The optimal design of welded plate heat exchanger with intensified heat transfer for ammonia synthesis column

Abstract

The modification of heat exchanger networks of industrial enterprises targeting energy saving solutions requires proper heat transfer equipment. The estimation of the optimal design parameters for heat exchangers requires reliable mathematical models for the description of the thermo-hydraulic processes inside the channels, and adequate optimisation methods. This work proposes the novel mathematical model and optimisation algorithm for the selection of welded plate heat exchanger (WPHE) operating in ammonia synthesis column. It enables finding the optimal design with the specified shape of the corrugated plates, distribution of flows and number of plates and passes. The developed algorithm is implemented in Mathcad software. The application of the proposed approach is illustrated by example in which the resulted WPHE with the cross flow in one pass and overall symmetric counterflow of streams has shown a reduction of heat transfer area 25 % compared to previously tested in industry WPHE with unsymmetric passes arrangement.