Proceedings of ICFD 10:

Tenth International Congress of Fluid Dynamics

December 16-19, 2010, Stella Di Mare Sea Club Hotel, Ain Soukhna, Red Sea, Egypt

ICFD10-EG-3073
Optimization of Plate Fin Heat Exchangers Used in Natural Gas Liquefaction
A. Salama and A. Khalil
Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Mechanical Power Engineering

ABSTRACT
Plate-fin heat exchangers are part of an extensive family of
compact heat exchangers (CHEs). Plate fin heat exchanger
(PFHE) is used in many thermal process systems. A PFHE
operating in Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) facilities has been
studied in the present model targeting its optimization by
investigating the different effective parameters such as
material, pressure drop, size and types of fins used. Materials
considered in this study included Stainless Steel, Nickel alloys ,
Aluminum and Copper. The Study included a comparison
between the different types of fin configuration such as
Louvered fin, Plain fin, Wavy fin, and Strip fin. In addition, a
techno-econmic comparision between the different models was
carried out. The Engineering Equation Solver (EES) program is
used for solving the governing equations numerically for the
models under study.

The reverse Brayton refrigeration cycle is widely used as

the LNG re-liquefaction plant. In case of the reverse Brayton
cycle, the turbo-expander is used as the main component to
remove energy from the nitrogen gas stream. To increase
efficiency of the re-liquefaction system, a lower expander
outlet temperature is required. In this configuration, the liquid
droplet may be formed at the expander outlet. The liquid has a
much lower compressibility than the gas. When the liquid is
formed in the turbo- expander, high momentary stresses would
result. However, the Claude system has two expansion units; a
turbo-expander and an expansion valve. A higher system
efficiency is achieved by using the expander and lower
temperature is obtained by using the expansion valve.
In this study, Claude refrigeration cycle are analyzed for
the LNG BOG re-liquefaction system by using The
Engineering Equation Solver (EES) program. This system is
basically made of two parts:

KEYWORDS:
Optimization, Plate Fin Heat Exchanger, Natural Gas
Liquefaction

Nitrogen cycle

LNG BOG cycle

The basic Claude cycle shown in Figures 1 and 2 is

considered in the present analysis. Nitrogen gas is first
compressed to high pressure PH by a 3-stage compressor and
then passed through a heat exchanger (HX1). A part of nitrogen
gas is then diverted from the mainstream, expanded through a
turbo-expander, and reunited with the return stream below the
second heat exchanger (HX2). The stream to be supplied to the
BOG condenser continues through the second (HX2) and third
(HX3) heat exchangers and is finally expanded through an
expansion valve to the BOG condenser. In the BOG condenser,
the cold nitrogen stream undergoes the heat exchange with
BOG and liquefies the BOG to liquid LNG. The cold nitrogen
vapor from the BOG condenser is returned through the heat
exchangers to cool the incoming gas.

INTRODUCTION
Recently, there has been a significant increase in the level
of interest in environmentally friendly and economically viable
solutions for the transport of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
LNG carriers have been driven by a steam turbine and the boiloff gas (BOG) from the LNG cargo. The high consumption of
the steam turbine as compared to last-generation diesel engines
in addition to environmental concerns and future regulation
will eventually motivate their replacement. Alternative
propulsion systems such as the diesel engine are equipped on
the LNG carriers for better fuel economy. Liquefaction of boiloff gases on LNG carriers results in increased cargo deliveries
and allows owners and operators to choose the most optimal
propulsion system. Instead of the common application of using
the boil-off gas as fuel, the LNG BOG re-liquefaction system
provides a solution to liquefy the boil-off gas back to the cargo
tanks. The LNG re-liquefaction system has merit in the large
savings in total fuel consumption and improved propulsion
redundancy.

The study has been done on the base of different

effectiveness in the range from (85 % to 95%) for the first heat
exchanger while the second heat exchanger effectiveness is
fixed at 95%. Figure 3 shows the effect of the first heat
exchanger effectiveness on the heat load removed when
T=T6-T5 is changed from 5C to 45C.

The increase in the first heat exchanger effectiveness

increases the heat load that can be removed; the increase in the
effectiveness to very high values has a remarkable effect on the
heat load removed

0.8

The effect of the change in the first heat exchanger

effectiveness on coefficient of performance when T=T6-T5 is
changed from 5C to 45C is studied as shown in Figure. 4; the
effect of the first heat exchanger effectiveness has a remarkable
effect on coefficient of performance especially at high values
of effectiveness.

