In industrial sectors such as petroleum, chemicals, light industry, pharmaceuticals, and energy, heat exchangers are frequently employed to heat low-temperature fluids, cool high-temperature fluids, vaporize liquids into steam, or condense steam back into liquid. A heat exchanger may function as a standalone unit-such as a heater, cooler, or condenser-or it may serve as an integral component within a larger piece of process equipment, such as the internal heat exchanger found within an ammonia synthesis tower.
Heat exchangers constitute a critical class of unit operations in chemical manufacturing. Statistical data indicates that the total tonnage of heat exchange equipment accounts for approximately 20%-and in some cases, as much as 30%-of all process equipment; their significance is, therefore, self-evident.
