Dear fellow researchers,
Are there ways to reduce the temperature of steam before it enters an heat exchanger? Let's say I have 5.2 bar(g) (75 PSI) overheated steam @ 180 °C and want to reduce this to 150 °C (pressure doesn't matter). What are some good solutions?
First I was thinking about pressure reduction with an Orifice or PRV, but this would be an isenthalpic process right, meaning no enthalpy change. This should lower the temperature, but not by much according to mollier diagram.
Second I was thinking of injecting condensate in the pipeline before the heat exchanger, in order to "cool" the steam, but this could create unwanted situations right?
Would like to hear from you. If you need more info please ask.
Kind regards,
Hi. In Power Plants, water spray is used to control the temperature of the steam before entering the turbine (HP or LP).
Hi. In Power Plants, water spray is used to control the temperature of the steam before entering the turbine (HP or LP).
To reduce the steam temperature, I think mist (air + water) spray cooling can be tried for getting the desired temperature.
Perhaps a little context might help; why does the steam need to be below a certain temperature before entering the exchanger? What is the purpose of the exchanger?
If it's just using the steam to heat up another medium of some sort to a desired temperature, for example (a very common arrangement on ships) one simply needs to regulate the flow of steam into the exchanger, whereas if the conditions are more stringent (e.g. a chemical process where the substance being heated must never exceed a certain temperature at any moment) this would be unacceptable, as localised overheating could occur inside the exchanger even whilst maintaining the set output temperature.
You can use this energy of the hot steam for reheating of the water before it enter to the boiler. It will save some energy of boiling water and you will reduce the temperature of the hot steam as you want.
As Mohammad states, the common method to reduce steam superheat is by injecting (spraying) condensate into the superheated steam. It is a cheap, efficient and reliable method. NEVER use air to enhance droplet breakup, as this will cause inert gas problems in the condenser.
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