Thermal Unit Operation

(ChEg3115)
Lecture 1- Introduction to Thermal Unit Operation

Instructor: Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Today…
• Chemical Unit operations

• Heat transfer

• Different mode of heat transfer

– Conduction

– Convection

– Radiation

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

Objectives:
 To learn different modes of heat transfer
 To provide knowledge heat transfer through conduction, convection & radiation
 To learn all the laws of radiation.
 To understand the phenomenon of black body radiation
 To understand the different type of chemical engineering unit operation

Outcomes:
 Student will be able to understand how heat & energy is transferred between
elements of a system.
 Able to solve problems involving one or more modes of heat transfer.
 You will be identify different type of chemical engineering unit operation

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

Introduction to Thermal Unit Operation

 It pass different operations

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Introduction to Thermal Unit Operation
What are unit operations?

 In chemical engineering and related fields, a unit operation is a basic step in a process.

 It is a basic step in a process because large process can be broken/divided/ in to unit

operations in order to make them easier to analyze.

 Chemical Engineering is a group of industrial processes in which row materials are

changed or separated into useful products.

 Unit operation can modify the momentum, energy and composition of the different
phase of a system.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.

 Unit Operations are operations that cause Physical Changes only

 Unit Operations is a method of analysis and design of chemical engineering
processes in terms of individual tasks/operations

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.

 The pumping of the fluid by means of pump B

 The heat exchange in heat exchanger C
 The phase separation in separator D
 The condensation of vapor in condenser E

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
 Chemical engineering unit operations can be grouped into five general classes:

 Fluid flow processes

 Heat transfer processes

 Mass transfer processes

 Thermodynamic processes

 Mechanical processes

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Fluid Flow Process

 Fluid flow processes: deals about fluids transportation and its dynamics.

 It includes fluids transportation (pump, compressor, blowers, pipes and fittings,), gas-liquid
two-phase flow, filtration, solids fluidization, mixing, etc.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Heat Transfer Processes

 Heat transfer is the exchange of thermal energy between physical systems, depending on
the temperature and pressure, by dissipating heat.
 It includes heat exchange, evaporation, and condensation.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Mass Transfer Processes

 Mass transfer is the net movement of mass from one location to another.
 It occurs in many processes, such as absorption, distillation, extraction, adsorption, and
drying.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Thermodynamics Process

 A thermodynamic process may be defined as the energetic development of a

thermodynamic system proceeding from an initial state to a final state.
 It includes Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (AC), gas liquefaction

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Mechanical Unit Operation

 Mechanical unit operation includes:

 Solids transportation: different types of conveyors
 Crushing and pulverization: reducing sizes
 Screening and sieving: separation of different particles based on their size

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Heat Transfer
 From the study of thermodynamics, you have learned that energy can be transferred by
interactions of a system with its surroundings. These interactions are called work and heat.
 However, thermodynamics deals with the end states of the process during which an
interaction occurs and provides no information concerning the nature of the interaction or the
time rate at which it occurs.
 Heat is defined as the energy-In-transit due to temperature difference.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Heat transfer…
• All heat transfer process must obey the first and second laws

of thermodynamics.

• In addition to the laws of thermodynamics it is essential to apply laws of heat transfer to

estimate heat transfer rate.

• Estimating rate of heat transfer is a key requirement in the design and analysis heat
exchanger, refrigeration and air conditioning.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Heat transfer……
The heat transfer problems encountered in practice can be considered in two groups:
 Rating and
 Sizing problems.
The rating problems deal with the determination of the heat transfer rate for an existing
system at a specified temperature difference.
The sizing problems deal with the determination of the size of a system in order to transfer
heat at a specified rate for a specified temperature difference.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Mode of heat transfer
 Heat may pass from a source (hot object) to a receiver (cold object) in three distinct ways, although most
engineering applications are combination of two or three.

Conduction: Conduction heat transfer takes place whenever a temperature gradient exists in a stationary
medium.

 Convection: Convection heat transfer takes place between a surface and a moving fluid, when they are at
different temperature.

Radiation: Radiation is the propagation and emission of energy in the form of electromagnetic waves.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Conduction heat transfer
Conduction is the process by which heat is transmitted along a body from mmolecule to
molecules without actual motion of the molecules from one place to another.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Conduction heat transfer
In gases and liquids, conduction is due to the collisions and diffusion of the molecules
during their random motion.
In solids, it is due to the combination of vibrations of the molecules in a lattice and the
energy transport by free electrons.
The rate of heat conduction through a medium depends on the geometry of the medium, its
thickness, and the material of the medium, as well as the temperature difference across the
medium.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Heating a metal strip:
Heating a metal strip:
When you heat a metal strip at one end, the heat travels all the way to the other end as well!
As you heat the metal, the particles vibrate, these vibrations make the adjacent particles
vibrate, and so on and so on, the vibrations are passed along the metal and so is the heat.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Conduction heat transfer
The heat transfer by conduction is governed by Fourier’s law
It is empirical equation, which relates the rate of heat transfer with temperature gradient
and area of cross section.

