In the February issue of Chemical Engineering Magazine, Warren Chung of Solex Thermal Science was interviewed to provide his perspective on how different types of heat exchange solutions are helping industries overcome common process challenges in both existing and emerging applications.
Of note, he notes many industrial operators are moving toward heat pipe heat exchangers (HPHEs) as a solution to increase reliability in difficult-to-handle process streams that are incompatible with traditional heat exchangers.
He highlights that HPHEs reduce the risks and the consequences of failure that commonly plague traditional heat exchanger types through the inclusion of multiple redundancies in the heat exchanger design.
“By using HPHEs, operators realize fewer process disruptions and longer run lengths without having to sacrifice performance, especially in particulate-rich and corrosive process streams," he says.
Chung singles out an HPHE developed by Econotherm for use as an air preheater in a petrochemical complex where a failed plate-style recuperator that needed to be replaced.
“The HPHE was used to cool the flue gas to near the acid-gas dewpoint, enabling incremental heat recovery from the primary stream of corrosive flue gas, while minimizing corrosion risk and lowering fuel consumption to below the requirements from when the plate-style recuperator was in operation," he says.
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