Numerical Investigation on Heat Transfer and Flow Resistance Characteristics of Superheater in Hydrocracking Heat Recovery Steam Generator

Abstract

The heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) was utilized to recover the waste heat resources of the catalyst’s regenerated gas with the objective to reduce the energy consumption of the hydrocracking process. In this study, the flow resistance and heat transfer performance of the superheater tube bundles in the hydrocracking HRSG were investigated via numerical simulation. The performance evaluation criterion (PEC1) was applied to characterize the comprehensive heat transfer performance of superheater tube bundles. The results showed that as the transverse tube pitch increased, the Nusselt number (Nu) showed a monotonically increasing trend, the Euler number (Eu) showed a monotonically decreasing trend, and PEC1 showed a monotonically increasing trend. As the longitudinal tube pitch increased, Nu exhibited a monotonically increasing trend, Eu showed a monotonically decreasing trend, and PEC1 showed a monotonically increasing trend. In the scope of the simulated results, as the transverse and longitudinal tube pitches were 110 mm and 95 mm, respectively, PEC1 reached the maximum value. Compared with the primary structural parameters, PEC1 increased by 2.32% and 8.50%, respectively. Finally, a new correlation was proposed to predict Nu and Eu of the superheater tube bundles in the hydrocracking HRSG.