Where A= Area normal to x-direction

k= Thermal conductivity of the
medium
𝑄𝑥=Rate of heat transfer by
conduction in x-direction

 The constant of proportionality, k, is called the thermal conductivity

 The properties of materials .

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Heat flow in composite wall: Resistance in series; when a wall consists of several
materials placed together in series such as in the construction of the furnace or boiler firebox.

For any composite system using the actual temperature

Rearranging and substituting

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Heat Flow through a Pipe Wall

For composite cylindrical resistance / concentric cylinder

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
The Maximum Heat Loss through Pipe Insulation
 The thicker the insulation the less the total heat loss. This is always true for flat insulation
but not for curved insulation.
 Consider a pipe with successive layers of cylindrical insulation.
 As the thickness of the insulation is increased, the surface area from which heat may be
removed by air increases and the total heat loss may also increase if the area increases more
rapidly than the resistance

At the maximum heat loss r=rc; the critical radius or

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Critical Thickness of Insulation

 There is some misunderstanding about that addition of insulating material on a surface

always brings about a decrease in the heat transfer rate.
 But addition of insulating material to the outside surfaces of cylindrical or spherical
walls (geometries which have non-constant cross-sectional areas) may increase the
 heat transfer rate rather than decrease under the certain circumstances.
 To establish this fact, consider a thin walled metallic cylinder of length l, radius and
transporting a fluid at temperature which is higher than the ambient temperature

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
With assumption
a. Steady state heat conduction
b. One-dimensional heat flow only in radial direction
c. Negligible thermal resistance due to cylinder wall
d. Negligible radiation exchange between outer surface of
insulation and
surrounding
The heat transfer can be expressed as

 From the equation we can see that with increase of radius r (i.e. thickness of insulation), the
conduction resistance of insulation increases but the convection resistance of the outer surface
decreases.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
 Therefore, addition of insulation can either increase or decrease the rate of heat flow
depending upon a change in total resistance with outer radius r.
 To determine the effect of insulation on total heat flow, differentiate the total resistance
with respect to r and equating to zero.
To determine whether the foregoing result maximizes or minimizes the
total resistance, the second derivative need to be calculated

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
 which is positive, so rc=k ⁄/h0 represent the condition for minimum resistance and
consequently maximum heat flow rate
 The insulation radius at which resistance to heat flow is minimum is called critical radius.

So insulation greater than (r*-ri) must be added to

reduce the heat loss below the bare pipe.

increase in insulation thickness always decrease the heat

loss from the pipe.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Contact Resistance
 When heat flows across two touching plane walls, an extra resistance normally is found at
the interface because the contacting surfaces are not quite smooth.
 This results in a sharp temperature drop at the surface.
 The heat flow across the interface can then be related to the temperature drop across the
interface by

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

Typical thermal conductivity values at 300k:
Material Thermal conductivity (W/m K)*  All pure metals have very high thermal
Diamond 1000
Silver 406 conductivity. So they are good conductor of
Copper 399 heat.
Gold 317  Compare to pure metals, alloy have lower
Aluminum 237
Iron 80 thermal conductivity.
carbon steel 43  Compare to metals, non- metals e.g. glass,
Stainless steel 15.1 plastics… have lower thermal conductivity.
Glass, ordinary 0.8
Plastic 0.2-0.3  Cork has lower thermal conductivity so used as
Wood 0.087 insulation material.
Cork 0.039  Thermal conductivity:
Water at 20° C 0.6
Ethylene glycol (20°C) 0.26
Solids>Liquids>Gases
Hydrogen(20°C) 0.18
Benezene 0.159
(Liquids)(20°C)
Oxygen(20°C) 0.0238
Air 0.026

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Convective Heat Transfer
Convection is the mode of energy transfer between a solid surface and the adjacent liquid or
gas that is in motion, and it involves the combined effects of conduction and fluid motion.
The faster the fluid motion, the greater the convection heat transfer. In the absence of any
bulk fluid motion, heat transfer between a solid surface and the adjacent fluid is by pure
conduction.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
The presence of bulk motion of the fluid enhances the heat transfer between the solid surface
and the fluid, but it also complicates the determination of heat transfer rates.

Convection is called forced convection if the fluid is forced to flow over the surface by
external means such as a fan, pump, or the wind.

