How does one determine which condenser is appropriate for my processes?
When I started this game I’d just buy the biggest one i could afford. That eventually led to an empirical understanding of some of the variables involved in appropriately sizing a condenser. I learned the importance of the temperature of the coolant when my first production still started spitting fumes in early July. The 50ft garden hose out in the parking lot was now preheating my cooling water to about 40C!. I could solve the problem by upping the flow, but throwing metered water down the drain as the dry season started didn’t sit well.
Which got me playing with air/liquid style condensers. Where I again just reached as high as my budget allowed, purchased a SS cooling coil from the local brew store, and added fans till I had joy. Not my best work, but it got the job done.
Turns out there is a ton of well established math on the subject (doh!)…
If you’re condensing for solvent recovery, then the most important thing to remember is that all the heat you put in, you also have to take out.
@TheGratefulPhil has been kind enough to work the math for both the heating and the condenser sides of the equation.
The folks selling you your heating or chilling should also be able to solve the math for you, or look it up in tables…but that assumes you’re purchasing from someone who does heaters/chillers as their primary business. Which is probably a good idea anyway, as anyone else is just playing middleman, and will likely charge you more for the same (or even wrong) system.
Thanks for upping my game!!!