# Fixed-Tube-Sheet Shell and tube Heat Exchanger

1. Oct 8, 2007

### sdlee

Hi guys,

I've been on a few message boards looking for a solution to my problem, but no one has really been able to help me yet. Here is the problem:

Question===================
Hi all,

this is my first post/thread, just starting out as a second year chemical engineer and I seem to have found myself in need of some help.

Basically, I'm designing (basic) a heat exchanger where I'm heating a nickel slurry with steam at atmospheric conditions from 25 deg C to 63 deg C.

I have the correct heat duty of 12235187 kJ/hr through using Q=m*Cp*∆T

m = 4165.19 kmol/hr * 77.302 kJ/K.kmol (avg cp)

Now that I have the heat duty that is required to heat up the nickel slurry, I am unable to understand how to get the mass flow rate of the steam required to do this.

I was aiming to have the steam enter at 100 deg C and leave at 65 deg C, is this reasonable? How do I work back from the heat duty required using the temperatures mentioned to work out the mass flow rate of the steam?

I know that I need to take into consideration condensation and other factors, but I'm just not sure what to do.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks so much for your help. I'm not too sure yet what the steam pipe diameter will be, but I'm designing a fixed-tube-sheet 1 shell 2 pass HE.

If you were to give your expert opinion, what would have the steam coming in at pressure-wise?

I have assumed that the nickel slurry is moving through the HE at atmospheric conditions.

Assuming that your steam supply is entering the heat exchanger dry saturated and exhausting to an atmospheric condenser (ie the steam is at least 100 deg C) the heat extracted from the condensing steam will be 2,256 kJ/kg (from steam tables).

Thanks so much for your help Ynot, but why do we use the evaporation value from the steam tables instead of the steam?

You can ignore any further heat gain in dropping the condensate temperature to off set against any thermal losses.
A heat load of 12,235,187 kJ/hr will require
12,235,187 / 2,235 = 5,474 kJ/hr steam, or 5.5 tonnes/hour.

If higher pressure steam is available it may be better to design around a higher steam temperature/pressure.

I'm planning on using a fixed-tube-sheet exchanger with the slurry tube-side and the steam shell-side. If the slurry is at atm pressure, what would you recommend as a good operating pressure for the steam to reduce the size of the shell?

thanks again, steve.

2. Oct 16, 2007

### Astronuc

Staff Emeritus
It'll depend on the heat exchanger design and whether or not it is parallel or counter flow.

basically one needs two equations, one for each flow, and the heat transfer rate is related to the mass flow rate and change in specific enthalpy, e.g. $\dot{m}c_p\Delta{T}$ for each flow.