Process equipment and streams will need to be heated or cooled. One way to reduce consumption of utilities is to exchange heat between these streams. For example, if a product stream requires cooling, the excess heat can be used to preheat a feed stream that requires heating by using an appropriate heat exchanger. Here the costs of an additional heating and additional cooling unit are eliminated, and replaced by the cost of a heat exchanger. The associated utility requirements of the additional units are also eliminated and replaced by the utility requirements of operating the heat exchanger.
Traditionally shell-and-tube heat exchangers in chemical industry. Standards and codes by TEMA (Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association) and ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
Heat exchangers are widely seen across various types of industry, mainly for heating and cooling large processes. Depending on the process, the type and size of heat exchanger can be tailored depending on certain factors. These factors include the types of fluid that will engage in heat transfer, the phase, densities, temperatures, pressures, and various other thermodynamic properties of the fluids. Heat exchangers can save companies a lot of money by reusing the energy or heat in a waste stream and using it to heat or cool a different stream in the process that is vital. This recycling of energy saves the company a significant amount of money, as well as preserves the environment from wasting more energy (Towler and Sinnott, 2013).
There are many industries that utilize heat exchangers, including the following:
– Waste Water Management
– Oil, Gas, and Petroleum Processing
– Chemical Processing
– Cryogenic Air Separation
– Power Generation
– Refrigeration
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