Cooling of compressed air through the use of tubular heat exchangers
SACOME have been awarded by a major French multinational present in almost 100 countries and world-leading company producing industrial gases, to replace an existing heat exchanger, intended for the cooling of compressed air, that was facing corrosion issues in its inner tubes. It’s worth mentioning certain distinctive features of this case, as the high design pressure (over 60 barg) or the overall dimensions of the tubular heat exchanger, longer than the average commercial lengths. Rather than being a problem, customizing our designs is a feature that defines our company philosophy.
Choice of materials of the heat exchanger intended for the cooling of compressed air
Our Technical Department has advised the client to replace the original quality of the inner tubes by seamless austenitic-ferritic or duplex stainless steel tubes, having a better performance against pitting and stress-corrosion cracking, among other types or corrosion mechanisms. Furthermore, our experts have done an in-depth analysis of this case and have proposed a solution combining different material qualities with the aim of keeping the price of the equipment at reasonable levels. On the other hand, the mechanical calculations have been carefully checked for such demanding design conditions, for normal operation as well as for testing conditions. In this regard, we should take into account that the tubeside has been hydraulically tested at 93 barg.
On the other hand, staff from our Projects Department have moved on site to check the measurements of the existing unit so that the new heat exchanger could keep these dimensions and fit in the available space.
Furthermore, the chosen geometry has been a BEP TEMA type, having a stationary and a floating head, allowing thus the removal of the tube bundle for maintenance tasks in the shell channel.
At last, some technicians have been in the client’s facilities in order to oversee the installation and assembly of the unit once it has been delivered to the client.
