Comparison between steam as a heat transfer medium and thermal oil for saltwater evaporation
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In the process of salinization, brine is evaporated. Traditional methods use boiler steam for this purpose; but if heat transfer oil is used instead, would it be more efficient from a heat exchange perspective? What about the costs?
I have never been involved in the evaporation of brine in salt production. However, from a heat transfer perspective, the efficiency of boiler steam is much higher than that of heat transfer oil. As for costs, it is easy to find the answer by comparing the investment required for boilers and heat transfer oil respectively.
This post was last edited by come_now on 2012-2-28 at 11:59. The heat transfer coefficient of heat transfer oil is much lower than that of steam; although this can be compensated for by raising the temperature of the heat transfer oil, whether existing equipment can handle such high temperatures depends on the actual conditions. If heat transfer oil is used in the initial design, a large heat transfer area will have to be selected. However, for equipment that is already in use in your home, heat transfer oil can only handle temperatures of around 200 degrees; switching to heat transfer oil is likely to reduce the evaporation rate. Secondly, it’s not clear what type of heat transfer oil furnace the building owner intends to use; if electricity is used, the costs will be quite high, while using coal might be a better option. Personal opinions are for reference only