SAFEHX - Buffer heat exchange

We are here to present you the SAFEHX, a new chapter in heat exchanger technology.

Entirely developed, designed, and tested by Clark Solution’s R&D Department on its own lab and industrial scale pilot plants.

The equipment is built around a shell and tube arrangement where two tube bundles transport the hot and cold fluids while the shell void space is partially filled with an inter fluid.

The boiler tubes, in red, transport the hot acid circuit while in the cooling tubes, in blue, cooling water or boiler feedwater flow.

The main objective is to provide a solution that while cooling sulfuric acid eliminates the risks associate with acid-water contact, that usually occur when a mechanical, fabrication or corrosion induced leak establishes.

SafeHX achieves that by using an inert fluid in the shell void between the acid and water tube bundles, preventing direct contact between the fluids in an upset situation.

In red we have the tube bundle through which the hot acid passes, immersed in the inert fluid, and in blue we have the cooling water carrying tubes.

The acid is cooled by boiling the inert fluid, whose vapors flow up and condense when they reach the upper tubes, producing a condensate that run down back into the boiling pool.

Besides safety and unexpected plant shutdowns due to cooler leaks, SAFEHX allows a very precise control of the temperatures, the inert fluid works as a buffer, avoiding temperature excursions in one fluid to be transmitted to the other fluid.

Since the shell is filled with the inert fluid, maintenance and cleaning processes resume to tube plugging or cleaning.

With SafeHX, hydrogen formation on acid cooling systems, that represent about 70% of the incidents reported worldwide, are completely eliminated, as well as emergency shutdowns, production losses and personnel and equipment damages.

SafeHX, a new chapter in heat exchanger technology.