A heat exchanger is a device used to transfer heat between the fluids. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to avoid mixing. They are widely used in space heating, power stations, chemical plants, air conditioning, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries, refrigeration, and sewage treatment. The classic example of a heat exchanger is found in an internal combustion engine. Inside this engine is enclosed with a circulating fluid known as engine coolant flows through out the radiator coils of the engine and air flows through the coils, which cools the coolant and helps in heating the incoming air.
For the efficient operation of the compressor, the temperature inside the gas should be low. At the lower temperature, the energy will be very less and it is used to compress the gas for the given application of final temperature and pressure. However, the gas exhausted from both separators as well as the compressor will be relatively hot. When gas inside it is compressed, the thermodynamic balance remains same, which means that pressure of the gas times the volume of the liquid over the temperature (PV/T) must remain constant. (PV = nkT ). As a result the temperature increase. Heat exchangers of different types are used for cooling the gas. Plate heat exchangers are the device which consist of a number of plates where the medium helps in cooling and gas circulates in opposite direction between the alternating plates. Tube and shell exchangers place tubes inside a shell enclosed with cooling fluid. Pure water with corrosion inhibitors is mainly used as cooling fluid.
When designing the process, the thermal energy balancing should be very important . Heat produced should be conserved, by using the cooling fluid produced from the gas train helps to reheat oil inside the oil train . Excess heat is dispersed, by cooling seawater. However, hot seawater will be highly corrosive, so materials with high resistance to corrosion, such as titanium must be used.
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