Thermal Oil System advantages? 1

[Weldinspect]

Any experiences/opinions on Thermal Oil Systems anyone?

A manufacturer´s website says this:

Essential advantages of thermal oil compared to with steam:

-high boiling point at atmospheric pressure,
-"no-pressure" units up to 350°C possible
-no tendency for corrosion and caking,
-no processing of the thermal oil
-no frost damages up to far below O°C

http://albanesmolina.wix.com/home

 

[moltenmetal]

There is also a matching list of disadvantages, as there always is when comparing two alternatives:

- low heat capacity relative to vapourizing/condensing media. This means you need to move a lot more mass to transfer a given amount of heat. That means larger lines, and very limited line lengths for tracing
- temperatures in exchangers on the utility side are not uniform, requiring greater exchanger area
- viscosities can be high, especially at low temperature during start-up
- high temperature thermal oils can sometimes be waxes, pastes or even solids at room temperature
- some thermal oils have substantial vapour pressures at high temperature
- risk of coking on heater surfaces, particularly in fired heaters, which must be mitigated by good design
- combustible material, typically operating above its flash point, which may or may not trigger electrical area classification concerns depending on the opinion of the AHJ

 

[MJCronin]

You forgot one molten .....

Thermal oil systems incur significant pumping costs, they are running all of the time...

Therefore electric bills will be significant ....

Steam "goes where its supposed to" for free !!!!!

MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer

 

[mbt22]

Many thermal oils are incredibly searching at temperature, and if/when you get a leak it is hot hydrocarbon rather than steam.

Matt

 

[moltenmetal]

Not sure what you mean by "searching" in that sentence. If you mean that it has a high tendency toward leakage, I would agree with you. And indeed, the leaks are highly noticeable, especially if a drip happens to land on top of your unprotected head...Mind you, high pressure steam is plenty dangerous too, so that's really a moot point.