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Modeling Line Heaters

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20 views2 pages

Modeling Line Heaters

Uploaded by

Alex Romero
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Modeling Line Heaters

Author: Mohamed Abouelhassan


Date: October 2003
Document Version: 1.0.0
Program Mode: Steady State

Introduction: to it to facilitate studying the hydrate temperature formation


A line heater (a continuously heated fluid bath through at different water contents.
which a pipe of gas is passed) can be modeled in various The feed enters the Preheat pipe segment fully defined. The
ways in HYSYS: pipe is then setup with the appropriate length and diameter
and the Heat Transfer information is set up as shown in the
1- Using a Pipe segment operation screen shot below. The product goes through the choke valve
2- Using the Pipesys Extension (requires a which runs on a fixed DP of 1500 psi, then enters the Post
separate license) heat pipe segment which is setup exactly the same as the
3- Using a Heat Exchanger, or a Heater preheat one.

The choice you make is dependent on many parameters, the As you can see from the pipe segment screen shots below,
most important of which is the target of your simulation. In water is used as pipe-surrounding medium with some
this document and the attached sample case, the line heater arbitrary velocity, and the ambient temperature (not showing
we are modeling is equipped with a choke that separates the on the screen shot) is set to the temperature of the fluid in the
gas path into two equal sections, a preheat and a post heat line heater 90oC.
section. The total duty supplied to the bath is fixed, but the
fraction that goes to each section is not known. By Since the water velocity is critical to the heat transfer
calculating the fraction of heat going to each section, we can between the gas and water we use the only constraint we
calculate the temperatures in and out of the choke and hence have to adjust it, total heat duty supplied. The total duty is
find out if hydrates could form after the choke. the summation of both duties of the two pipe segments, so a
spreadsheet is setup to calculate the summation, calculate the
Using the Inline Heater option in Pipesys or using the heater deviation from the total duty available and set the velocity of
is not a feasible option in this case, since we don’t know the water in the two pipes.
duties to each section. Using the Heat Exchanger is possible
but the results will not be accurate due to the fact that the The adjust is used to change the velocity of water in the
bath has a fixed fluid temperature whereas the heat preheat pipe to get a zero duty deviation. The spreadsheet
exchanger will have a temperature gradient on the fluid side. takes care of sending the same velocity value to the post heat
This will generally result in lower temperatures out of pipe.
exchanger on the gas side. A workaround for this approach is
to use multiple exchangers, connect them in series on the gas Using the spreadsheet/adjust setup in this case is a
side, and in parallel on the fluid bath side. This solution is reasonable approximation of the actual case where natural
much more involved than the use of a pipe segment, so we convection controls the heat transfer. Also the fact that both
will use the later for this document. pipes are set to the same water velocity emulates the fact that
both pipes are sitting in the same water bath and are affected
Case basis: by similar convection forces (in reality the way these forces
The following are the basis for the case: affect each side is a function of the exact arrangement of the
- Line Heater rated at 3 MMBTU/hr tube paths within the bath).
- Preheat/Post heat sections diameter = 4in
- Preheat/Post heat sections length = 257 ft each Version compatibilities:
- Gas flow rate between 5 and 40 MMSCFD Some differences between HYSYS versions affect how this
- Inlet gas temperature = 60 F (15oC) model behaves. The model as it is presented here works in
- Inlet gas pressure = 2000 psia HYSYS version 3.2. In older versions including HYSYS 3.1,
- Choke pressure drop = 1500 psi the pipe segment calculation is not triggered when the water
- Fluid in heater is water @ 194 F (90oC) velocity is changed from the spreadsheet, which prevents the
adjust from working probably and eventually makes it not
Setting up the case: possible to use the case study feature. Instead the water
The case is made up mainly of two pipe segment operations velocities need to be manually adjusted such that they are
representing the Preheat and Post heat sections of the line always the same and that the summation of the duties is at
heater and a choke valve. The feed has a water stream mixed the desired 3 MMBTU/hr target.

Modeling Line Heaters.doc HYSYS 2.x to current Page 1 of 2


Questions and Answers:
Running the case study: 1- Is the velocity of water in the model indicative of the
One of the main targets of this model is to find the velocity of the fluid around the pipes?
temperature out of the choke valve for different gas flows. No, the water velocity in the model is mainly used to adjust
This can be easily visualized using a case study. Just keep in the heat transfer between the gas and the fluid. It accounts
mind the following items: for the turbulence in the fluid and natural convection.
1- The Adjust needs to be left running such that it
keeps the duty and velocity values right. 2- What do I do if my fluid is different from water? For
2- In low flow cases, the adjust will have a hard time example Glycol
converging since the increase in water velocity The type of fluid is not relevant in this specific case, any
might not increase the duty any more. When this type of fluid will do. This is because the change of the water
happens make sure you don’t let the adjust run for velocity to match the duty accounts for both the turbulence
more iterations so that the case study moves on the within the basin, as well as the deviation of the thermal
following value. properties of the actual fluid from water.

How HYSYS Works is a series of short documents intended to shed light on specific tasks and operations in HYSYS and how they
work. These documents are offered free of charge to our clients courtesy of our Worldwide Technical Support team.

Modeling Line Heaters.doc HYSYS 2.x to current Page 2 of 2

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