57
A
luminium plate-fin heat exchangers are at the heart of Chart’s IPSMR
®
liquefaction
process and modular plant solutions that offer a CAPEX basis for the liquefaction of
natural gas below that of a traditional baseload facility. This article will take a detailed
look at the key characteristics of brazed aluminium plate-fin heat exchangers (BAHX) pertinent
to the successful scale-up for liquefaction technology. Consequently, it will examine the
relationship of flow distribution to thermal performance and describe the techniques used to
promote uniform flow distribution as a BAHX system is scaled from a layer to a pitch to a block
to a battery.
Steven Vallee,
Brent Heyrman,
Doug Decker and Doug Ducote,
Chart Industries Inc., USA,
look at the scale-up of plate-fin
heat exchangers for a mid scale
LNG process.
Scaling
UP
