ENHANCEMENT OF STEAM CONDENSATION THROUGHSURFACE WETTABILITY MODIFICATION

• Main Author: Samuel Tjandrawinata, Johan
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik (Rekayasa, enjinering dan kegiatan berkaitan)
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/86351
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The global demand for energy is consistently increasing, with an expected annual growth of 1–2%. Thermal power plants, particularly steam power plants, are the predominant means of energy generation. To optimize energy production, enhancing the efficiency of the power generation cycle is crucial. This work aims to increase condenser effectiveness by modifying the wettability of tubes. This involves coating condenser tubes with nanostructured coating. It offers significant potential to improve condensation heat transfer coefficient and provide dry outer surfaces for steam to condense further. This research demonstrates the evaluation of the heat transfer performance of superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic copper tube, relative to the bare copper tube in a shell-and-tube condenser by fabricating an experiment setup to facilitate the research. As a result, the experimental value of superhydrophilic copper tube performs 20.1% worse than the bare copper tube. Meanwhile, the superhydrophobic copper tube performs only slightly better, with a 4.7% improvement. Moreover, both nanostructure-coated tubes degrade after ~1 hour of saturated steam exposure. Alternative strategies need to be developed to increase the heat transfer coefficient of the internal flow through the tubes, which currently acts as the limiting thermal resistance. Other coating materials also need to be investigated to prolong the lifetime of the coating. This work paves a way to increase condenser effectiveness.