Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Assessment of the optimum operation conditions on a heat pipe heat MARK

exchanger for waste heat recovery in steel industry
⁎
Hongting Maa,b, Na Dua,b, Zeyu Zhanga,b, Fan Lyua,b, Na Denga,b, , Cong Lia,b, Shaojie Yua,b
a
Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
b
MOE Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Low and Medium Grade Energy, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: In order to investigate the characteristics of a heat pipe heat exchanger (HPHE) used for recovering the waste
Heat pipe heat exchanger heat in a slag cooling process in steel industry, a waste heat recovery experimental system has been designed
Waste heat recovery system and established. Main parameters representing the HPHE are investigated experimentally and theoretically, the
On-line cleaning device optimum operation conditions are determined by integrating the first and the second law of thermodynamics.
Steel industry
The results indicate that the heat transfer ratio and heat transfer coefficient increase with waste water mass flow
Energy-exergy analysis
rates increasing at constant cold water mass flow rate. As the waste water mass flow rate varies between 0.8 and
Optimum operation condition
1.9 m3/h, exergy destruction rate, exergy efficiency and effectiveness of the HPHE have the values from 0.277 to
0.510 kW; from 66.1% to 42.9% and from 0.085 to 0.192, respectively. The optimum waste water and cold
water mass flow rate are deduced as 1.40 and 2.90 m3/h, respectively. In addition, the effect of on-line cleaning
device on the heat transfer and fouling cleaning has been verified by experiments in this study. It is concluded
that the heat transfer performance has been significantly improved after using the on-line cleaning device.

1. Introduction application of advanced recycling technology and strengthening the

Waste heat recovery is indispensable in saving energy, which is an
important goal of the world economy and in the future will continue to
be one, lowering energy consumption and reducing pollutants. As the
world resources decreasing and energy costs increasing, highly efficient
heat transfer plays a more important role in energy utilization [1]. The
loss rate of global primary energy consumption after the conversion is
72%, and the heat below 100 ℃ in the proportion of 63%, among
which, power generation has the largest portion followed by transpor-
tation and industry [2]. Industrial waste heat resources are abundant in
China, which account for 17–67% for the total amount of fuel
consumption. 60% of the waste heat can be recovered and utilized,
and then the energy utilization efficiency would be improved signifi-
cantly [3].
China is a large country of producing steel and steel consumption.
The steel producing has an important strategic position in the national
economic development. There are abundant hot waste gases and
liquids in many steelmaking processes. These waste gases and liquids
have huge potential and space in energy saving, particularly for steel
slag cooling process. The amount of waste heat resources is 455.1kgce
per ton of steel. Presently, the recycling rate is only 45.6%. By the
popularity rate of mature technology, the utilization of waste heat in
China's steel industry can be increased to 63.6% [4]. It is possible to
use the waste heat recovery system (WHRS) to achieve energy saving.
Also there are numerous advantages of WHRSs for steel industry: (a)
decreasing overall production cost, (b) reducing water loss, (c) provid-
ing heat source for heating system, and (d) decreasing energy cost.
There are many literatures about waste heat recovery systems. Hao
Fang et al. [5] shows recovering industrial waste heat for use in district
heating (DH) can improve the efficiency of industrial and DH system.
Due to the high rate of utilization in the waste heat recovery system, a
cross-flow plate heat exchanger has been investigated in laboratory
conditions [6]. Conde [7] points out that it is susceptible to optimize
the conventional tumbler dryer technology by using of heat recovery
heat exchangers and demonstrates that the heat recovery heat ex-
changers enables the energy recovery potential to reach 20% of that
required for heating the drying air. Wang et al. [8] construct an
experimental prototype, a new type of open-cell metal foam-filled plate
heat exchanger, to utilize low grade waste heat. It is found that the heat
exchange efficiency between heated air and cold water can reach
83.56%. Larsen et al. [9] investigate the Split-cycle for the exhaust
heat recovery from large marine engines. A multi-variable optimization

⁎
Corresponding author at: Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072,
China.
E-mail address: denglouna@tju.edu.cn (N. Deng).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.04.122
Received 7 March 2016; Received in revised form 12 March 2017; Accepted 30 April 2017
Available online 18 May 2017
1364-0321/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Ma et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60

Nomenclature Ex exergy rate (kW)

Exin inlet exergy rate of waste water (kW)
Abbreviations Exout outlet exergy rate of cold water (kW)
Exdesc exergy destruction rate (kW)
WHRS waste heat recovery system ψin outlet specific (flow) exergy (kW)
HPHE heat pipe heat exchanger ψout outlet specific (flow) exergy (kW)
NTU number of heat transfer units h specific enthalpy (kJ/kg)
s specific entropy (kJ/(kg K))
Symbols Sgen entropy generation
IP exergetic improvement potential (kW)
Q heat transfer rate (kW)
m mass flow rate (kg/h) Greek letters
mww waste water mass flow rate (kg/h)
mcw cold water mass flow rate (kg/h) ε heat exchanger effectiveness
Cp specific heat (kJ/(kg K)) ηII the second-law efficiency
Cpww specific heat of waste water(kJ/(kg K)) εsde system device error
Cpcw specific heat of cold water (kJ/(kg K)) εt temperature measurement error
T temperature (K) εm mass flow rate measurement error
T0 ambient temperature εd data acquisition error
Tww,in inlet temperature of waste water (K)
Tww,out outlet temperature of waste water (K) Subscripts
Tcw,in inlet temperature of cold water (K)
Tcw,out outlet temperature of cold water (K) 0 the restricted dead state
U overall heat transfer coefficient (W/(m2 K)) ww waste water
A overall heat transfer surface area (m2) cw fresh water
△Tlm logarithmic temperature difference (K) in inlet
C heat capacity (kJ/K) out outlet
Cww heat capacity of waste water(kJ/K) min minimum
Ccw heat capacity of cold water (kJ/K) max maximum
R ratio of the minimum and maximum heat capacity rates des destruction

