Analysis and Simulation of the Drying- Air Heating System of a Brazilian Powdered Milk Plant

Aiming at simulating air-heating systems, two algorithms were developed for the calculation of finned elliptical-tube heat exchangers, whose basic difference lies in the kind of hot fluid employed: saturated steam or hot liquid. In both cases, a crossflow unit, in which the cold fluid is mixed and always flows on the shell side, is considered. The hot fluid may exhibit multiple passes in the tubes and is assumed unmixed, except for the region between the passes. A comparison between calculated results and operating data on industrial exchangers indicated the adequacy of the algorithms developed. The codes were then introduced into the ASPEN Plus shell, enabling simulation of the steady-state operation of the whole drying-air heating system of a powdered milk plant. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis of this system was conducted for one of its operating parameters and the existence of an optimal value for this variable was clearly shown.