0.5

2 =%95

0.7

COP

0.6

1 =%90

1=%85

1=%95

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

T=T[6]-T[5]

Fig. 4: Effect of the first heat exchanger

effectiveness on the claude cycle
PLATE FIN HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGN EQUATIONS
Plate fin heat exchangers are commonly used for gas to gas
heat exchange, and the pressure drop for each stream is an
important design factor. In this section, the effect of fin
material used on the different parameters in the plate fin heat
exchangers is investigated. There are several materials that can
be used in the production of the plate fin heat exchangers i.e.
copper which has a high value of thermal conductivity around
400 W/m K. In addition, one of copper specifications which is
considered a merit in case of using it in cryogenic field is that
its thermal conductivity has an inverse relation with the
temperature, the decrease in temperature increases its thermal
conductivity.

Fig. 1: Claude cycle on T-S diagram

Another example of suitable materials is stainless steel

which is highly recommended in the production of the plate fin
heat exchangers due to its high strength and resistance to
corrosion & fouling which are significant virtues from safety
point of view. However, its main disadvantage is low thermal
conductivity.
The main advantage of the plate fin heat exchanger is its
compact size for large heat loads; therefore, the studies will be
directed to define the most suitable types of fin configuration
and material to be used and for which application. The range of
the thermal conductivity is considerd is up to 400 W/m. K to
cover the following materials under the study:-

Fig. 2 Schematic of Claude cycle

2 =95%

140

HEAT LOAD (Q) kJ/kg

120
100

1 =90 %

1 =% 85

80

1=95 %

60
40
20
5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

T=T[6]-T[5]

Fig. 5 Principal types of fin

Fig. 3 : Effect of the first heat exchanger

effectiveness on the heat load removed in claude cycle.

The term NVH is called the number of velocity heads and

represents the sum of the four pressure drop contributions as
follows`:
1- Pressure drop at the inlet
2- Pressure drop at the finned section
3- Pressure drop at the outlet
4- The momentum pressure drop due to velocity changes in
the heat exchanger core resulting from changes in density
of the fluid.

1- Stainless Steel considering its thermal conductivity equals

to 50 W/m. K
2- Nickel considering its thermal conductivity equals to 100
W/m. K
3- Aluminum considering its thermal conductivity equals to
150 W/m. K
4- Copper considering its thermal conductivity equals to 400
W/m. K.
Previous studies have been mostly concerned with the
study for overall heat-exchanger system or heat-exchanger
network [4-6]; other studies were introduced for the cost of
heat-exchanger [2]; some studies have been made on the
distributor of heat exchanger [7]. Studies on the entrance of
heat exchanger [8] were also done.

It is found that the second part of the equation is the major

part in defining the value of " NVH" which includes the
following parameters fc (friction factor in the cold side) & L
(plate fin heat exchanger length), by comparing the values of
these parameters in the types under study it is found that: for
the type L-1, the length is equal to 13.48 m and "fc" is equal to
0.025, for the type L-10, the length is equal to 11.21 m and "fc"
is equal to 0.012, therefore, these two parameters are the main
reason of achieving the type L-1 the greatest value of the
pressure drop.

The previous work included several experimental and

analytical investigations for plate fin heat exchangers, however,
most of these studies concentrated on aluminum as it is the
only material used in Plate fin heat exchanger without study on
the probability of changing this material and study the
performance of Plate fin heat exchanger in these cases using
different fin types, and make a techno-economic comparison
between them. Finally follow new procedure to achieve
optimum technique solution.

Comparison between different fin types

In Figure 7 a comparison has been made between the three
types of fins, the first type is louvered fin surfaces and the
model selected to represent this type is L-13 = 3/4-11.1, the
second type is plain fin surfaces and the model selected to
represent this type is P-9 = 19.86 and the third type selected is
strip fin surfaces and the model selected to represent this type
is S-3 =1/8-15.2.

Figure 6 shows the effect of change of the pressure drop in

the cold side with the change of thermal conductivity and the
type of the louvered fin used; the increase in the thermal
conductivity reduces the pressure drop in the cold flow side of
the plate fin heat exchangers.

