A high efficient heat exchanger with twisted geometries for biogas process with manure slurry

Abstract

Heat-transfer enhancement in manure slurry is crucial for increasing the efficiency and production of biogas during anaerobic digestion in biogas plants. In this study, a novel heat exchanger with an optimal twisted geometry was developed based on the numerical screening of the twisted tubes with equilateral polygons, and experiments were conducted to validate the numerical results. It was observed that the SST k–ω model is more efficient than other turbulence models in representing the heat transfer performance of the twisted tubes, and the numerical model with a thermostatic wall can be used to reliably screen the twisted geometries. The twisted hexagonal tube has the optimal geometry, with enhancement capability of up to 1.4 times compared to that of the circular tube. The formation of high continuity regions with relatively strong heat-transfer rates along the heat-exchange wall is the main reason for the high performance during heat transfer. The external heating process was integrated in a full-scale biogas plant, and the model and algorithm were developed and validated with additional experiments to describe the overall performance of both conventional and screened optimal geometries under different conditions. It was observed that a profit equivalent to 39% of total production for a large-scale biogas plant can be achieved owing to energy conservation in external heating with the twisted hexagonal tubes.