In contrast, convection is called natural (or free) convection if the fluid motion is caused by
buoyancy forces that are induced by density differences due to the variation of temperature in
the fluid

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Despite the complexity of convection, the rate of convection heat transfer is observed to be
proportional to the temperature difference, and is conveniently expressed by Newton’s law
of cooling as

It is an experimentally determined parameter whose value depends on all the variables
influencing convection such as the surface geometry, the nature of fluid motion, the properties
of the fluid, and the bulk fluid velocity

 Newton’s law of cooling states “The rate of heat loss of a body is proportional to the
temperature difference between the body and its surroundings.”

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
 Hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layer

 Consider the flow of a fluid over a flat plate, the velocity and the temperature of the fluid
approaching the plate is uniform at U∞ and T∞. The fluid can be considered as adjacent
layers on top of each other’s.

 Assuming no‐slip condition at the wall, the velocity of the fluid layer at the wall is zero.
 The motionless layer slows down the particles of the neighboring fluid layers because of
friction between the two adjacent layers.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Typical convective heat transfer
coefficients:
Typical Fluid Convective heat transfer coefficient
(W/m2K)
Air, free convection 6-30
Water, free convection 20-100
Air or superheated steam, forced 30-300
convection
Oil, forced convection 60-1,800
Water, forced convection 300-18,000
Synthetic refrigerants, boiling 500-3,000
Water, boiling 3,000-60,000
Synthetic refrigerants, condensing 1,500-5,000
Steam, condensing 6,000-120,000

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Radiation Heat Transfer
Unlike conduction and convection, heat transfer by radiation can occur between two bodies,
even when they are separated by a medium colder than both as shown in figure below.

Radiation heat transfer does not require a medium for transmission.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
The general phenomenon of radiation covers the propagation of electromagnetic waves of all
wavelengths, from short wavelength gamma rays to long wavelength microwave.
Thermal radiation is that electromagnetic radiation emitted by a body as a result of its
temperature.

Thermal radiation exhibit characteristics similar to those of light, and follow the optical
laws.

Electromagnetic wave spectrum

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Absorptivity, Reflectivity, and Transmissivity
 When thermal radiation (G) is incident on a surface, a part of the radiation may be reflected by the surface (Gref), a part
may be absorbed by the surface (Gabs) and a part may be transmitted through the surface (Gtr)

A blackbody is defined as a perfect emitter and absorber of radiation. At a specified temperature and
wavelength, no surface can emit more energy than a blackbody.

A blackbody absorbs all incident radiation, regardless of wavelength and direction. Also, a blackbody emits
radiation energy uniformly in all directions per unit area normal to direction of emission. For black body α=
1, and ρ =τ = 0.
By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)
 Spectral and Spatial Energy Distribution
 Spectral Energy Distribution: The radiation emitted by the body consists of
electromagnetic waves of various wavelengths. Distribution of radiation with wavelength is
called spectral energy distribution as show in figure 5.8(a).

 Spatial (Directional) Energy Distribution: A surface emits the radiation in all directions.
The intensity of radiation is different in different direction. The distribution of radiation
along the direction is called spatial distribution.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Wavelength Distribution of Black Body Radiation: Plank’s Law

The energy emitted by a black surface varies in accordance with wavelength, temperature
and surface characteristics of the body.
Spectral blackbody emissive power (monochromatic emissive power) (Ebλ) = “amount of
radiation energy emitted by a blackbody at an absolute temperature T per unit time, per unit
surface area, and per unit wavelength about the wavelength λ.”
Plank suggested the following law for the spectral distribution of emissive power:

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Where

 The variation of distribution of the monochromatic emissive power with wavelength is

called spectral energy distribution

 As temperature increases, the pick of the curves shift

to the left to the shorter wavelength region.
 Consequently, a larger fraction of the radiation is
emitted at shorter wavelengths at higher
temperatures.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.
Total Emissive Power: Stefan-Boltzman law
The total emissive power E of a surface is defined as the total radiant energy emitted by the
surface in all directions over the entire wavelength per unit surface area per unit time.

Total emissive power of black body can be obtained by integrating the monochromatic
emissive power over entire wavelength λ =0 to λ= ∞
By simplifying the equation

Where, σb is Stefan-Boltzmann constant, equal to and T is the absolute

temperature in K.

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

 Cont.

The Stefan-Boltzmann law helps us to determine the amount of radiations emitted in all the
directions and over the entire wavelength spectrum from a simple knowledge of the
temperature of the black body.

Normally a body radiating heat is simultaneously receiving heat from other bodies as
radiation. Consider that surface T1 at temperature is completely enclosed by another black
surface at temperature T2. The net radiation heat flux is then given by

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

Example

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)

By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)
By- Tesfa Nega (M.Sc.)