From Figure 7 the three types have been affected by the

same way, the length of the plate fin heat exchanger is in
inverse relation with the thermal conductivity. The length of
the plate fin heat exchanger required to fulfill the heat load
decreases with the increase in the thermal conductivity.

For the same thermal conductivity, the pressure drop for

the type L-1 has a highest value then the type L-5 then the type
L-10. By investigation the reason of this, it is found that
pressure drop is affected by NVH (number of velocity heads
and represents the sum of the pressure drops), study was made
to NVH equation to define the parameters effecting on it. NVH
is a parameter in the following equation of p,
pc= NVHc*(Gc2))/(2*g*c[1])

(1)

NVHc=(k1c)+(4*fc*L*c[1])/(De*cm/1000)+(k2c*c[1]/c[2])+2*
(2)
((c[1]/ c[2])-1)

Fig. 7 Effect of thermal conductivity change on PFHE

length for three different fins types
The length required for the plain type is much higher than
other two types, then the length required for the louvered fin
surface L-13, finally, the strip fin surfaces S-3 achieved the
least length required, i.e., at thermal conductivity equals to 50
W/m K the length required to cover the load in case of using
plain type fin is 35 m, however, this value reduces to 21 m in
case of using louvered type and reduced more to reach to about
7 m in case of using strip fin. This figure depicts that this high
length required to fulfill the load requirements in case of using
plain fins is an indication that this type of fins is not suitable to
establish the core of the plate fin heat exchanger. Also, from
figure it has been noticed that the smallest length required with
using strip fin type.

Fig. 6 Effect of thermal conductivity change on pressure drop

in the cold side for three types of louver fins
Where, pc is the total pressure drop in the cold side.

FLOW RATE EFFECT

In the first part of research a program has been built to
study what it is called the thermal sizing problem in which a
defined mass flow rate for both of hot and cold sides of plate
fin heat exchanger with defined temperatures for these fluids is
introduced to compute from these data the required length and
frontal area of the plate fin heat exchanger.
In the following part of research another program has been
built to study what it is called the rating problem, as the size of
the plate fin heat exchanger has been defined for different types
of fins in the previous part of search, the next part is the study
for each model designed the effect of changing the mass flow
rates for both of hot and cold sides.

Fig. 8 Effect of flow change on pressure drop in the

cold side for three different types of fins

Firstly the program has been built on philosophy of the

change in mass flow rate for both of hot and cold sides effect
on the value of G (mass flow rate per unit free-flow area)
according to the following equations:Gc=mc / Ac-ff
(3)
Gh=mh / Ac-ff
(4)

PFHE Cost Estimation

Cost is estimated for the plate fin heat exchangers
following the guidelines of "Selection and costing of heat
exchangers Plate Fin type" [2] by one of the following
methods:

This change in the values of Gc & Gh effect on the values

of Reynolds nos. in both of cold and hot sides of the plate fin
heat exchanger according to the following equations:
Rec=(De*Gc)/c
(5)
Reh=(De*Gh)/h
(6)

C-value method

-value method

In The present work, C-value method was used in cost

calculation for the plate fin heat exchanger. In the following
part the above procedure is solved for Aluminum as an
example.

According to the values induced for each change in the

mass flow rate, the values of fc and Jc have to be calculated
according to Rec and the values of fh and Jh have to be
calculated according to Reh from Kays and London charts.

Aluminum PFHE Cost Estimation

m. = 88312 kg/hr
= 883121/ 3600 kg/sec
cp = 3.12 kJ/kg C

However, to make a clear comparison between the

different types of fins, the total length of the plate fin heat
exchanger has been unified in this part of research to avoid its
effect on the results.

Temperature C

Comparison between different fin types at different

mass flow rates.

Temp. C
Temp. K

A comparison has been made between the three different

types of fins, the first type is louvered fin surfaces and the
model selected to represent this type is L-8, the second type is
plain fin surfaces and the model selected to represent this type
is P-9 and the third type selected is strip fin surfaces and the
model selected to represent this type is S-3.

1.

2.

