Development and Demonstration of Novel Thermal Technologies for Enhanced Air-Side and Two-Phase Performance of CPI-Relevant Heat Exchangers

Executive Summary

Almost every process in the chemical and processing industries (CPI) involves heat transfer. Integrated functioning of a variety of heat exchangers with gas, liquid, and vapor/liquid flows of single- and multi-component working fluids, is critical in any processing plant. Improving air and/or process-side performance can significantly reduce energy consumption and capital costs. This project is looking at the novel geometries and mechanical actuation to enhance heat exchanger performance. The level of improvement, and approach to modification will facilitate the design of both “bolt on” process enhancement for existing equipment and the design of standardized modular heat exchangers. Significant effort in this proposal will focus on taking leads demonstrated in the lab and looking to establish cost effective and scalable manufacturing approaches.

Technical Challenge

  • Durability, reliability, and maintainability of reeds and ultrasound transducers
  • Optimal placement of reeds and transducers in different heat exchanger configurations
  • Acceptance of new technology by heat exchanger manufacturers and use

Potential Impact

The proposed novel heat transfer approaches have the potential to transformatively enhance performance of a broad class of heat exchangers currently used in a wide range of applications across the CPI. They also have the potential to enable new applications, including natural gas upgrading by cryogenic distillation, multifunctional modules, and utilization of renewable bioproducts, as well as for integration of multiple processes (e.g., separation and heat transfer for binary and multi-component liquids, for which ultrasound has already demonstrated the capability to produce an atomized mist enriched in one component). The higher energy efficiency and energy productivity will allow for new trade-offs between reduced size/volume/footprint (and hence lower capital cost), and higher throughput (allowing for de-bottlenecking). The potential for swap-in/swap-out retrofit is particularly attractive.

Resources

Personnel:  
   • Ari Glezer (PI; Prof. of ME and Woodruff Thermal Systems Chair, GT): manipulation and control of heat transfer processes using flow actuation;  
   • Srinivas Garimella (Co-PI; Prof. of ME and Hightower Chair in Engineering, GT): thermal systems analysis and design; 
   • Matthew Realff (Co-PI; Prof. and David Wang Senior Faculty Fellow, ChBE, GT): process systems engineering;  
   • Arne J. Pearlstein (Co-PI, Prof. of MechSE, UIUC): computation of flow, and heat and mass transfer;  
   • Thomas G. Lestina (Co-PI; VP, HTRI): heat exchanger technology.  
Experimental facilities: 
   • GT: Thermofluidics Lab: Spatially and temporally resolved fluid flow and heat transfer measurements; 
   • Sustainable Thermal Systems Lab: System-level heat transfer measurements; 
   • HTRI: Controlled-environment, pilot-scale evaluation of heat exchangers.
 

Investigator
Date Approved
Project Number
-
Initial TRL Level
-
Current TRL level
6
Project Funding
5,800,000
Focus Areas
Partner Organizations