ECH 158B

Winter 2004
Example Problem
Process water available at 77
0
F is used to subcool a methanol condensate stream from 200F to
100
0
F. Stream properties are as follows:
Methanol Water
Flowrate, lb/h 50,000 125,000
c
p
, BTU/lb/R 0.6 1
,lb/ft3 50 62.4
, cp 0.65 1
k, BTU/ft/hr/R 0.124 0.343
An internal floating head shell-and-tube heat-exchanger (TEMA-S) will be designed for this
purpose. Initial design specifications indicate a 1-2 heat exchanger with baffles spaced at D
s
/3.
The tubes will be 12, OD, BWG 14 arranged on a 1 triangular pitch. Report the number of
tubes, shell diameter and the overall heat transfer coefficient.
Start by calculating the exit temperature for process water and the heat duty.
F T
hr BTU T
T T c m T T c m
c
c
h h h p h c c c p c
101
/ 000 , 000 , 3 ) 100 200 )( 6 . 0 ( 000 , 50 ) 77 )( 1 ( 000 , 125
) ( ) (
2 ,
2 ,
2 , 1 , , 1 , 2 , ,
=
= =
= & &
We shall use the F-Method. Thus,
19 . 0
77 200
77 101
1667 . 4
) 50,000(0.6
) 1 ( 000 , 125
1 1
1 2
,
,
=

= = =
c, h,
c, c,
h p h
c p c
T T
T T
S=
c m
c m
R
&
&
This gives us close to 8 . 0 = F from Figure 10.14a in Perrys. The LMTD is given as
F
T T
T T
T T T T
T
c h
c h
c h c h
lm
0
2 , 1 ,
1 , 2 ,
2 , 1 , 1 , 2 ,
07 . 52
99
23
ln
) 101 200 ( ) 77 100 (
) (
) (
ln
) ( ) (
=
(

=
(
(

=
Thus, the UA product can be calculated as:
F hr BTU
F
hr BTU
T F
T T c m
UA
lm
c c c p c
0
0
1 , 2 , ,
/ 018 , 72
) 07 . 52 )( 8 . 0 (
/ 000 , 000 , 3
) (
= =

&
There are tabulated values of U that provides us with a possible range for various fluids (See
Table 6 in P&T, p. 600). If we take methanol vs. water combination, we have U=250-500
BTU/ft
2
hr
0
F. Let us choose U=400 BTU/ft
2
hr
0
F to begin with. This yields the area as A=180
ft
2
.
If we look at Table 11-2 in Perry's, we see that for 12', " OD BWG 14 tubes with 1 -pitch,
we have the external area as 0.1963ft
2
/ft and for each tube (with 12' length), area/tube is 2.36ft
2
.
Then, we can calculate the number of tubes needed from, 180/2.36=76.
Then, we use Table 11-3D in Perry's for the TEMA-S HEX we specified. From this table, we
want to find out the size of the shell that would accommodate the number of tubes we have. We
can see that if D
s
=12", we can have 78 tubes. Then, we have " 4 3 / " 12 = =
s
l .
The actual available heat transfer area, then, is A = 78*3.36 = 184ft
2
. Now, let us calculate the
overall heat-transfer coefficient with the given geometry.
Shell Side:
First, we need to find S
m
, and the shell-side Reynolds and Prandtl numbers.
2
078 . 0
0 . 1
75 . 0 0 . 1
12
75 . 0 12
12
4
ft S
m
=

|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
61 7
124 0
42 2 65 0 6 0
Pr
470 25
1 42 2 65 0 078 0
12 75 0 000 50
Re
0
0
2
.
F/ft) BTU/h/ . (
)lb/ft/h) . ( . F)( BTU/lb/ . (
=
,
cp)) lb/ft/hr/ . cp( . )( ft . (
ft) / . lb/hr)( , (
m
=
= =
Then, the correlation would yield:
404 ) 61 . 7 ( ) 25460 (
4 . 1
33 . 0
12 / 75 . 0
/ / / 124 . 0
3 / 1 6 . 0
0
= |
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
ft
ft F hr BTU
h
o
Tube Side:
Again, we shall start by calculating the Reynolds number, and the Graetz number.
558 , 35
/ / 42 . 2
) 144 / 2679 . 0 /( ) / 38 / 000 , 125 ( ) 12 / 584 . 0 (
Re
2
= = =
hr ft lb
ft hr lb ft G D
i

055 . 7
/ / / 343 . 0
) / / 42 . 2 )( / / 1 (
Pr = =
hr F ft BTU
hr ft lb F lb BTU
1017
12
12 / 584 . 0
) 055 . 7 )( 558 , 35 ( Pr Re = = =
L
D
Gz
i
Then, we use the following correlation:
193 ) 055 . 7 ( ) 558 , 35 ( 023 . 0 Pr Re 023 . 0
343 . 0
) 12 / 584 . 0 (
3 / 1 8 . 0 3 / 1 8 . 0
= = = =
i
i i i
h
h
k
D h
Neglecting the wall resistance, we have
110 00913 . 0
404
1
) 584 . 0 )( 193 (
75 . 0 1 1
= = + = + =
o
o i i
o
o
U
h A h
A
U
We need to continue with iterations.