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March

2017

HYDROCARBON

ENGINEERING

148

HEAT TECHNOLOGY

TOM LESTINA, BLAZO LJUBICIC & SIMON PUGH, HTRI, USA

Q

Why is heat technology so crucial to downstream

process plant operations?

The efficient, safe and controllable transfer of heat energy is

crucial to the effective conversion of raw natural resources

to usable products. For example, the distillation process in

oil refineries is heavily energy intensive, but good energy

efficiency can be achieved through good design and

operation of heat exchangers and heat exchanger networks.

Poorly designed heat exchangers can lead to significant

losses in energy and production when exchangers are offline

for maintenance and cleaning.

Q

What are the main applications for your company’s

heat technologies/equipment within the

downstream industry, and how do they assist in these

applications?

For over 50 years, HTRI has provided expertise in the field

of process heat transfer and development of software tools

for practicing engineers to use for the design, monitoring

and troubleshooting of various types of heat exchangers.

Our software is backed by meaningful, practical, and cost

effective research programmes, allowing members of the

HTRI consortium to benefit from better equipment designs,

longer equipment life cycles, and more efficient plant

operations. HTRI allows member companies to keep

up-to-date on current technologies at a fraction of the cost

of maintaining a similar in-house operation. When specific

problems occur, our members contact the HTRI technical

support team and proprietary contracts group for

assistance.

Our experienced proprietary contracts staff help

address heat exchanger issues in the areas of consulting

(exchanger design review, problem troubleshooting, and

fouling management), testing (equipment performance

evaluation and process measurement), and custom

software solutions (individualised interfaces with HTRI

X

changer Suite®

and in-house software).

Q

In what ways can heat technology help to improve

energy efficiency and reduce emissions at process

plants?

Efficient management of heat transfer is the cornerstone of

maximising process efficiency and reducing emissions.

Foremost in ensuring adequate process efficiency is the

adequate design of the heat exchangers. Design mistakes

must be avoided or corrected; configurations that optimise

the temperature profile and mitigate fouling should be used,

and adequate (but not excessive) design margins need to be

applied. In addition, plant personnel should monitor the

performance of key heat exchangers to ensure degradation is

corrected in a timely manner.

Q

How have R&D methods evolved over the past

10 years in relation to downstream heat technology?

The latest generation of petrochemical plants and energy

conversion processes require the transfer of a large amount

of heat, either as a primary energy source or as a secondary

process. Enhanced heat transfer (increased heat fluxes with

decreased temperature difference) or high heat transfer

coefficients and low pressure losses remain the key driving

forces for process heat transfer advancement. The following

advantages have opened entirely new physical domains for

heat transfer research:

„

Continued advancements in material science.

„

Faster computers.

„

Increased availability of sensors.

„

The ability to transfer and process huge amounts of

data.

„

Long operating life, reduction in scale, and lower

equipment cost.

As a consequence, HTRI research is focused on the

development of tools for the design and operation of

heat transfer equipment that supports the accurate,

controlled, reliable, and economical transfer of heat in

modern process plants.

Q

Explain how new heat equipment or technology is

tested at your company.

A number of pilot plant rigs at our Research & Technology

Center in Navasota, Texas, US, allow HTRI to test prototype

heat transfer equipment. These tests include acceptance

tests of full size units or proof-of-concept tests of

partial-sized test sections. The 'tested at HTRI' results

establish credibility and validate performance claims of

new heat transfer surfaces and exchanger types. We have

the testing apparatus for a variety of mechanisms, including

single phase, boiling, condensation, and fouling with a

variety of hydrocarbon test fluids and mixtures.

Q

Where do you see the heat technology market in

10 years?

Changes in process heat transfer practices tend to be

evolutionary rather than revolutionary. We expect trends

currently underway to continue. These include the use of

plant data (i.e. analytics) to optimise maintenance and

operations of heat exchangers, adoption of new materials

to mitigate corrosion and fouling, and implementation of

enhanced heat transfer surfaces to increase heat transfer,

reduce pressure drop, and increase process throughput.

With energy costs rising, operators will be less tolerant of

degraded performance, so the demand for troubleshooting

skills will continue to increase.

Bay of test rigs at HTRI Research & Technology

Center.