Exergy efficiency analysis of a shell and tube heat exchanger condenser based on its different design parameters

Abstract This paper evaluates the optimum coolant temperature considering the exergy loss in a shell and tube condenser in which vapor is at its saturated temperature. First, exergy loss was formulated mathematically and then presented as a function of operating temperatures and optimum coolant and steam mass flow rates. The optimization problem was defined by full condensation of vapor in a condenser and solved by a sequential quadratic programming method. The optimization results were obtained for an industrial condenser for two condensate temperatures of 46°C and 54°C. When the upstream steam mass flow rate increased, the optimum coolant temperature and the exergy efficiency decreased, and the exergy loss also increased simultaneously. The results showed higher values for the higher condensate temperature of 54°C compared with that for 46°C. For instance, if the condensate temperature increases from 46°C to 54°C, the coolant temperature will be increased from 16.76°C to 25.17°C. In addition, by assuming the ambient temperature of 15°C, the exergy loss will be decreased from 172.5 to 164.6 kW. A linear relationship was also shown between the exergy efficiency and the dimensionless temperature, which is presented as a ratio of the temperature difference rate between inlet cooling water and ambient temperatures to the temperature difference rate of condensate and ambient temperatures.