2 replies to this topic

Hi guys,

I have one question if anyone can answer me. Why saturated steam is used as heating medium in reboilers or heaters?

Regards

[katmar]

Two reasons. The condensing heat transfer coefficient is higher than the vapor phase HTC, so you need less area than if you used superheated steam. Secondly, as the steam condenses it give up its latent heat which is large compared with the sensible heat (so you need less mass flow of heating substance). Perhaps there is a third reason - this all happens over a narrow temperature range which can be easily controlled by controlling the steam pressure - making overall control of the heat transfer rate simpler.

Thank you very much for this valuable information