effort results suggest that the Split-cycle process using reheat can
obtain a thermal efficiency of 23.2% higher than the value of 20.8% for
a conventional reference Kalina cycle. Ebrahimi [10] focuses on the
technical and economic problems of waste heat recovery from data
centers using absorption cooling machines. Fergani et al. [11] propose
an Organic Rankine using cyclohexane, benzene and toluene. It is used
for recycling waste heat power generation system in cement industry
and the exergy, exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses are
carried out for achieve the system optimal operating conditions by the
multi-objective optimization. Chaudhry et al. [12] evaluate the applica-
tion of the common heat pipe system in the heat recovery and
renewable energy sources. The investigation shows that the heat pipe
with sorption phenomenon has a greater heat transfer capability. The
working range of the tubular heat pipe is the highest; the average
maximum operating temperature of the tube type heat pipe for all tests
is 453 K.
Recently, a lot of attention focused on the application of thermo-
dynamic analysis of various thermal units and systems. A performance
evaluation criterion based on the second law has been proposed to
evaluate the performance of the heat exchanger and the necessity for
the system design of the heat exchanger using the second law based
procedure has been discussed by Yilmaz [1]. Dincer et al. [13] perform
exergy and energy analysis for a reheat Rankine cycle steam power
plant and demonstrate that exergy analysis can help to make the best
design decisions in a logical way. The heat transfer performance of a
cross-flow serpentine heat exchanger for waste heat recovery is studied
by San et al. [14,15], which shows that the effectiveness slightly
decreases with an increase of the number of transfer units and the
second-law efficiency value increases with the number of transfer units’
value. Pulat et al. [16] perform the best running conditions of waste
heat recovery systems with water-to-water shell and tube heat ex-
changer by thermodynamic analysis and exergy analysis, and obtain
the potential of waste heat recovery in the dyeing process of the textile
industry in Bursa. Kandilli et al. [17] obtain the optimal waste water
flow rate and cold water flow rate for a countercurrent plate heat
exchanger according to the analysis of the first and second laws of
thermodynamics. Athari et al. [18] perform a thermodynamic assess-
ment about the effect of fog inlet cooling and biomass fuel for gas
turbine steam injection and combined power cycles, the results show
that the efficiency of combined cycle is higher when the value for
compressor pressure ratio is lower, but the efficiency of steam injection
device increases with the increase of pressure ratio. Based on methane
chemical-looping combustion to hot water, chilled water for cooling
and produce electricity, Wang Jiangjiang et al. [19] propose a solar-
hybrid trigeneration system. The thermodynamic performances of the
system are analyzed, the results indicate that the best solar collector
temperature is about 900 ℃, the pressure ratio of air compressor is 20,
the energy efficiency is 67% and the exergy efficiency is 55%. Gakkhar
et al. [20] make a complete review about exergetic analysis of solar
assisted distillation systems. The general relations are presented for
first and second law analysis, irreversibility and entropy generation of
each subcomponent. Hamed Sadighi Dizaji et al. [21] make a compre-
hensive second law analysis for tube-in-tube helically coiled heat
exchangers. The experimental study shows the impact of flow, thermo-
dynamic and geometrical parameters on exergetic characteristics. The
results demonstrate that the value of exergy loss increases with the
increasing of the flow rates of hot or cold water, hot water temperature
at the entrance and coil diameter. Song Jian et al. [22] reveal that the
optimal operation condition for the engine waste heat recovery case of
the ORC system is cyclohexane/R141b (0.5/0.5), thereby the net power
output of the system increases by 13.3% than the pure cyclohexane.
Chen et al. [23] analyze the impact of inlet temperatures of both heat
resource and cooling water on ammonia-water Kalina-Rankine cycle
system efficiencies based on the first and the second law of thermo-
dynamics.
Numerous studies have been presented to show the effects of the

