Design and select a gasketed plate-type heat exchanger for gas processing

R. Pramanik, Fluor Daniel India, Gurgaon, Haryana, India In recent years, plate-type heat exchangers (PHEs) have emerged as a viable alternative to shell-and-tube heat exchangers (S&THEs). The PHE, with its ability to optimize thermal performance, has made close approach and temperature cross-applications economically feasible where they are not economical or practical with S&THE designs. However, unlike their S&THE counterparts, the design and engineering of PHEs is generally carried out by the supplier, and not by the front-end engineering design (FEED) and detailed engineering companies. This scenario sometimes makes it difficult for the engineering companies to optimally sp