Determination of Limiting Heat Flux for the Inception of Nucleate Boiling  Regime for Crude Oils

Noorfaizal Yidris; Marappa Gounder Ramasamy; Noorfaizal Yidris; Umesh B. Deshannavar

Authors

Noorfaizal Yidris Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
Marappa Gounder Ramasamy Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
Noorfaizal Yidris Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar, 32610, Perak, Malaysia
Umesh B. Deshannavar Chemical Engineering Department, KLE Dr. M. S. Sheshgiri College of Engineering and Technology, Udyambag, Belgaum 590008, Karnataka, India

Keywords:

Crude oil fouling, limiting heat flux, forced convective heat transfer, nucleate boiling, prediction model

Abstract

Finding the limiting heat flux above which nucleate boiling starts and below which forced convective heat transfer exists is a crucial task for the accuracy of results from crude oil fouling tests. In this study, crude oils from two sources were tested at bulk temperatures of 100, 120 and 140 °C and different velocities. Heat transfer coefficient increased gradually with bulk temperature indicated lowering of the viscosity at high temperatures which promoted turbulence and enhanced heat transfer. The velocity effects were similar to that of bulk temperatures on maximum heat transfer coefficient while less heat flux was required to achieve the same surface temperature at lower velocities. Deshannavar and Ramasamy’s model to predict maximum heat flux was compared with experimental results and a poor estimation was observed for the crude oils tested.