Hadhramout University

Chemical Processes Design II

Instructor: Dr. Osamah A. Bin Dahman

Chemical Engineering Department
College of Engineering and Petroleum
 Process design of shell and tube exchanger
for two phase heat transfer
1. Condensers
 The change from vapor phase to liquid phase is called
condensation. The heat exchanger used for condensation is called
condenser.
 The change from vapor to liquid occurs at one temperature
(called saturation or equilibrium temperature) for a pure fluid
compound at a given pressure.
 Condensation occurs by two different physical mechanisms i.e.
drop-wise condensation and film condensation.
 If the condensate wets the solid surface and flows on the surface
in the form of a film, it is called film condensation.
 When the condensate does not wet the solid surface and the
condensate is accumulated in the form of droplets, is drop-wise
condensation.
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 Condensers
 Heat transfer coefficient is about 4 to 8 times higher for drop wise
condensation.
 The heat transfer coefficient is lower for film condensation due to
the resistance of this liquid film.
 Dropwise condensation occurs usually on new, clean and polished
surfaces.
 In industrial condensers, film condensation normally occurs.
 Four condenser configurations are possible:
1) Horizontal, with condensation in the shell, and the cooling
medium in the tubes.
2) Horizontal, with condensation in the tubes.
3) Vertical, with condensation in the shell.
4) Vertical, with condensation in the tubes.
 Horizontal shell-side and vertical tube-side are the most
commonly used types of condenser.
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 Condensers design
 The design of condenser is similar to a typical shell and tube
exchangers.
 A condenser must have a vent for removal of non-condensable
gas. The non-condensable gas decreases the heat transfer rate.
Condenser usually use a wider baffle spacing of 𝒍𝑩 = 𝑫𝑺 as the
allowable pressure drop in shell side vapor is usually less.
 Four condenser configurations are possible:
1) Horizontal, with condensation in the shell, and the cooling
medium in the tubes.
2) Horizontal, with condensation in the tubes.
3) Vertical, with condensation in the shell.
4) Vertical, with condensation in the tubes.
 Horizontal shell-side and vertical tube-side are the most
commonly used types of condenser.
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Mean temperature difference
 A pure, saturated, vapor will condense at a fixed temperature, at
constant pressure.
 For an isothermal process such as this, the simple logarithmic mean
temperature difference can be used; no correction factor for multiple
passes is needed. The logarithmic mean temperature difference will be
given by:

 When the condensation process is not exactly isothermal but the

temperature change is small, the logarithmic temperature difference
can still be used but the temperature correction factor will be needed
for multipass condensers. 5
 Calculation of heat transfer coefficient
Condensation outside horizontal tubes
 Using Kern’s method, the mean coefficient for a tube bundle is given by

𝑵𝒓 = 𝟐𝟑𝑫𝑷𝒃 6
𝒕
Condensation inside and outside vertical tubes

 For condensation inside and outside vertical tubes the Nusselt model
gives:

 The Reynolds number for the condensate film is given by:

 The Prandtl number for the condensate film is given by:

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 Above a Reynolds number of around 2000, the condensate film becomes
turbulent. The effect of turbulence in the condensate film was investigated
by Colburn and Colburn’s results are generally used for condenser design,
Figure 12.43.

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 Boyko and Kruzhilin developed a correlation as

 For the design of condensers with condensation inside the

vertical tubes and downward vapor flow, the coefficient should
be evaluated using Figure 12.43 and above equations , and the
higher value selected.

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Example 12.5

Estimate the heat-transfer coefficient for steam condensing on the

outside, and on the inside, of a 25 mm o.d., 21 mm i.d. vertical
tube 3.66 m long. The steam condensate rate is 0.015 kg/s per tube
and condensation takes place at 3 bar. The steam will flow down
the tube.

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Condensation inside horizontal tubes
 Two flow models are used to estimate the mean condensation
coefficient in horizontal tubes: stratified flow, Figure 12.45a, and
annular flow, Figure 12.45b.

 The stratified flow model represents the limiting condition at low

condensate and vapor rates, and the annular model the condition at
high vapor and low condensate rates.
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 The mean condensation coefficient for stratified flow can be
estimated from:

 The Boyko-Kruzhilin equation can be used to estimate the

coefficient for annular flow.
 For condenser design, the mean coefficient should be evaluated
using the correlations for both annular and stratified flow and
the higher value selected.

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 Pressure drop in condensers

 The pressure drop on the condensing side is difficult to predict as

two phases are present and the vapor mass velocity is changing
throughout the condenser.
 A common practice is to calculate the pressure drop using the
methods for single-phase flow and apply a factor to allow for the
change in vapor velocity. For total condensation,
 Frank suggests taking the pressure drop as 40 per cent of
the value based on the inlet vapor conditions;
 Kern suggests a factor of 50 per cent.

