Tranter to replace traditional shell-and-tube heat exchangers in a refinery in Israel with more efficient plate technology.

Stockholm, Sweden. July 13, 2022. Tranter have won an order to replace two existing Shell-and-Tube heat exchangers in an oil refinery in Israel. The new heat exchangers, two large NovusBloc® heat exchangers in stainless steel, will be installed in the Atmospheric Distillation process of the refinery, where they will preheat the incoming crude oil with the light gas oil fraction from the Atmospheric distillation column.

The higher efficiency of the NovusBloc® heat exchanger compared to the traditional shell and tube heat exchangers currently used in the process will reduce the operator’s total cost of ownership. Thanks to the high turbulent flow of plate technology that provides a closer temperature approach, the NovusBloc® will reduce the energy consumption of the fired heater by improving the pre-heating of the crude oil. The same turbulent flow and higher channel velocities also significantly reduce fouling build-up and increase the uptime of the heat exchangers in the process.

"Replacing traditional shell and tube heat exchangers in refineries and petrochemical plants with plate technology has always been a long-term target for us as our customers really see the benefits of enhanced performance, less fouling and smaller footprints, which translates into OPEX and CAPEX savings. The challenges have always been mechanical cleaning on both sides as the Atmospheric distillation heat exchange application has high fouling fluids at high temperatures on both sides. The addition of the NovusBloc® heat exchanger to our product portfolio addresses this specific buyer choice criterion and opens up for value based selling to refineries and petrochemical plants world-wide.” says Thomas Cassirer, Sales Manager Global Accounts.

The replacement of these shell and tube heat exchangers will take place as soon as the NovusBloc® heat exchangers are delivered to the site in Israel, which is expected by early Q4 2022. The installation and performance of the heat exchangers will be closely monitored by Tranter together with its long-term local partner in Israel. Input from the actual performance will be used to further emphasize the added value of using plate technology in refinery processes.