Screw Heat Exchangers: Thermal Process by Means of Screw Conveyors

M.1. van den Hil

Celsius, The Netherlands
vandenhilcelsius.nl
The cooling, heating and drying of bulk goods can be
an important step in the production process. It may
involve extremely large quantities such as in the
chemicals and minerals industries, but also small to
very small quantities such as in the food and
pharmaceuticals industries. For the performance of
this process step there are many different items of
process equipment on the market. The operation of
the equipment can be broadly classified according to
the method of heat transfer: direct and indirect. In the
case of direct heating or cooling the thermal medium
is in direct contact with the product. The machines
themselves are often smaller than indirectly heated or
cooled equipment, but are less energy efficient and
more peripheral equipment is required for, inter alia,
air treatment. In the case of equipment with indirect
heat transfer, the heating or cooling medium is
separated from the product by means of a wall. In this
case a heated wall or body is often used surrounded by
product. The advantage of this method is that it is
energy efficient and that it produces less dust in the
surrounding area. The screw heat exchanger belongs
to the last group. Which parameters are important for
the design of a screw heat exchanger.
keywords Screw heat exchanger; bulk solids; heat
transIer; design
Introduction
The screw heat exchanger is an indirect heat exchanger on
the basis oI a screw conveyor which is used Ior the
cooling, heating and drying oI powders, granules and
pastes. The products can vary Irom the cooling oI sand to
the melting oI chocolate. The heat transIer takes place via
the screw shaIt, the jacket, the Ilights or a combination oI
these. During the transport the material will be cooled,
heated or dried.
The screw heat exchanger can be produced in diIIerent
sizes depending on the requirements oI the process and
the available room. The length can vary and also the
diameter. The construction materials used can be tailored
to the requirements oI the product or the wishes oI the
client.
For the transport oI energy use can be made oI various
thermal liquids. For cooling this could be water, glycol,
liquid nitrogen, and Ior heating use can be made oI water,
thermal oil, steam or electric tracing.
II the screw heat exchanger is used Ior the drying oI
products, it is important that there is suIIicient ventilation
in order to remove the moisture which is created during
the drying. Due to the indirect drying the amount oI
ventilation air is limited. As a result less peripheral
equipment is necessary Ior the treatment oI the ventilation
air.
Fig. 1. Screw heat exchanger
Advantages
The screw heat exchanger has many advantages compared
to other heat exchangers.
- Very Ilexible as regards dimensions
- Can be constructed Irom almost any construction
material
- Continuous process
- Processing oI very small granulometry is
possible.
- Processing oI pastes is possible.
- 'Closed system (toxic, moisture, dust)
- Energy eIIicient due to indirect heat transIer.
- Little or no dust Iormation
- Maintenance Iriendly
- BuIIer Iacility
Disadvantages
The screw heat exchanger also has a number oI
disadvantages compared to other heat exchangers.
- Drying to below 1 moisture content is possible
but diIIicult.
- Maximum moisture evaporation capacity,
approx. 600 l/h.
- Cannot be used with large product and/or
product which is susceptible to breakage.
- Adhering and scaling oI product to the heat
transIerring surIace
- Relatively low heat transIer coeIIicient.
- In the case oI leakage, thermal medium in the
product.
Products
The most diverse products can be processed with the
screw heat exchanger. For a proper design oI a screw heat
exchanger the Iollowing product parameters, amongst
others, are important: speciIic heat, coeIIicient oI
conductivity, particle size, bulk density, moisture content,
maximum surIace temperature.
One oI the most important thermal parameters is
the speciIic heat oI the product. II the speciIic heat oI a
product is high, more energy will have to be transported
to or Irom the product in order to change the temperature
by 1C compared to a product with a lower speciIic heat.
The conductivity oI the bulk material is also oI great
importance Ior the value oI the heat transIer coeIIicient.
The conductivity oI the bulk material is determined, inter
alia, by the conductivity oI the product, speciIic heat and
particle size.
Process
In the screw heat exchanger indirect heat transIer takes
place. The amount oI heat which must be transIerred can
be calculated as:
latent in out product product product
Q T T c m Q + = ) ( (1)
For the calculation oI the amount oI heat only the mass
Ilow, speciIic heat and the incoming and outgoing
temperature are important. The latent heat is not taken
into account here because this is only important in the
drying oI bulk goods.
The amount oI heat which is actually transIerred can be
calculated as:
LMTD eff tot transfer
T A U Q A = (2)
In cases where there is no loss the Iollowing applies:
product transfer
Q Q = (3)
Eq. (2) shows that there are three important parameters
which determine the amount oI heat transIer inside the
screw heat exchanger.
Heat transfer coefficient U
The heat transIer coeIIicient U
tot
is an important
parameter which is dependent upon both the product
characteristics and the type oI screw heat exchanger.
The total heat transIer coeIIicient is built up Irom several
Iactors. Distinction is made between the jacket and the
screw. The U
screw
can be calculated as Iollows:
material bulk screw tube medium screw screw
h
x
h U
, ,
1 1 1
+ + =

