Algal Biomass Harvesting Using Low-Grade Waste Heat: Evaluation of Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient in a Heat Exchanger

Abstract

This study is part of a broader study on a novel method for harvesting algae by evaporation, and it investigated the feasibility of heating algal biomass using low-grade waste heat in a heat exchanger. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis was performed with ansysfluent, and the results were verified with experiments. The results of CFD analysis showed the overall heat transfer coefficient increased by 4, 13, and 100% as inlet gas temperature increased from 150 to 245 °C, liquid mass flow rate increased from 1.82 to 9.1 g/s, and gas mass flow increased from 2.2 to 13.2 g/s, respectively. It was also observed the overall heat transfer coefficient was not significantly affected with variations of properties of the liquid (thermal conductivity, density, and viscosity), thermal conductivity of the tube wall, and thickness of the tube banks, but it was sensitive to thermal conductivity of the gas. The experimental data were analyzed with logarithmic mean temperature difference (LMTD), number of transfer units (NTU), and Nusselt number correlation methods. There was an excellent agreement between the overall heat transfer coefficient calculated with the LMTD and NTU methods. The coefficients calculated with the LMTD method and Nusselt number correlation exhibited slight variations. This is likely because the LMTD is a theoretical method covering all experimental conditions and material properties, but Nusselt number correlation is an empirical approach based on correlations. The overall heat transfer coefficient calculated by CFD was slightly overestimated because the CFD analysis assumed complete insulation.