Aim of the course is to provide specific knowledge of the heat transfer fundamentals and their applications to the main heat transfer units of the process industry.
The course is divided into three parts. The first one is a revision of the energy balance fundamentals; the second one provides the basic criteria for heat exchanger design and other heat transfer equipment (drying, conditioning, etc.); the third one is connected with the heat recovery problem in a heat exchanger network.

The student is expected to achieve a proper knowledge of the basic criteria for the design of the main heat transfer units of the process industry.

The student should have attended the following courses: ¿Applied thermodynamics and heat transfer¿, ¿Process engineering fundamentals¿.

Energy balance in a steady-state open system: heat balance. Enthalpy evaluation in reacting and non-reacting systems.
The main types of heat exchangers. The overall heat-transfer coefficient and definition of the thermal profiles in a heat exchanger. Design criteria and principal correlations for the evaluation of the heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop in some types of heat exchangers (coaxial, shell and tube, plate and frame heat exchanger). The unit transfer method.
Condensers and reboilers: types, correlations and design criteria.
Vaporisers: types, evaluation of the boiling point of a solution (Duhring diagram). The thermocompression process and multiple-effect evaporator.
Radiative heat transfer: fundamentals and application examples in solving engineering problems.
Humidification and dehumidification. Fundamentals of psychrometry. Air-water psychrometric chart. Examples of air conditioning problems and preliminary design of evaporative coolers.
The phenomenon of solid drying. Evaluation of the drying time. Examples of some drying units.
Process integration and pinch technology for thermal recovery design of a heat exchanger network.

The course includes many computational examples and practical exercises aimed at using the correlations and design criteria proposed during the theoretic lessons. Numerical exercises for the design of a heat exchanger network for an optimal thermal recovery are also provided.

a) R.K. Sinnot, Coulson & Richardson¿s Chemical Engineering, volume 6, Chemical Engineering Design, Butterworth-Heinemann
b) A.S. Foust, Principles of unit operations, Wiley, New York.
c) A User Guide on Process Integration for the efficient use of energy, The Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Written examination. The student should be able to solve some practical design problems and to explain the basic concepts learnt during the theoretic lessons.