FEEDWATER HEATERS

McNaught, J. M.

DOI: 10.1615/AtoZ.f.feedwater_heaters

Introduction
A feedwater heater is used in a conventional power plant to preheat boiler feed water. The
source of heat is steam bled from the turbines, and the objective is to improve the
thermodynamic efficiency of the cycle. The most common configuration of feedwater heater
is a shell and tube heat exchanger with the feedwater flowing inside the tubes and steam
condensing outside. (See Boilers and Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers.)
Temperature Profiles
Figure 1 depicts the temperature profiles for a high-pressure feedwater heater which receives
superheated steam extracted from a high-pressure turbine.

Figure 1. Temperature profiles for a high pressure feedwater heater.

If sufficient superheat is available, it is possible to make use of the large temperature
difference by specifying a separate section within the heater in which desuperheating occurs
with a dry wall. This gives a higher heat flux than if condensation occurs, and also allows the
possibility of raising the feedwater outlet temperature above that of the steam saturation
temperature. The steam condenses almost isothermally, and the condensate is subcooled
below the saturation temperature.
In the subcooling zone heater surface is assigned to extract heat from the condensate (drains)
from the condensing zone.
A heater may have neither a desuperheating zone nor a drain cooling zone.
Feedwater Heater Geometries
Figure 2 shows, in schematic form, the general arrangement of a three-zone heater. The shell
contains a bundle of tubes (normally U-tubes). Two tube passes are almost always used. The
feedwater inlet and outlet nozzles are connected to a channel on one side of the tube plate.

Figure 2. Typical airangemcnt of a three zone feedwater heater. (From Process Heat
Transfer, 1994, CRC Press.)
In the condensing zone, the tubes are supported by plates or grids of rods. The
desuperheating and drain-cooling zones are contained within the shell by a shroud or
wrapper, and are usually well baffled to both support the tubes and promote a satisfactorily
high shellside heat transfer coefficient. Sometimes other types of a baffle support, based on
some form of grid or array of rods, are used to minimize the risk of tube vibration.
High pressure units are sometimes of the "header-type" construction. This is a specialized
design in which the feedwater inlet and outlet headers take the form of separate cylindrical
vessels which penetrate into the heater shell. Each tube is individually welded onto the
headers, and the headers are welded to the shell. There are usually four tube passes.
Feedwater heaters can be located either horizontally or vertically. The horizontal orientation
is more common, but vertical heaters are sometimes preferred.
A feedwater heater must be equipped with a vent to allow removal of non-condensing gases.
Thermal Design Considerations
Thermal design of a feedwater heater requires an economic optimization of many factors,
including material and operating costs.
Two publications which describe feedwater heaters, and their design, in some detail are those
of BEAMA (1968) and HEI (1984). These documents provide performance charts which can
be used to estimate the surface area requirement. However, a computer program is required
to achieve an optimized design. The paper by Clemmer and Lemezis (1965) presents a design
logic which is suitable for implementation in a computer program. Further background
information can be found in the publication by EPRI (1984).
Special attention must be paid to avoidance of (a) wet-wall conditions in the desuperheating
section, in order to avoid erosion/corrosion problems and (b) excessive pressure drop in the
drain cooler, which could cause flashing, and consequent tube damage.
Pressure loss in the desuperheating zone causes a reduction in the saturation temperature of
the steam condensing zone. This in turn causes a reduction in the temperature difference in
the condensing zone. Design of the two zones is therefore a compromise between the need to
maintain a high heat transfer coefficient in the desuperheating zone, while avoiding an
excessive reduction in the overall mean temperature difference.
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