51
H. Ma et al.
heat exchanger configuration on energy performance by the NTU
method, and apply the laws of thermodynamics to determine the
optimal operating conditions. However, there are seldom researchers
focusing on the waste heat recovery of slag cooling process in steel
industry by using a HPHE and online cleaning devices, and there is no
published literature about the use of integrating thermodynamics first
law and second law to determine optimal operating conditions with
WHRS for steel industry. This is the motivation behind the present
work.
In this study, the aim is to evaluate thermal performance of WHRS
employing a HPHE for steel industry. The WHRS has been established
and evaluated in Tianjin University laboratory, China. The hot waste
liquids from the steel slag cooling process have been used to heat cold
water by HPHE. The goal of the research is to determine optimal
operating conditions and to explore exergetic improvement potential of
the WHRS following thermodynamic analysis of the first and second
laws.
In this respect, the main purposes of this study are as follows: (i)
establishing heat exchanger thermodynamic model of energy and
exergy analysis for HPHE system; (ii) applying the model for the heat
recovery in steel industry; (iii) discussing parameters influenced the
performance of HPHE system; (iv) determining the optimum flow rates
of hot waste water and fresh cold water; (v) and proposing exergetic
improvement potential and new ideas to increase the energy and exergy
efficiency of the system.
The innovation of the research methods used in the present study is
as follows: (i) to reduce the negative effect of steel slag in the waste
water on the performance of HPHE; (ii) to design an on-line cleaning
device to remove the dirt on the surface of heat pipe and enhance the
heat transfer; (iii) to compare the performance of HPHE with and
without on-line cleaning device; (iv) and to put forward a new method
to obtain optimal operating conditions by integrating the first and
second law of thermodynamics. This study not only has great potential
for the WHRS in steel slag cooling process, but also has an important
significance for other process using the heat exchanger. There is no
doubt that the method presented in this paper is beneficial for many
industrial sectors using WHRS with HPHE. Obviously, the HPHE in
the optimum operating conditions helps to save energy, reduce energy
costs, shorten the process cycle and provide economic benefits for the
iron and steel industry as well as the other industrial sectors. This
paper mainly focuses on the HPHE for the steel industry in the steel
slag cooling process of waste heat recovery.
2. Experimental apparatus and methods
2.1. Experimental apparatus
To study the heat transfer performance of HPHE and determine the
optimum operating conditions for the heat pipe heat exchanger, an
experimental system is designed and established. The apparatus
consists of a HPHE, an on-line cleaning device, a hot water cylinder,
an underground cold water pool, a data collecting system, a waste hot
water pump and a fresh cold water pump, etc. The schematic diagram
of the system is shown in Fig. 1.
According to Fig. 1, the waste water enters from the left side of the
HPHE and flows out from the right side. And the cold water enters
from the right side and flows out from the left side.
There are 31 heat pipes in the HPHE, arranged as 9 columns, with
staggered triangular arrangement. The distribution of heat pipes is
shown in Fig. 2(a). The pipe shell is made of carbon steel, the external
diameter is 32 mm and the total length is 1000 mm, with corrosion
inhibitor added to alleviate corrosion and rust. The lengths of the
evaporator section, adiabatic section and condensation section are
480 mm, 40 mm and 480 mm, respectively. Both heat pipe ends are
sealed tightly, and the filling amount of the working fluid (distilled
water) is 30% of the heat pipe volume.
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60
The on-line cleaning device consists of a motor, a coupling, two
rotating bearings, a screw, a control circuit and a screen with brush.
The screen image is shown in Fig. 2(b). A motor, mounted on the top of
HPHE, is connected with a screw using coupling, and the screen is
connected by nuts on the screw rod. The screen moves up-and-down
and cleans the outer surface of heat pipe automatically in the operation.
In this study, a control system has been designed to control the motor
rotation automatically, forward or reverse, during the setting time, the
brush sweeps the dirt on the outer surface of heat pipe.
The heating device is composed of two stainless steel electric
heating tubes, an insulating waste water tank, a copper-constantan
thermocouple and a temperature controller. The waste water tank is
made of stainless steel, with a length of 1000 mm, a width of 600 mm
and a height of 700 mm and surrounded by 30 mm rock wool to reduce
the surface heat loss. In the experiment, the waste water temperature is
adjusted by two 6 kW heaters and measured by a PT1000 copper-
constantan thermocouple.
The cooling system consists of a cooling water pump, a heat
exchanger and an underground cooling pool. The cooling pool with
size of 8 m×10 m×5 m is below the underground. In the present work,
the cold water inlet temperature maintains constant.
2.2. Experimental design
In order to assess the performance and determine the optimum
operating conditions of HPHE system for industry application, parti-
cularly the cooling process of steel slag, heat transfer coefficient, heat
transfer rate, effectiveness, number of heat transfer unit(NTU), exergy
destruction rate, exergy efficiency, exergetic improvement potential are
measured and computed in different experiment conditions. The
optimal operating conditions of the HPHE system could be determined
by exploring the variation of performance parameters. Then under
optimal operating conditions, the experiments with or without the use
of on-line cleaning device have been carried out to detect the descaling
effect of on-line cleaning device.
It can be seen from Fig. 1, the waste water from the hot water tank
