Heat exchanger maintenance firm targets heating accuracy
17 Sep 2010
Barnsley, UK – PJ Heat Exchangers (PJHE) has installed two process tank heating systems fromLanemark International Ltd at its Barnsley site. The units are helping to improve the heating accuracy and control of the cleaning process which is a key part of the company’s maintenance service.
Each unit that arrives on site is dismantled into its individual components which, in every case, includes multiple heat exchanger plates fabricated in a range of materials from stainless steel to titanium
“These are then processed through a three tank cleaning process – two of which are heated by Lanemark systems, where the heating accuracy and control has proved to be highly beneficial,@ said PJHE managing director, Vince Moore
The stainless steel process tanks themselves, each of which is capable of holding up to 5,850 litres of solution and accommodating plates up to 2.7 metres in length, have also been manufactured by Lanemark.
The heat exchanger plates are loaded upon a jig suspended from an overhead crane that lowers them first into a caustic wash and then through a cold rinse before transfer to the second heated tank, containing acid.
Finally, the plates are jet washed to complete the cleaning process. This combination of processes removes all grease, oils and limescale from the products enabling them then to be moved on to a testing process to check for defects – ahead of re-assembly, with failed plates replaced, and despatch back to the customer.
“Each of the heated tanks features a TX-25EN heating system with a common exhaust fan to further save on energy consumption,” said Lanemark sales director, Jeff Foster.
“The gas burners are mounted externally and fire through the tank wall into a multi-pass 2.5 inch immersed tube heat exchanger,” continued Foster. “Our in-house TxCalc computer program indicated an anticipated efficiency level of some 80% but, in practice, the figure has proven to be nearer 90%.”
Moore makes a direct comparison between the figures arising from the use of Lanemark’s gas process heating technology and an electricity-based alternative.
“Our assessment was that natural gas would be a far more cost effective heating medium when combined with the Lanemark TX high efficiency heating system,” he says.
The Lanemark installations, added Moore, take less than 30 minutes to bring the caustic and acid solutions up to the optimum operating temperature of 70/80°C.
