Determining the best type of heat exchangers for heat recovery

It is a common problem to choose the most appropriate heat exchanger configuration for heat recovery. In this study, a new model has been developed for determining the area and type of the most appropriate waste heat recovery heat exchanger for maximum net gain. A non-dimensional E number has been defined based on known technical and economic parameters such as the life-time, unit area cost of the heat exchanger, lower heating value of the fuel, overall heat transfer coefficient of heat exchanger, boiler efficiency, operation time per year, heat exchanger effectiveness, ratio of heat capacities, annual variation of the temperature of fluids supplied to the heat exchanger and present worth factor. The non-dimensional E numbers has been demonstrated in graphical forms as a function of NTU and ratio of heat capacities and corresponding heat exchanger area giving maximum net gain can easily be obtained from these graphs. The best heat exchanger type and its area can be determined comparing net gains or effectiveness of heat exchangers at NTUmax. Application of the new method has been given with a case study as a sample calculation.