flows through the evaporation section of HPHE to release heat.
According to real processes of steel slag cooling, the temperature range
of the slag cooling water in a steel mill is from 70 to 85 ℃. Therefore,
the temperature of waste water is steady at the range of 80 ± 0.5 ℃
during the experimental process. The cold water flows from the
underground pool to the condenser section of HPHE and is steady at
the range of 44 ± 0.5 ℃. Corresponding to the hot and cold water
temperatures, the waste water density is 971.785 kg/m3 and its
isobaric specific heat capacity is 4.196 kJ/(kg K), the cold fresh water
1. motor; 2.. heat pipe; 3. adiiabatic section; 4.. pressure gauge; 5. heat meter; 6. screen; 7. screw;;
8. waste water puump; 9. electric hheating tube; 10. waste water tank; 11. valve; 12. carbon steel
heat exchanger; 13. underground cooling pool; 14. fresh cold water pump; 15. data acquisition
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus. 1. motor; 2. heat pipe; 3.
adiabatic Section; 4. pressure gauge; 5. heat meter; 6. screen; 7. screw;8. waste water
pump; 9. electric heating tube; 10. waste water tank; 11. valve; 12. carbon steel heat
exchanger; 13. underground cooling pool; 14. fresh cold water pump; 15. data
acquisition.
H. Ma et al.
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of distribution of heat pipes and photographic image of the screen.
density is 990.63 kg/m3 and its isobaric specific heat capacity is
4.179 kJ/(kg K) in the present study. The regulating values are used
to adjust waste and cold water mass flow rates. Firstly, the cold water
flow remains constant, waste water flow is regulated between 0.8 m³/h
and 1.9 m³/h. Then keep the flow rate of waste water unchanged,
adjusting the flow of cold water from 2.5 m³/h to 3.0 m³/h.
A HM-20-C1/100 ultrasonic heat meter ( ± 1%) is used to record
the mass flow rate and temperature, A Pt-1000 resistance thermometer
(0.1%) is used to record temperature. When the system is stable in each
experimental condition, 20 sets of data are recorded continuously and
the experimental data with obvious deviation are removed. The average
value is taken as the final experimental data of the operating condition.
An Agilent multi-channel data-logger (Agilent 34972A, 0.1%) is used to
collect and download all data.
In the experiment, the cold water flow rate remains constant, by
regulating the waste water flow to the desired value, the inlet and outlet
temperatures, waste and cold water mass flow rates are recorded. Then
keeping the waste water flow rate unchanged, the cold water flow rate is
adjusted, and the values of temperature, waste and cold water mass
flow rates are recorded. Based on this, the HPHE system performance
parameters are analyzed, and the optimal operating conditions of the
system are determined. Then under optimal operating conditions, the
experiments with and without the use of on-line cleaning device have
been carried out to detect the descaling effect of on-line cleaning
device.
In this study, the thermal performance and on-line cleaning effect
of the water-water HPHE, for waste heat recovery, are examined in the
Engineering Research Center for Integrated Utilization of Low
Temperature Heat, Tianjin University, China.
3. Thermodynamic analysis
The first and second law of thermodynamics -are very important to
calculate the heat transfer rate, analyze the influence of mass flow rate
and temperature on the system performance and determine the
optimal operating conditions. In this part, theoretical equations have
been presented to determine the thermodynamic performance of the
counter-flow HPHE in the experimental system. The assumptions in
this experimental analysis are as follows:
a. The ambient temperature（T0）is 25 ℃;
b. All measurement conditions are steady state;
c. The effects of kinetic and potential energy are neglected;
d. There is no chemical reaction between the working fluid and the heat
pipe shell;
e. HPHE and the outside environment have no heat transfers;
f. The heat pipe has no difference in temperature along the direction of
cross-section;
g. There is no phase transition of waste and cold water in HPHE;
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60
h. The waste water is steel slag flushing water.
3.1. The first law analysis
The heat transfer rate for HPHE Q̇ can be calculated steady-state
process, and the formula is given as follows [24];
Q̇ = ṁ ww Cpww (Tww, in − Tww, out ) (1)
where ṁ is the mass flow rate, Cp is the specific heat capacity, and T is
the temperature. The subscript ww refers to the waste water, ww,in
and ww,out refer to the inlet and outlet of waste water, respectively.
Based on the first law of thermodynamic, Q̇ can be also obtained by
the cold water from the following formula [24]:
Q̇ = ṁ cw Cpcw (Tcw, in − Tcw, out ) (2)
where the subscript cw refers to the cold water, cw,in and cw,out refer
to the inlet and outlet of cold water, respectively.
The effectiveness ε is an important parameter to evaluate the heat
exchanger, which reflects the utilization rate of waste and cold water
temperature difference at the entrance to the HPHE. It can be given as
follow [16]
ε = Q̇ / Qmax
̇ (3)
where Q̇ is the actual heat transfer, Q̇ max is the maximum possible
value for the heat exchanger and the formula of Q̇ max is shown as the
following [17]
Q̇max = Cmin (Tww, in − Tcw, in ) (4)
where Cmin is smaller one of the waste (Cww) and cold water (Ccw)
specific heat capacities [25].
Cww and Ccw are computed by following relations:
Cww = ṁ ww Cpww (5)
Ccw = ṁ cw Cpcw (6)
Cmax is the larger one of the waste (Cww) and cold water (Ccw)
specific heat capacities [25].
The NTU is a vital dimensionless parameter, which indicates the
heat transfer quantity for the heat exchanger. And it can be defined by
[26].
NTU = UA / Cmin (7)
where U is the overall heat transfer coefficient, A is heat transfer
surface area. R is the ratio of the minimum heat capacity rate and the
maximum heat capacity rate for the waste and fresh water by [26]
R = Cmin / Cmax (8)
The ε-NTU method is a thermodynamic calculation method of
dividing wall type of heat exchanger, which is derived by the dimen-
H. Ma et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60

