphically in the Over- surfacing quadrant (the vertical dashed light blue line in Figure 5). Al- though the exchanger is over-surfaced, the demand does not increase. There- fore, the Demand Load (solid dark blue line) is input on the 100% scale, but the Supply Steam (solid red line) is input on the 40% over-surfacing scale ‘The design impact is significant. ‘When the design conditions were input CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM NOVEMBERZ005 61EXTENDED STALL CHART (ESC) 4 23 F supPLy OVERSURFAGING ie i” x0 0 aie ' based 5 5 : oe Noo a & : . § 5 oN ts ciHotmamactod |e f 260" ne aa | “FS 0 § *. a ene ee, : — Cverrcng, percent : act Be = | : et 10 eg 450__ P; = Supply steam pressure, psig = t z 115 _P)= Delivered stram pressure, psig | § 1 £ GEA cosh peas al s0_Ty= Product nettompertur,? |B ft 150 _Ty= Product outet temperature,“F é t 1m _ Tye Mean pri mga, my 2) Pp=Totalsystem back pressure,psig | t Of = Peer onmeansieg 2 iS | Lt DEMAND 10 9 #0 7% 6 5 4 0 1 0 Load, erent FIGURE When the oversurfacing amount is considered, a more accurate stall point is estimated to occur at 90% ofa full load condition in Figure 2 or 3, the stall point was es timated to occur at 65% of full load However, when the oversurfacing amount is considered,a more aecurate stall point is estimated to oceur at 90% of the full load condition. This know! edge guides the design engineer to more accurately select a proper CDS. With the ESC, correctly identifying particular equipment’s propensity to nate poor process control, waterhammer, and stratifica- stall will help eli tion issues in more installations, Conclusion Over-surfacing must be considered when selecting condensate drainage solutions (such as traps, pump-trap: and level-pot control) for exchangers s- | with modulating control, An over-sur- faced exchanger is underworked and tends to lower pressure. So, the steam pressure drops and can stall at higher demand load than expected | An engineer can predict the stall point with greater accuracy by the use of the extended stall chart. That key capability enables, the optimal condensate-drainage so lution. Simply stated, the equipment’s heat transfer and control performance will be optimized by selecting a steam trap or level pot control to drain con- densaie when a positive pressure dif ferential exists, or a combination pumptrap for a negative pressure 3, | differential . Edited by Gerald Ondrey orher to select, 62 CHEMICALENGINEERING WWW.CHE.CON NOVEMBER z004 Additional Information: For further information, pase eastact the au thor or TL Consutting & Enginoering Services Departaien (800) 806-8727" (000 “FLV Trap Reference: 1 loko, dames R. “Stean beaters aged cm lote condensaté drainage Chem: Bre. pp Treaty 996 wer Author James 8, Risko, ©. the president i. US0bt South Lakes Drive, Chaney NC. 28275; Paone! ‘TLVenginocringeom. "Prov sus postions sith TLY in ‘ide vie president fora Snd‘natonal ssles'manager Hie is active in the Fld Con: trols Insitute, where he. is scrrentiy serving a chairman ofthe assoition for 3004-2006, fle has previ: ‘uy werved ae Standard Chae and Chai the ecodaty Pressure and Steam Trap Sections. He NCSU. and holds two BAS degrees from Kite: own University (Rattown, Pas in mathemates fan education and fa business administration fang accounting He also holds an M.A trom Wie ees University (Wilkes Bare, Pa)SRA ne ea eed eu Pee eee a eae eed Pe | peer ie lp ae earn aieta ten Cazd Optimal Productivity For TT eNO Ay acy Ree nae aa pate iter eri CHIT) er Pree Gr he tate) Re eee tat eta Assured Uptime reiiabiity PQaPfornmance. Oe Re ae eis Cee eee ears Crea cece) Des eee) Rene eae ne OU rerun ass Uo) tere en oon eek See cu) MeN A rites Pier ec are C eye er) eC em une RT coe * Energy conserving, contoured body Cre ane ua) Re ean cd Ce ear Rea with the original PowerTrap from TL. TR mea) Cue ae aera) Petes seam ech ee eee eo Meh of TLV. CORPORATION CFs Te T9707. Fox 70428-1030 Fluid Controls Institute, Inc www.tlv.com