Cold side
In
Out
-43.8
36.63
229.2
309.63

The heat load for the exchanger is given by

= m. x cp x T
(7)
= (883121/ 3600) x 3.127 x 1000 x (312.9-248.8)
= 4.9095 x 107 W.
The mean temperature difference is given by equation Tm
=

Figure 8 shows that the relation between the pressure drop

changes in the hot side with the change of mass flow rate. The
shape of the curves for the p in hot side depicts that the type
S-3 has the highest value of pressure drop then the type L-8,
then the model P-9 with a big difference than the type L-8. This
can be explained by checking the equations for calculation of
ph as mentioned above and found that they depend on the
NVHh which depends on the following factors fh & De in the
equation shown before, looking at the f charts the following
data are induced at flow rate percent %100. As an example, for
type S-3 the value of fh=0.022, and for type P-9 the value of fh
is 0.003. The value of fh is for type S-3 is much higher than the
value for type P-9 which explains the reason of the big
difference in ph between the two types.

Hot side
In
Out
39.78
-24.2
312.8
248.8

(Th ,in Tc,out ) (Th ,out Tc,in )

T
Tc,out
Ln h , in
T h , out Tc, in

(8)

(312 .8 309 .63 ) (248 .8 229 .2 )

312 . 8 309 .6
Ln =

248 . 8 229 . 2
= 8.806 K

3.

Q./ Tm
4 .9095 x 10 7
8 . 806
= 5.565 x 10 6 W/K
Q / Tm =

(9)

Referring to the table of C values in ref. [2], the following are

the selected values

(Q./ Tm)1 = 30,000 , C1 = 0.46

2.

As there are many fin types and selection between them

according to the pressure drops and heat loads, therefore,
this part of paper deduced a new relation between the work
exerted due to pressure drop occurred divided by overall
heat transfer.
3. Make a comparison between the different types of fins
according to this factor
4. Repeat the same procedure according to other materials.
Figure (10) shows the effect of the work divided by the
total heat transfer in case of using different types of fins when
using copper material as follows:

(Q / Tm)2 = 100,000 , C2 = 0.2

In (C1 / C 2 ) x In [(Q / Tm ) / (Q / Tm )1 ]
C = exp In C1 +
(10)
In [(Q / Tm )2 / (Q / Tm )1 ]

In (0 . 46 / 0 . 2 ) x In [(55654 / 30000 )]
C = exp In 0 . 46 +

In [30000 / 100000 ]

= 0.299
4.

The cost of the heat exchanger is estimated :

Cost = Q./ Tm x C
= 5.565 x 10 6 x 0.299
= 2.66 x 10 6 US$
5.

(11)

The cost increase due to high pressure

L-10=3/8-11.1 (Louvered)

P-9=19.86 (Plain)

S-2=3/32-12.2 (Strip)

W-2= 17.8-3/8 W (Wavy)

According to IMI Marston Ltd [2], the above data is based on

pressures less than 25 Bar and have to be multiplied by a factor
equal to 1.25 when the pressure is in the range between 60 to 80 Bar
Cost = 1.25 x 2.66 x 106
= 3.328 x 10 6 US$
The total capital cost of a system "CC" can be expressed by the
following equation.
(12)
CC =SP + SI + SC + SM
Where
CC = Capital cost , SP = purchase expense,
SI =installation expense , SC =construction cost,
SM = Maintenance cost

Construction cost
SC = 96 US$ per square meter , therefore,
SC = 96 x 1.436 = 129 US$

Installation cost
SI = 150 US$ per square meter, therefore,
SI = 150 x 1.436 = 215 US$

Fig. 9 Flowchart of the optimization procedure

The results show that the worst model with the highest
value of W/ Q is the wavy type and this is due to the high value
of p in comparison with other models after the wavy fin the
plain type is the next model with high value of work/ heat
transfer and this is due to the very low value of heat transfer
coefficient related to the other models.The other two models
"Louvered and strip" achieved the best performance due to
their low values of work due to pressure drop and relatively
high value of heat transfer coefficient.

Maintenance cost
SM = % 3 of the purchase cost,
SM = 0.03 x 3.328 x 10 6 = 99840 US$

The total cost

= 99840 + 129 + 215 + 3.328 x 106

= 3.428 x 10 6 US$

PFHE OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUE

For a thermal system, an optimization with different
hierarchical objectives can determine a "nearly best" design.
This optimization can be performed at various levels of
complexity with objectives defined through a hierarchical
procedure. In the present paper, the minimum value of the total
work divided by the total heat transfer is the primary objective.
The flowchart of the optimization procedure for the compact
heat exchanger (CHE) is summarized in Figure 9.