sionless equation when the logarithmic mean temperature difference is ∑ xmass, in = ∑ ṁ in × ψin (14)
discussed. The relationship between ε and NTU can be expressed by
[26]: ∑ xmass,in = ∑ ṁ wwin × ψwwin + ṁ cwin × ψcwin (15)
1 − exp[−1(1 − R ) NTU ] where ∑ ṁ in is the rate of total inlet mass flow, ψin is the inlet specific
ε=
1 − R ⋅ exp[−(1 − R ) NTU ] (9) (flow) exergy, ψww in is the inlet waste water specific exergy, ψcw in is the
The overall heat transfer coefficient U can be obtained by formulas inlet cold water specific exergy.
[17] Similarly the outlet exergy rate E ̇ xmass,out can be obtained by
equations [27]:
U = Q̇ / A△Tlm (10)
∑ xmass,out = ∑ ṁ out × ψout (16)
where △Tlm is logarithmic mean temperature difference.
△Tlm can be computed for a counter-flow heat exchanger as following ∑ xmass,out = ∑ ṁ wwout × ψwwout + ṁ cwout × ψcwout (17)
[26]:
where ∑ ṁ out is the rate of total outlet mass flow, ψout is the outlet
(Tww, in − Tcw,out ) − (Tww, out − Tcw, in ) specific (flow) exergy, ψww out is the outlet waste water specific exergy,
ΔTlm =
ln(Tww, in − Tcw, out )/(Tww, out − Tcw, in ) (11) ψcw out is the outlet cold water specific exergy.
The inlet and outlet specific (flow) exergies can be calculated by the
following equations [27,28]:
3.2. The second law analysis
ψwwin = (h wwin − h 0 ) − T0 (swwin − s0 ) (18)
The first law of thermodynamics states that energy is indestructible ψcwin = (hcwin − h 0 ) − T0 (scwin − s0 ) (19)
and the total energy of the universe is in constant. The second law of
thermodynamics has been demonstrated to be an incredibly powerful ψwwout = (h wwout − h 0 ) − T0 (swwout − s0 ) (20)
tool for the optimization of complicated thermodynamic systems. It
deals with energy degeneration and entropy generation of thermo- ψcwout = (hcwout − h 0 ) − T0 (scwout − s0 ) (21)
dynamic systems. It is of great use to determine the best running
where h is enthalpy, s is entropy. And the subscript zero refers to
conditions by the exergy analysis of the thermodynamic system [27].
properties at the restricted dead state, T0 is dead state temperature.
The exergy balance for the control column means: the difference of ̇ and dead state
The relationship between entropy generation Sgen
the exergy input and the exergy output is equal to the loss of the exergy
temperature T0 can be expressed as follow [16]
and the change of the exergy. The rate form of exergy balance for any
process of any system can be calculated as [27] Eẋ desc
Sgen =
T0 (22)
∑ E ̇xin − ∑ E ̇xout − ∑ E ̇x desc = ΔEẊ (12)
For two unmixed fluid streams in an adiabatic heat exchanger, the
where E ̇ xin is the rate of input exergy, E ̇ x out is the rate of output exergy, hot stream supplies the exergy, while the cold stream recovers the
E ̇ x desc is the rate of exergy destruction, and ΔEẋ is the exergy change exergy. The temperature of the cold stream cannot be lower than the
rate. ambient temperature. Then the second-law efficiency ηII of the heat
The exergy of entering with all forms, which include work, heat, exchanger can be calculated using the equation as follow [16]:
mass transfer, must be equal to the sum of the exergy of leaving and
ṁ cw (ψcwout − ψcwin )
exergy loss in a stable system. Then the general form of the exergy η∏ =
balance is expressed by following equation [27]: ṁ ww (ψwwin − ψwwout ) (23)

