CONDENSER DESIGN

Heat transferred from FFA,

c li li
where

=
Q

c vi

vi

m
ihfg,i +

is the mass flowrate of component i (kg/s)

is the vapour specific heat capacity of component i

c vi
(kJ/kg.K)
c li is the liquid specific heat capacity of component i
(kJ/kg.K)
vi is the difference in temperature with the operating
temperature and
boiling point for each component (K)
hfg,i is the latent heat of vaporization of component i (kJ/kg)
l,i is the difference in temperature of boiling point and
temperature FFA leaves the molecular distillation column
Cooling water flowrate,

/(
= Q

cw)

where w is the difference in temperature at inlet and outlet (K)

cw is the specific heat capacity of water (kJ/kg.K)

R=

t
( 1t 2)
(T 1T 2)

T
( 1t 1)
and S=
(t 1t 1)

The temperature correction factor, Ft is a function of R and S. The

correction factor can be found based on the chart.
T lm=

( vi li) w
( vi li )
ln

T m=T lm F t

The value of overall heat transfer coefficient, U is estimated from

the figure attached below :

Figure 1. Estimation of overall heat transfer coefficient

Q
Provisional area, A=
U Tm
Tube size and type of pitch were chosen and the area was calculated
based on it.
Area of one tube = DL
Q
(
)
U Tm
Number of tubes =
DL
Cross-sectional area of one tube =

D2 / 4

D2
Total tube area =
Number of tubes
4
m
w
w Total tube area
is the density of water

Tube velocity for one pass=

where

Tube velocity, ut =Tube velocity for one pass number of passes

Since water is used in the tube side, the tube side coefficient is as
shown below.
Tube side coefficient, hi :
0.8
4200(1.35+0.02 t)u t
hi=
0.2
di
where hi is the inside coefficient of water (W/ m2 . )

is the inner diameter of the tube

t is the temperature of the water

di

Shell side coefficient,

h

L ( L v ) g 31

L v

h
where is the mean condensation coefficient

v is the vertical tube loading, condensate rate per unit tube

perimeter
Wc
For a tube bundle, v =
N l do
c =

4 v
L

Overall coefficient, U is found using the formula below :

do
d o ln ( )
di d o 1 d o 1
1
1 1
= + +
+ +
U o ho hod
2 kw
d i h id d i hi
where U o is the overall coefficient based on the outside area of
the tube
ho is the outside fluid film coefficient
hi is the inside fluid film coefficient
hod is the outside dirt coefficient
hid is the inside dirt coefficient
k w is the thermal conductivity of the tube wall material
d o is the outside tube diameter
d i is the inside tube diameter
If the overall coefficient calculated is not within 5 of the overall
coefficient found based on Figure 1, the calculation is repeated
using the new calculated value.
Pressure drop in shell side
(t d o ) D s I B
pt
where pt is the tube pitch
d o is the tube outside diameter
Ds is the shell inside diameter
I B is the baffle spacing
Cross flow area, A s =

Mass flow rate,

G s=

Condensed FFA flowrate

Cross flow area

Equivalent diameter for square pitch arrangement, d e =

p2t d 2o
4(
)
4
do
Equivalent diameter for triangular pitch arrangement, d e =
1.1 2
( pt 0.917 d 2o)
do
Re=

Gs de

where

is the vapour viscosity

Using the Figure below, the friction factor is found based on the
Reynolds number.