Advanced and High-Performance Heat Exchangers for the Hydrocarbon-Processing Industries

This paper presents the results of two projects carried out in Europe that have been supported by the European Commission. These research and development projects were dedicated to advanced heat exchangers for the Hydrocarbon Processing Industries (HPI). Both shell-side boiling and in-tube condensation enhancement technologies have been developed and tested for various applications using pure and mixture hydrocarbons for both boiling and condensation applications. The tests have first been performed at the lab scale and afterward on small pilot units. Based on these results, a demonstration project for a boiler in a polypropylene plant has been realized in 2000, and it has been shown that the minimum temperature approach can be reduced to less than 1°C, thus leading to energy savings. Afterward, the work has been extended to gas liquefaction processes, and an increase of 50–100% can be obtained for condensation/evaporation duties such as those encountered in chilling train for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). Technical and economic evaluations have been realized and show that both material and energy could be saved using high-performance heat exchangers.