∑ E ̇xin − ∑ E ̇xout = ∑ E ̇x desc The exergy efficiency achieves maximum, when the exergy loss or
(13)
the irreversible of the system are minimum values [17]. The concept of
The entrance of exergy by mass transfer E ̇ xmass,in for a heat exergy improvement potential can be considered to be beneficial for
exchanger can be given with the following formulas [27]: determining the optimal operating conditions and analyzing the

Fig. 3. Effect of waste water and fresh water mass flow rates on heat transfer rate (a) and heat transfer coefficient (b).

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H. Ma et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60

economy of system. Exergetic improvement potential IP ̇ can be linear. It is mostly because that the heat transfer coefficient U will rise
obtained by formula [17]: while the R will be declined with the increasing of the cold water mass
flow rate, according to Eqs. (7) and (9), the ε and NTU will be increased
IP ̇ = (1 − η∏) Eẋ desc (24) simultaneously.
Additionally, the present experimental results are consistent with
the theoretical predictions by [29], within minor effectiveness of heat
4. Results and discussion exchanger. The effectiveness is linear with NTU, when the effectiveness
varying from 0.0846 to 0.1921, and the relationship can be expressed
4.1. Investigation on the performance of the HPHE as ε=0.84425NTU+0.0018.

According to the present experiment, heat transfer rate, heat

4.2. Determination of the optimum waste and cold water mass flow
transfer coefficient, effectiveness, exergy destruction rate, NTU, exergy
rates
efficiency, exergetic improvement potential for the HPHE and the effect
of on-line cleaning device on the heat transfer of HPHE have been
The left side of Fig. 5 shows that when the values of cold water mass
investigated. And the methods to evaluate the performance and
flow rate are constant, the variations of exergy destruction rate and
determine the optimal operating conditions of HPHE for waste heat
exergy efficiency with waste water mass flow rates which are 1.9, 1.8,
recovery in the cooling process of steel slag have been put forward and
1.7, 1.6,1.5 ,1.4 ,1.3, 1.2, 1.1, 1.0, 0.9 and 0.8 m³/h, respectively.
developed by thermodynamic analysis. Additionally, the effect of on-
Similarly the right side shows the variations of effectiveness of HPHE
line cleaning device on the heat transfer and fouling cleaning has been
and exergy efficiency with the variation of waste water mass flow rate
verified by experiments.
for the same cold water mass flow rate. In this study, the constant cold
Based on the experimental data, the optimal operating conditions of
water flow rate values are 3.0, 2.9, 2.8, 2.7, 2.6and 2.5 m³/h,
HPHE have been determined by the first and the second law of
respectively, when the mass flow rate of the waste water varies between
thermodynamics in this paper. Also it is a key task to study the
0.8 and 1.9 m3/h. And the temperatures of the inlet and outlet for
relationship between effectiveness of the HPHE and NTU in this paper.
HPHE are recorded. The left side of Fig. 5 shows that the exergy
The heat transfer rate has been measured with the change of waste
destruction rates increase with the increasing of waste water mass flow
water mass flow rate for various cold water mass flow rates to embody
rate, while the exergy efficiency decreases with the increasing of waste
the analysis of the first law of thermodynamics. As for the second law,
water mass flow rate at the same running conditions. As the waste
exergy destruction, exergy efficiency and effectiveness have been
water flow rate changes from 0.8 to 1.9 m3/h, exergy efficiency, exergy
examined with the variation of waste water flow rate for different cold
destruction rate, and effectiveness of the HPHE have the values
water flow rates. According to these results, the optimal waste water
between 66.1% and 42.9%, between 0.277 and 0.510 kW; and between
flow rate is obtained.
0.085 and 0.192, respectively.
Then with the change of cold water flow rate, the changes of exergy
The first law of thermodynamic is related with the conservation of
destruction, exergy efficiency and effectiveness at the optimum waste
energy, which could be represented by effectiveness of the HPHE. The
water flow rate are studied to determine optimum cold water mass flow
second law is concerned with the quality of energy, and the exergy
rate. So the optimum flow rates of waste water and cold water have
efficiency is an important indicator of the performance for the thermal
been determined. The exergetic improvement potential represents the
system.
ability of thermodynamic system development, which changes with
For a HPHE, the effectiveness and exergy efficiency are both
varying waste water flow rates for different cold water mass flow rates.
required to have a high value. However, the results from the right of
The variations of heat transfer rate and heat transfer coefficient
Fig. 5 indicate that the effectiveness increases and the exergy efficiency
with waste water mass flow rates at different fresh cold water mass flow
decreases with the increase of waste water flow rate under a constant
rates are shown in Fig. 3.
cold water flow rate. It is a critical issue to find the balance between the
The results indicate that both the heat transfer rate and heat
effectiveness and exergy efficiency. By the integrating of the first and
transfer coefficient are increased with the increase of waste water mass
second law analysis, the optimum waste mass flow rates are deter-
flow rate when the fresh cold water mass flow rate is constant. And the
mined by the cross point of effectiveness and exergy efficiency curve,
higher the waste and cold water mass flow rates become, the bigger the
which have values of 1.36, 1.39, 1.42, 1.38, 1.35, 1.42 m3/h when cold
heat transfer rate and heat transfer coefficient are.
water mass flow rates are 3.0, 2.9, 2.8, 2.7, 2.6 and 2.5 m3/h,
In the experiment, the heat transfer rate changes between 6.37 and
respectively. The mean value is 1.386 m3/h for these optimum mass
7.36 kW and the heat transfer coefficient varies between 129.24 and
150.67 W/(m2℃). The heat transfer rate and heat transfer coefficient
get the minimal values when the waste and cold water mass flow rate
are 0.83 and 2.46 m3/h, respectively. The heat transfer rate and heat
transfer coefficient get the maximum values when the waste and cold
water flow rates are 1.87 and 3.05 m3/h, respectively. The heat transfer
coefficient is fairly minor when the waste water flow rate is small. It is
because that the liquid membrane in the evaporating section of a heat
pipe is in laminar film evaporation. While the waste water flow rate
grows up, the heating power is increased, and the liquid film changes
into nuclear boiling with a large number of bubbles, which enhances
the heat transfer, and increases the heat exchange coefficient. This
indicates that the heat transfer efficiency can be improved by increasing
the flow rate of water in practice.
In this paper, the effectiveness-NTU method to heat exchanger
analysis has been applied, and the variations of effectiveness with NTU
at different fresh water mass flow rates are shown in Fig. 4. It can be
seen from Fig. 4 that the effectiveness of HPHE increases with the
increasing of NTU, and the effectiveness and NTU are approximately Fig. 4. Relationship between effectiveness and NTU.

