Titanium was the material of choice for a heat exchanger in a highly corrosive application.
Text & images by HRS Heat Exchangers
Following a 15-month design and build period, HRS Heat Exchangers has completed the construction of the largest evaporation system in the company’s history. Due to the highly corrosive nature of the waste streams that the evaporator will be handling, it was necessary to construct the heat exchanger tubes from titanium.
16m tall heat exchanger
The system, which was constructed at HRS’ manufacturing hub in Murcia, Spain, stands at a height of 16m with a footprint of 135m2 and a total evaporation capacity of nine tonnes per hour. The system is comprised of 19 tanks and 15 titanium heat exchangers. HRS’s standard construction material for heat exchangers is AISI 304 and AISI 316L stainless steel. However, due to the extremely corrosive nature of the sodium chloride-rich brine effluent which the evaporator will handle, the heat exchanger tubes in this unit are titanium.
The system also includes a crystallizer, to ensure no liquid is discharged from site, and will be installed at the client’s site in May, with commissioning planned for later in the year.
Bespoke system
Tomas Stiebe, Technical Sales Engineer for HRS Heat Exchangers and project lead, comments: “This bespoke ZLD evaporator and crystallizer system will deliver an output of 700 kg/h of humid crystals for our customer. Featuring a pre-heater, degasser, main recirculation pump, five sequential heat exchanger sections, five sequential flash tanks and a final condenser, it is the largest evaporator system we’ve manufactured to date.”
