**Abstract**

EMbaffle® is a proprietary shell and tube heat exchanger technology, designed to improve performance by pressure drops control, with suppressed tube vibrations. Developed to minimize fouling accumulation in crude oil units, the technology has proved to be effective in Gas treatment and Petrochemical, supporting the increase in gas–gas and cooling water flow rate per-unit demand, and in Renewable CSP, where Molten Salt units get a primary role in thermal storage and power efficiency. Diamond shape and baffle-grids number are the instruments for the design engineer to exploit exchanger efficiency against pressure drops, aimed to the desired performance with the optimized power consumption. Further to introduce the base of the technology, this work will also address the design of higher compact units by combining the grids performance with the improved exchanger tube surface. Experimental data to support the grid life under critical working conditions and actual performances with fluids density and viscosity are reported.

**Keywords:** shell&tube heat exchanger, increased thermo-hydraulic performance, reduced maintenance costs, improved plant reliability, energy efficiency & CO2 reduction

### **1. Introduction**

Shell & tube (S&T) heat exchangers are among the main process equipment involved in oil refineries, power industry and chemical plants. They are made of a pressure vessel in which is inserted a bundle of tubes. One fluid pass inside the tubes, while the other passes outside them. Tubes are generally supported by segmental baffles.

Although conventional segmental-baffles units prove well in the wide majority of the services, in several cases performances are not outstanding with negative impacts on maintenance costs and exchanger life, especially in case where large flow rates have to be processed, which can induce tube vibration issues.

If a dirty fluid is processed, fouling can be accumulated in the stagnation zones that are inherently created by segmental baffle geometry.

A possible remedy is the application of a longitudinal flow at the shell side. EMbaffle® technology promotes longitudinal flow at shell side, supporting the tubes with expanded metal grids.

The following paragraphs describes this technology, from general features to its inherent advantages, pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics.

Finally some technical advancements are reported, together with some design cases related to services where EMbaffle® technology proves its advantages over conventional segmental exchangers.
