**3. EMbaffle® development**

Aiming to grant all tubes confinement at any individual baffle, the EMbaffle® longitudinal flow type heat exchanger was then conceived and developed. Rods and strips are replaced by a patented Expanded Metal grid, (that's where EMbaffle name comes from). By making best use of the available shell side pressure drops, the unsupported tubes span can be easily managed to design the most stiff cage solution today available in the S&T heat exchangers market (**Figure 2**).

Initially thought to eliminate the dead areas in fouling applications, the grid geometries and baffles span impacts on fluid flow paths have been progressively explored, by both CFD analysis and experimental measurements, to establish design criteria aimed to maximize the shell side HTC making best use of the available pressure drops.

Two significant improvements in the longitudinal baffle technology are so achieved:

• Tubes full support at any baffle makes the technology ready to replace the Rod Baffle and "No Tube in the window" TEMA designs in most applications where

**Figure 2.** *EMbaffle® design – One baffle fully supporting each individual tube.*

vibration issues govern, with performance increasing under increased process flow rates within the same shell diameter constraints.

• Further, by making use of the reduced fouling accumulation and so the better use of the available pressure drops to improve global Heat Transfer Coefficient, the technology can replace in several processes different standard TEMA segmental baffle exchangers granting same/improved performances with reduced capex/opex costs.

Plant data and case studies will be proposed to offer a general view of EMbaffle design performance advantages when replacing traditional TEMA solutions.