(4)
II the design oI the screw heat exchanger is good, the
limiting Iactor will lie in the convection coeIIicient
h
screw,bulk material
.
The transIer coeIIicient Ior the jacket is as Iollows:
material bulk facket material bulk
material bulk
facket medium facket facket
h
x
x
h U
, ,
1 1 1
+ + + =

(5)
Eq. 5 shows that the size oI the wall clearance plays a part
in the screw heat exchanger. II the stationary layer oI
product becomes greater this will have a negative eIIect
on the level oI the heat transIer coeIIicient.
For determination oI the heat transIer coeIIicient the heat
transIer due to radiation is disregarded. Radiation does
not play a signiIicant part in the screw heat exchanger.
The temperatures in a screw heat exchanger are in general
lower than 300C.
The convection coeIIicients h
screw,bulk material
and h
jacket,bulk
material
are diIIicult to calculate or determine and are
thereIore always checked by means oI testing.
Surface
The surIace A
eII
is the eIIective heat transIer area in the
screw heat exchanger. Eq. 2 shows that iI the eIIective
surIace becomes twice as big, the amount oI heat which
can be transIerred is also twice as big in the case oI
constant U value and temperature diIIerence.
The heat transIer area which is available depends on the
type oI screw heat exchanger and the heat transIer
coeIIicient U.
It is assumed that the Iilling oI the screw heat exchanger
is optimum. This means that the heated area is covered as
shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 Heat transfer area covered with product.
Fig. 3 shows that the eIIective surIace depends on the heat
transIer coeIIicient U. This is due to the Iact that the
screw Ilights are heated or cooled indirectly. The screw
Ilights are modelled like a Iin on a heated or cooled
surIace.
AvaiIabIe heat transfer surface
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
3,5
4
4,5
5
5,5
6
6,5
7
7,5
8
8,5
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Type
H
e
a
t

t
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

a
r
e
a

[
m
2
]
U = 0 W/m2.K
U = 25 W/m2.K
U = 50 W/m2.K
U = 75 W/m2.K
U = 100 W/m2.K
Fig. 3 AvaiIabIe heat transfer area for a stainIess steeI screw heat exchanger.
The eIIiciency oI a screw Ilight can be calculated
as:
_
_
q
tanh
=
flight screw
(6)
L = | _ (7)
2 / 1
,
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
c flight
material bulk screw
A
P h

| (8)
For the determination oI the eIIective heat transIer
area the geometric surIace area is multiplied by the
eIIiciency Iactor.
The heated surIace oI the screw heat exchanger is
then determined as:
flight flight screw tube screw facket total
A A A A + + = q (9)
Temperature difference
Eq. 2 shows that the logarithmic temperature
diIIerence dT
LMTD
is an important Iactor in the
amount oI heat transIer in the screw heat exchanger.
II the temperature diIIerence becomes greater the
amount oI heat transIer will also increase. The
logarithmic mean temperature diIIerence can be
calculated using Eq. 10.
(
(

= A
) (
) (
ln
) ( ) (
, ,
, ,
, , , ,
out p in m
in p out m
out p in m in p out m
LMTD
T T
T T
T T T T
T (10)
In practice a temperature diIIerence as large as
possible is strived Ior. The temperatures oI the
product are Iixed and are determined by the
requirements oI the process. It must oI course be
checked whether this process is already running
optimally and whether the associated temperatures
are actually necessary so that the screw heat
exchanger is not designed unnecessarily large. The
medium temperatures are determined by the
possibilities oI the medium and by the product. For
water a maximum temperature oI 160C applies, Ior
thermal oil the maximum temperature is 350C and
in the case oI steam the maximum temperature is
200C. DiIIerent temperature zones in a machine
are also possible.
Testing
In practice there is always a number oI important
parameters which are not known Ior a bulk material
and every product behaves diIIerently inside a
screw heat exchanger. Testing will thereIore always
take place prior to commencement oI the detail
engineering oI the screw heat exchanger. In
particular the temperatures and heat transIer
coeIIicient must be checked. In the Celsius test
centre there are three diIIerent screw heat
exchangers available. Two oI these are heated by
means oI thermal oil and one can be heated or
cooled with water oI a maximum temperature oI
160 C.
Fig. 4 shows the heat transIer coeIIicient Irom tests
with PET.
The curve is determined with a CWR200. This is a
twin screw with a diameter oI 200mm. The screws
are intermeshing. The advantage oI a twin screw
compared to a single screw is the improved mixing.
Heat transfer coefficient U
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Tip speed [mm/s]
H
e
a
t