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H. Ma et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60

Fig. 5. Variations of exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency with waste water mass flow (left side) and variations of effectiveness of HPHE and exergy efficiency with waste mass
flow rate (right side).

flow rates. And the optimum waste water mass flow rate is chosen as water flow rate has been studied. The left side of Fig. 6 illustrates how
1.40 m3/h to provide convenience in practice. the exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency change with the
Under the optimized waste water flow rate, the optimized cold increasing cold water mass flow and the right side of Fig. 6 shows how

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H. Ma et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60

Fig. 5. (continued)

the effectiveness of HPHE and exergy efficiency change with the 0.436 kW and between 60.1% and 55.2% with the values of cold water
increasing cold water mass flow rate under the optimum waste water mass flow rate between 2.5 and 3.0 m3/h, respectively. Based on the
mass flow rate. The effectiveness, exergy destruction rate, and exergy integration of the first and the second law, the cross point of the exergy
efficiency of HPHE change between 0.11 and 0.13, between 0.328 and efficiency and the effectiveness curves for HPHE can be judged as the

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H. Ma et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60

Fig. 6. Variations of exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency with cold water mass flow (left side) and variations of effectiveness of HPHE and exergy efficiency with cold water mass
flow rate (right side).

best condition. This optimum condition point for cold water mass flow
rate is found as 2.885m3/h in the right of Fig. 6.
Associated with the same treatment for the optimized waste water
flow rate, the value of 2.90 m3/h for optimized cold water flow rate is
promoted for actual application. The optimal waste and cold water
mass flow rates are assigned 1.40 m3/h and 2.90 m3/h, respectively.
Table 1 shows the main results between Kandilli [17] and present
work, the experimental condition and main information are listed in
the table.
Fig. 7 shows the variation of exergetic improvement potential rate
with different waste water mass flow rate when the cold water mass
flow rate is constant.
The exergetic improvement potential increases with the increasing
waste water mass flow rate, varying between 0.102 and 0.259 kW. In
the experiment, the minimum exergetic improvement potential is given
when the waste water mass flow rate is 0.90 m3/h and cold water mass
flow rate is 2.90 m3/h. The maximum exergetic improvement potential
Fig. 7. Variation of improvement potential with waste water mass flow rate.
is given when the waste mass flow rate and cold water mass flow rate
are 1.90 m3/h and 3.00 m3/h, respectively.
running, and this will seriously reduce the heat transfer performance of
the HPHE. However, after the automatic cleaning device is put into
4.3. Effect of the on-line cleaning device on the removal of fouling and operation, the dirt on the heat exchange tube surface has been removed
performance of HPHE and this would enhance the heat transfer and performance of HPHE
obviously.
Under optimal operating conditions, the cold water mass flow rate The changes of heat transfer rate and heat transfer coefficient of
and hot water mass flow rate are 1.4 m3/h and 2.9 m3/h, respectively, HPHE with operating are shown in Fig. 9. And the changes of
the experiments using or not using on-line cleaning device have been effectiveness and exergy efficiency of HPHE with operating are
carried out for 32 days to detect the descaling effect of on line cleaning presented in Fig. 10.
device. Fig. 8 shows the difference of the fouling on the surface of heat As shown in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10, in the first 14 days, the heat transfer
exchanger tubes before and after running the on-line cleaning device. rate, heat transfer coefficient, effectiveness and exergy efficiency
After proper filtration and precipitation, the waste water still decrease with the running time, varying from 7.27 to 6.19 kW; from
contains some impurities. According to Fig. 8, before the automatic 151.90 to 122.87 W/(m2 K); from 0.143 to 0.117 and from 59.29% to
cleaning device is put into operation, there is a large amount of dirt 55.52%, respectively. This mainly because the calcium ions and sludge
attached to the surface of the heat exchange tubes after 14 days of in the waste water are deposited on the outer surface of the heat pipe,

Table 1
Comparison of Canan Kandilli [17] and present work.

