Which is the right Heat Exchanger for slurry, high viscosity fluids containing solids?

Several Heat Transfer applications are involving fluids with fibers (textile), solids (PVC granules, antibiotic broths), high viscosity (visbreaking, tomato juice,) or all of them (waste water treatment, anaerobic digestors, slurry etc.)

Selection of proper Heat Exchanger is always a trade off: higher performance but shorter operational life because of fouling or wide gap channel for longer operating cycle but poor thermal performance.

Corrugated Tube & Tube HE was first choice in Food & Dairy

Then Shell&Tube HE with large tube diameter

Later on wide gap Plate & Frame HE: compromise with channel up to 12 mm reasonable K value and fully cleanable feature

In Petrochemicals a valid alternative to Shell & Tube is represented by Spiral

Even though in multi pass heat exchangers clogging redirects the flow through the open channels, the channel design in the SPHE reduces bypassing through the velocity in the channel spiral that increases until deposits are eliminated

Welded Plate Heat Exchangers WPHE  Bloc type with wide gap channel started to be used for solid waste water treatement

Choice is depending by applications: in Food & Dairy Tube in Tube is widely used for sanitary hygienic conditions. In Oil & Gas Spiral & Welded Bloc Type are best selection due to heavy conditions (high pressure) while in Biogas & Waste Water Tratment Spiral & Tube in Tube are the big players.

Plate & Frame HE even with wide gap channel didn't find wide range of applications because of tendence to clogging in relatively short time.

• Viscosity
• Wastewater Treatment
• Heat Exchangers