t
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

c
o
e
f
f
.

U

[
W
/
m
2
.
K
]
Fig. 4. Heat transfer coefficient U as a function of the tip
speed.
For these tests water with a temperature oI 160 C
was used. The heat transIer area is 2m
2
.
Fig. 5 Pilot screw heat exchanger CWR200
During these tests the unknown parameters oI the
product concerned are determined in order to be
used subsequently in the up scaling to the
production machine.
The heat transIer coeIIicient is dependent upon the
peripheral speed oI the screw. In certain cases the
outlet temperature oI the product drops when the
residence time is increased. This is because the
peripheral speed is also lower.
On the basis oI these tests the design oI the screw
heat exchanger can also be Iurther optimised.
Design of the screw heat exchanger
For the design oI a screw heat exchanger a large
number oI parameters are important. The most
important parameter is, just as with a heat
exchanger, the required heat transIer area.
Furthermore, the choice oI the construction material
and thermal Iluid is important.
A number oI steps Ior the determination oI the size
and design oI the screw heat exchanger are given
below.
On the basis oI Eq. 1 the required amount oI heat
can be determined Ior the desired production
capacity. On the basis oI Eq. 10 the logarithmic
temperature diIIerence can be calculated.
An assumption will now have to be made using Fig.
1 Ior the heat transIer coeIIicient U. The required
surIace area can then be determined using Eq. 2.
When the required surIace area is known the type
will be able to be determined on the basis oI Fig. 3,
and the desired capacity. The latter is an iterative
process because the heat transIer coeIIicient is
dependent upon the peripheral speed oI the product
concerned and the surIace area is dependent upon
the heat transIer coeIIicient U.
When the type and heat transIer coeIIicient are
known the length can be determined. Fig. 6 shows a
typical temperature curve oI a type 500 depending
on the length.
Temperature of the product inside a SHE
type 500
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Length [m]
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

[

C
]
Fig. 6 Temperature of the product inside a type 500
For the construction oI the screw heat exchanger we
use stainless steel and mild steel depending on the
application. It is also possible to use special
construction materials like Hastelloy Ior example or
a combination oI diIIerent materials.
When there is a lot oI heat transIer area needed Ior
an application, it is possible use a twin or a quad
srew heat exchanger. In this case there are
respectively: two or Iour screws in one jacket. The
screws are intermeshing. The advantage oI a twin
screw compared to a single screw is the improved
mixing. This will decrease the needed Iootprint oI
the machine.
ConcIusion
The Screw conveyor as heat exchanger is a very
massive process machine with low maintenance iI
the design is adjusted to the products that have to be
treated. For a good and long-lasting operation it is
important that the supplier has a lot oI knowledge
with relation to the design oI screw heat
exchangers.With a new product it is a absolute must
to test Iirst with this product. II the manuIacturer is
convinced oI a good operation he will give process
guarantee.
NOMENCLATURE
A
c
Cross-sectional area Ilight |m
2
|
A
eII
EIIective heat transIer area |m
2
|
c SpeciIic heat |J/kg.K|
h Convection coeIIicient |W/m
2
.K|
L Length |m|
m Mass Ilow |kg/s|
P Perimeter |m|
Q Heat Ilow rate |W|
T Temperature |C|
U Heat transIer coeIIicient |W/m
2
.K|
x Thickness |m|
Greek letters
Conductivity |W/m.K|
Fin parameter |-|
q EIIiciency |-|
Flight parameter |m
-1
|
Subscripts
LMTD Logarithmic mean temperature diIIerence
m medium
p product
Tot total
REFERENCES
1. Mills, A.F., 'Basic heat & Mass transIer,
Prentice Hall, 1999