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Multitubular Heat Pipe® Preheater for Crude Oil in Tanks

      The schematic diagram of a heat pipe preheater for crude oil in tanks realized using the multitubular heat pipe concept is presented in the figure below.

     The multitubular heat pipe preheater is constructed mainly of two bundles of tubes. One bundle is placed on the heating fluid side, which passes between a jacket and the tubes releasing the required heat rate. The other bundle is also placed in a jacket but this one is opened at one end. This jacket stays in the oil tank on its bottom. The oil enters the space between the bundle of tubes and the jacket, receives the heat released by the tubes and leaves the jacket at the desired temperature.
     The multitubular heat pipe preheater is a radical new approach to heating oil (crude oil, heavy fuel oil, etc.) stored especially in large tanks.

This concept has some important advantages:

1. The cross-contamination is totally eliminated. The heating fluid and the oil (crude oil, heavy fuel oil, etc.) are completely separated and impossible to mix each other in the case of tubes corrosion.
2. It is no need to preheat the entire tank. Only the amount of oil that passes through the tubes is preheated at the desired temperature, the rest of the tank remaining at the ambient temperature. This culminates in significant heat savings.
3. Heat transfer is a function of the surface area of the bundle of tubes exposed to the oil and to the heating fluid. The length and number of tubes can be varied so that the design of the unit should have an infinite variability, totally suited to the customers’ specific needs.

     Experimental results are available for designing any size of heat pipe preheaters for crude oil in tanks.
     An experimental setup utilized for achieving the necessary designing elements can be seen in the photograph below.

• Tank capacity: 3,000 m3
• Heavy fuel oil rate: 25,000 Kg/h
• Inlet temperature of the heavy fuel oil: 10 – 20 °C
• Outlet temperature of the preheated heavy fuel oil: 70 °C
• Vaporization section of the Multitubular Heat Pipe
     – Bundle of tubes: carbon steel Ø51x3,5 mm
     – Number of tubes: 49 pieces
     – Length of the tubes: 1,200 mm
     – Outside diameter of the jacket: 521 mm
• Condensation section of the Multitubular Heat Pipe
     – Bundle of tubes: carbon steel Ø51x3,5 mm
     – Number of tubes: 49 pieces
     – Length of the tubes: 3,500 mm
     – Outside diameter of the jacket: 521 mm
     – Length of the jacket: 3,000 mm
• Heating fluid: superheated steam, 9 bar.
• Average heat transfer rate: 880,000 w.