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Example 12.7
Design a condenser for the following duty: 45,000 kg/h of mixed
light hydrocarbon vapors to be condensed. The condenser to
operate at 10 bar. The vapor will enter the condenser saturated at
60oC and the condensation will be complete at 45oC. The
average molecular weight of the vapors is 52. The enthalpy of the
vapor is 596.5 kJ/kg and the condensate 247.0 kJ/kg. Cooling water
is available at 30oC and the temperature rise is to be limited to
10oC. Plant standards require tubes of 20 mm o.d., 16.8 mm i.d.,
4.88 m (16 ft) long, of admiralty brass. The vapors are to be totally
condensed and no sub-cooling is required.

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 Process design of shell and tube exchanger
for two phase heat transfer
2. Reboilers and vaporizers
 Reboilers are used with distillation columns to vaporize a fraction of
the bottom product whereas in a vaporizer essentially all the feed is
vaporized.
 Three principal types of reboiler are used:

i. Forced circulation:
 The fluid is pumped through the
exchanger, and the vapor formed is
separated in the base of the column.
 Suitable for viscous and highly fouling
fluids.
 High pumping and maintenance cost.

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ii. Thermosyphon, natural circulation:

 Vertical exchangers with vaporization

in the tubes, or horizontal
exchangers with vaporization in the
shell.
 The liquid circulation through the
exchanger is maintained by the
difference in density between the
two-phase mixture of vapor and
liquid in the exchanger and the
single-phase liquid in the base of the
column.
 Most economical because no pump
is required.
 Not suitable for heavily viscous fluid. Vertical thermosyphon reboiler
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iii. Kettle type:
 The boiling takes place on tubes immersed in a pool of liquid;
there is no circulation of liquid through the exchanger. This
type is also, more correctly, called a submerged bundle
reboiler.
 Suitable for vacuum operation and high vaporization rate up to
about 80% of the feed.
 Low heat transfer rate than
other types as there is no
liquid circulation.
 Not appropriate for fouling
fluids.
 Not suitable for heat
sensitive materials as it has
higher residence time.

26 Kettle type reboiler

 Estimation of boiling heat-transfer coefficients

 In the design of vaporizers and reboilers the designer

will be concerned with two types of boiling: pool boiling
and convective boiling.

 Pool boiling is the name given to nucleate boiling in a

pool of liquid; such as in a kettle-type reboiler or a
jacketed vessel.
 Convective boiling occurs where the vaporizing fluid is
flowing over the heated surface, and heat transfer takes
place both by forced convection and nucleate boiling; as
in forced circulation or thermosyphon reboilers.

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 Pool boiling
 The correlation given by Forster and Zuber can be used to
estimate pool boiling coefficients, in the absence of experimental
data. Their equation can be written in the form:

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  The reduced pressure correlation given by Mostinski (1963) is
simple to use and gives values that are as reliable as those given
by more complex equations.

 Mostinski’s equation is convenient to use when data on

the fluid physical properties are not available

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 Critical heat flux
 It is important to check that the design, and operating, heat flux
is well below the critical flux. Several correlations are available
for predicting the critical flux.
 That given by Zuber has been found to give satisfactory
predictions for use in reboiler and vaporiser design. In SI units,
Zuber’s equation can be written as:

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 Convective boiling
Chen’s method

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A fluid whose properties are essentially those of o-dichlorobenzene is vaporised in the
tubes of a forced convection reboiler. Estimate the local heat-transfer coefficient at a
point where 5 per cent of the liquid has been vaporised. The liquid velocity at the
tube inlet is 2 m/s and the operating pressure is 0.3 bar. The tube inside diameter is 16
mm and the local wall temperature is estimated to be 120oC.

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 Design of vertical thermosyphon reboilers

 The design of a thermosyphon reboiler using hand

calculations would be tedious and time-consuming.
 Approximate methods can be used for preliminary designs.
 Frank and Prickett (1973) programmed a method for
computer solution and used it to derive a general
correlation of heat-transfer rate with reduced temperature
for vertical thermosyphon reboilers.
 Their correlation, converted to SI units, is shown in Figure
12.59.
 The basis and limitations of the correlation are listed
below:

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1. Conventional designs: tube lengths
2.5 to 3.7 m (8 to 12 ft) (standard
length 2.44 m), preferred diameter 25
mm (1 in.).
2. Liquid in the sump level with the top
tube sheet.
3. Process side fouling coefficient 6000
W/m2 oC.
4. Heating medium steam, coefficient
including fouling, 6000 W/m2 oC.
5. Simple inlet and outlet piping.
6. For reduced temperatures greater
than 0.8, use the limiting curve (that
for aqueous solutions).
7. Minimum operating pressure 0.3 bar.
8. Inlet fluid should not be appreciably
sub-cooled.
9. Extrapolation is not recommended.

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Make a preliminary design for a vertical thermosyphon for a column distilling
crude aniline. The column will operate at atmospheric pressure and a vaporisation
rate of 6000 kg/h is required. Steam is available at 22 bar (300 psig). Take the
column bottom pressure as 1.2 bar.

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