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Experimental study on the condensation of ethanol–water mixtures on vertical tube

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Abstract

The condensation heat transfer of the ethanol–water mixtures on the vertical tube over a wide range of ethanol concentrations was investigated. The condensation curves of the heat flux and the heat transfer coefficients revealed nonlinear characteristics and had peak values, with respect to the change of the vapor-to-surface temperature difference. This characteristic applies to all ethanol concentrations under all experimental conditions. With the decrease of the ethanol concentrations, the condensation heat transfer coefficient increased notably, especially when the ethanol concentration was very low. The maximum heat transfer coefficient of the vapor mixtures increased to 9 times as compared with that of pure steam at ethanol vapor mass concentration of 1%. With the increase of the ethanol concentrations, the condensation heat transfer coefficient decreased accordingly. When the ethanol concentration reached 50%, the heat transfer coefficient was smaller than that of the pure steam.

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Abbreviations

C :

ethanol concentration (%)

P :

vapor pressure (Pa)

q :

heat flux (kW/m2)

T :

temperature (K)

ΔT :

vapor-to-surface temperature difference (K)

r :

radii (m)

R :

thermal resistance (m2 K/W)

U :

vapor velocity (m/s)

α:

heat transfer coefficient (kW/m2 K)

λ:

thermal conductivity (kW/mK)

max:

peak points of condensation curves

o :

overall

v :

vapor mixtures

w :

tube wall

c :

condensate

vb:

vapor bulk

vf:

vapor film near the interface

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 50476048).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Li, Junjie Yan, Lei Qiao & Shenhua Hu

  2. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, People’s Republic of China

    Junjie Yan

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  1. Yang Li
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  2. Junjie Yan
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  3. Lei Qiao
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  4. Shenhua Hu
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Correspondence to Junjie Yan.

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Li, Y., Yan, J., Qiao, L. et al. Experimental study on the condensation of ethanol–water mixtures on vertical tube. Heat Mass Transfer 44, 607–616 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-007-0281-4

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