Items Canan Kandilli [17] Present work

Waste heat type the dyeing process of the textile industry slag cooling process in steel industry
Type of heat exchanger plate heat exchanger heat pipe heat exchanger
Mass flow rates for waste water 3
(m /h) 8–12 0.8–1.9
Inlet temperatures for waste water (℃) 52.4–59.5 79.5–80.5
Mass flow rates for cold water (m3/h) 5–8 2.5–3.0
Inlet temperatures for waste water (℃) 21.1–24.1 43.5–44.5
Optimum waste water mass flow rate (m3/h) 10 1.4
Optimum cold water mass flow rate (m3/h) 7 2.9

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H. Ma et al.
Fig. 8. Photographic images of the heat pipe surface before (a) and after (b) running the on-line cleaning device.
Fig. 9. Changes of heat transfer rate and heat transfer coefficient with running time.
Fig. 10. Changes of effectiveness and exergy efficiency with the running time.
and this will improve the heat transfer resistance and reduce heat
transfer performance. Furthermore, the dirty layer will not only reduce
the flow area of fluid but also increase the flow resistance. This will
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60
result in more power consumption and more capital cost for operation.
In the next 18 days, the on-line cleaning device is in operation
because of its cleaning and descaling effect, the heat transfer rate, heat
transfer coefficient, effectiveness, exergy efficiency are growing fast at
the beginning, then fluctuate slowly, and gradually become smoothly,
varying from 6.40 to 6.70 kW; from 122.66 to 130.55 W/(m2 K); from
0.124 to 0.129 and from 55.71% to 57.40%, respectively.
By using the cleaning device, the dirt can be removed by the
movement of screen. It can also prevent the formation of fouling on the
outer surface. In addition, the device movement could cause some
disturbance in the waste water, which will improve the heat transfer. As
a result, the heat transfer rate, heat transfer coefficient, effectiveness
and exergy efficiency, are improved by 8.24%, 6.25%, 10.26% and
3.39%, respectively, which means the on-line cleaning device has a
significant effect on the removal of dirt and performance of the HPHE.
Even though the steel slag flushing water used in this study has
been pre-treated by sedimentation and filtration, it still contains Ca2+,
Mg2+ and several other impurities, which can form fouling on the
surface of heat pipe during operation. If the fouling remains on the
surface of heat pipe for long period of time, it will form a permanent
layer on the heat pipe and be very difficult to remove it even with a
brush. However，it is usually easy to be get rid of when newly formed.
The results indicate that the descaling method is useful and overall heat
transfer has been enhanced after a 32 days of experiment.
The methods of evaluating the performance of HPHE, used for the
recovery of waste heat during a slag cooling process, and the methods
to determine the optimal operating conditions of HPHE, are equally
useful and suitable for any other type of HPHEs as well as any other
heat exchanger. This is quite useful for everyone in the design and
performance evaluation of WHRS using HPHE in many industrial
sectors.
4.4. Uncertainty analysis of the experimental data
As we all know, it is necessary to give the error analysis in the
evaluation of HPHE because of the experimental uncertainties [30].
Data processing error, random error and system device error are three
components of the system error. The data processing error is primarily
derived from the calculation formula, which can be ignored in this
experiment, and the random error can be eliminated by repeated
measurements. The system device error is comprised of temperature
measurement error εt , mass flow rate measurement error εm , and data
acquisition error εd , and can be calculated by following equation：
H. Ma et al.
Table 2
Error sources of system instrument and measurement errors.
The major error sources The measurement error (%)
Temperature measurement error εt 0.1%
Mass flow rate measurement error εm 1%
Data acquisition error εd 0.1%
System device error εsde 1.01%
εsde = εt 2 + εm 2 + εd 2
where εt =0.1%, εm =1% and εd =0.1%. And εsde =1.01%.
The calculated results are shown in Table 2.
5. Conclusion and suggestion
The optimal operating conditions have been evaluated by integrat-
ing the first and the second law of thermodynamics for a counter flow
HPHE, used for a steel slag cooling process in steel industry. According
to the results of the present study, the main conclusions and sugges-
tions are summarized as following:
a. The heat transfer rate and heat transfer coefficient increase with
waste water mass flow rates increasing when the cold water mass
flow rate is constant.
b. The effectiveness is linear with NTU, when the effectiveness varying
from 0.0846 to 0.1921, and the relationship can be expressed as
ε=0.84425NTU+0.0018.
c. The effectiveness increases while exergy efficiency decreases as the
waste water mass flow rate is increased and the cold mass flow rate
is constant. The cross point of exergy efficiency and effectiveness
graph gives the optimal waste water mass flow rate of HPHE. The
optimum waste and cold water mass flow rates are fixed at 1.40 and
2.90 m3/h, respectively.
d. The exergetic improvement potential increases with the increasing of
waste water mass flow rate, varying from 0.102 to 0.259 kW.
e. The heat transfer performance has been significantly improved after
using the on-line cleaning device, because it removes the original
dirt, prevents the formation of fouling on the outer surface of heat
pipe and causes a disturbance in the waste water.
f. To improve energy efficiency, the heated fresh water can be used in
winter heating, residential water or low temperature power genera-
tion in the subsequent application of waste heat recovery.
g. The WHRS has a comprehensive function and energy saving
potential, but the public lack of sufficient knowledge and under-
standing of the system. Government departments, research institu-
tions and engineering and technical personnel should be work
together to promote the technology development for our low carbon
and convenient life.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (51576137)，Marine economic innovation and
development regional demonstration project under grant number cxsf-
42, 12th Five Year National Science and Technology Support Key
Project of China under grant numbers 2015BAJ01B02 and
2013BAJ09B01, Tianjin Municipal Science and technology project
under grant number 14ZCDGSF00035, Guangdong provincial science
and technology project under grant number 2013B090800008.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 79 (2017) 50–60
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