Intensified heat transfer
15 Jan 2000
Process intensification arguably started with the development of the plate heat exchanger. An overview of these and related equipment such as plate-fin exchangers was given at the conference by Paul Mercier of CEA-Grenoble in France. For single-phase applications, he says, compact exchangers are now common in the process industries, offering a real alternative to the traditional shell-and-tube exchanger. For multiphase duties, however, they have found favour so far only in niche areas such as refrigeration where they are often used as boilers and condensers.
An example of innovative refrigerants was described by Andy Pearson, technical director of Glasgow-based Star Refrigeration. The company's Flo-Ice process produces a binary ice solution small ice particles suspended in a heat transfer fluid that has a very high specific heat, offers very high rates of heat transfer and gives a linear velocity/pressure drop relationship. This 'pumpable ice' is said to be ideal for applications where rapid cooling is needed, particularly over relatively short periods when the ice can be stored gradually and then melted quickly.