2.50E-05

W/Q

2.00E-05

P-9 = 19.86 (Plain)

L-10 = 3/8-11.1 (Louvered)
S-2 = 3/32-12.2 (Strip)
W-2 =17.8-3/8 W (Wavy)

1.50E-05

1.00E-05

For fixed inlet and outlet temperatures, a detailed

optimization depends primary on the type of the heat
exchanger. In this paper the problem is organized from the
thermal point of view at the following steps:
1. Selection of the PFHE material.

5.00E-06

0.00E+00
P-9

L-10

FIN TYPE

S2

W2

Fig. 10 Work/heat for different fin types with copper PFHE

CONCLUSION
In this paper, numerical methods are used to analyze the
Claude cycle used in the LNG process and study the effect of
heat exchangers effectiveness on the performance of the cycle.
The study shows that the first heat exchanger has stronger
effect on the cycle than the second heat exchanger. Also, the
study shows that the temperature difference between the inlet
and the outlet of third heat exchanger (HX3) is less than 2 oC.
Therefore, the basic Claude system can be modified by
eliminating the third heat exchanger with the intent of reducing
the initial cost. The study for using different materials in PFHE
indicated the inverse non liner relation between the thermal
conductivity of the material used and the length of PFHE
required. The comparision made between the cost of PFHE
when using different materials shows that aluminum achiveded
the lowest cost although its thermal conductivity is not the
highest one between the materials selected.

f
q
Tm
p
NVH
k1, k2
hC
m
A
G
j
De
ff
c

Hot
Coefficient of performance
Inlet
Outlet

Greek letters

Effectiveness
Density

REFERENCES
[1] Moon, J. W., Lee, Y. P., Jin, Y. W., Hong, E. S., and Chang,
H. M., "Cryogenic Refrigeration Cycle for Re-Liquefaction of
LNG Boil-Off Gas", International Cryocooler Conference,
Inc., Boulder, CO, 2007
[2] Bowdery, A. J., Clarke, R.H., Haseler, L., and Shields, P., and
Taylor, M.A., "Selection and costing of heat exchangers Plate
Fin type", Engineering Science Data Unit 14 Nov. 2006, 2006
(E04): 1-47.
[3] Zhou Guo-Yan, Wu En and Tu Shan-Tung "Technoeconomic study on compact heat exchangers", International
Journal of Energy Research 2008; 32:11191127.
[4] Li-Yanzhong and Mi-Tingcan, "Influence of longitudinal heat
conduction on a counterflow plate fin heat exchanger", HsiAn ChiaoTungTa-Hsueh-Journal of Xi'an-Jiaotong
University. V37 No.11 November 2003, pp. 1142-1145.
[5] Wang-Lieke and Sunden-Bengt, "Design methodology for
multistream plate-fin heat exchanger networks", Heat
Transfer
Engineering, V 22 No.6 November/December
2001, pp. 3-11.
[6] Khalil, A., and McIntosh, G.E., "Thermodynamic optimization
study of the helium multiengine Claude refrigeration cycle".
[7] Jiao-Anjun, Li-Yanzhong and Zhang-Rui, "Effects of
different distributor configuration parameters on fluid flow
distribution in plate-fin heat exchanger ", Huagong-XuebaoJournal of Chemical Industry and Engineering China V54
No.2 February 2003, pp. 153-158.
[8] Zhang-Zhe and Li-Yang Zhong, "CFD simulation on inlet
configuration of plate-fin heat exchangers", Cryogenics, V 43
No.12 December 2003, pp. 673-678.

This paper deduced a new relation between work exerted

due to pressure drop divided by overall heat load. After study it
is found that this factor is an important factor in measuring the
performance of PFHE. The study indicated that the best
performance achived when using the louvered or serrated fin
configurations and the difference between them is changeable
according to operating conditions and the material used.
Nomencature

h
COP
in
out

Friction factor
Heat load
The mean temperature difference
Overall pressure drop
Number of velocity heads
Inlet and outlet "minor losses" coefficients
Heat transfer coefficient
Mass flow rate
Area
Mass flow rate per unit free flow area
Colburn factor
Hydraulic diameter
Free flow area
Cold