Location: Tuni, Andhra Pradesh
Industry: Fine & Specialty Chemicals
Focus: Reactor temperature control and heat transfer
As Deccan Fine Chemicals prepared to expand its manufacturing facility in Tuni, Andhra Pradesh, the company needed a heating and cooling system capable of supporting a wide range of batch processes.
The challenge was not simply supplying heat or cooling. Different products required different operating conditions, making accurate and flexible reactor temperature control important.
For the expansion, new reactors required heating, cooling and chilling.
A conventional approach would use steam, cooling water or glycol directly through the reactor jacket. According to a case study published by Alfa Laval, this approach could present challenges in batch operations, including thermal inertia, scaling and fouling, cleaning difficulties, corrosion sensitivity and limitations in temperature control.
Deccan therefore evaluated an alternative system through a pilot project.
The selected concept used a closed-loop heating and cooling system with separate heat exchangers for different duties.
The arrangement described in the case study used:
Separating these duties allowed each heat exchanger to be designed for its specific operating requirement rather than relying only on the reactor jacket for temperature adjustment.
The application involved different flow conditions on the two sides of the heat exchanger, which can affect heat-transfer performance and fouling behaviour.
Alfa Laval proposed gasketed plate heat exchangers with an asymmetrical channel arrangement. Narrower and wider channels could be used according to the flow requirements on each side, helping maintain suitable velocity and turbulence.
Deccan installed 20 T10-B and T10-M units during the pilot phase.
According to Alfa Laval, the pilot demonstrated that the system could provide the temperature flexibility required for Deccan’s batch operations.
The published case study reports benefits including:
The case study also reports that temperature control of approximately 1°C could be achieved with the closed-loop arrangement.
Following the pilot, Alfa Laval reported that Deccan selected the technology for its wider expansion programme, involving 1,000 heat-exchanger units.
The Deccan Fine Chemicals project highlights an important consideration in batch chemical processing: reactor heating and cooling should be viewed as a complete system rather than simply as a utility supplied to a jacket.
Where products and operating conditions change frequently, separating heating, cooling and chilling duties can provide greater control over temperature management.
It also demonstrates the value of testing a new engineering approach through a pilot before applying it on a much larger scale.
This article is based on a publicly available case study published by Alfa Laval concerning Deccan Fine Chemicals’ facility in Tuni, Andhra Pradesh. Technical benefits, performance statements and project quantities are reported from the original source and have not been independently verified by The Plant Insider.
Source: Alfa Laval — Indirect heating and cooling in the chemical industry of India
Note: Results and performance claims are as reported by the original source.
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