Last updated on October 16th, 2023 at 02:54 pm

Electrical heating is one of the key procedures used by almost all the process heating industries. The process uses electrical energy to transform it into heat. Out of the many options of electrical heating, including flanged heater and bitumen heater, one of the most efficient and popular ones for refineries is the immersion heater.

An Immersion Heater

Immersion heaters are widely used in industries for heating up liquids, like water and viscous oil in the least possible time. They are easy to maintain and offer wide heating uses. Immersion heaters work by enclosing the liquid into the tank and then inserting the electrical resistance heater within a metal tube, encased in an insulation material.

Advantages of Using an Immersion Heater

An immersion heater is the choice of many industries because of varied reasons. One of the reasons that have made them popular in the recent decade is the rising cost of the fuel that is required in other methods of heating. The processes of electrical heating in the immersion heaters make them one of the most cost efficient heating equipment. Apart from being considerably cheap, the immersion heaters help to keep the environment clean. There are no harmful emissions as a byproduct of the heating process.

The immersion heaters offer wide range of options to maintain the temperature accurately. This adds up to the effectiveness of the heating process required in the industries. The temperature can be easily, yet very precisely be controlled by the operator.

The ingenuous nature of the immersion heaters and the speedy heating process they provide, make them a popular choice of many refineries. From oil refineries to sugar refineries, all of

them use immersion heaters for their chemical engineering processes. Here is how refineries use the electrical equipment across their operation units.

Uses of Immersion Heaters in the Refineries

Refineries are a billion dollar industry. With the costs of the equipments and the raw materials already high, heating solutions for the operations should be cost efficient, yet effective. This brings in the choice of the immersion heaters for a variety of purposes.

Distilled Fuel Storage 

Distilled fuel cannot be stored at room temperature. To avoid contamination, the fuel must be stored under high, controlled temperature through immersion heaters.   The flange immersion heater is usually an excellent choice for storing fuel.

Oil Transport Facilitation

In an oil refinery, the crude oil needs to be heated before it can undergo the process of fractional distillation. For the crude oil to flow to the furnace smoothly and rapidly, the oil needs to be made less viscous. This is done using immersion heaters. The immersion heaters heat up the oil to the optimum temperature, to make it move rapidly to the furnace. If this were not done, the time taken for the oil to move along units would cost a whole lot than necessary.

Oil Travelling Pipelines 

Across the globe, oil is transferred through the pipelines. A recent project is said to transport oil from Canada and northern USA to the Gulf Coast. For ease the transportation, to maintain smooth and rapid flow from oil sands, the oil needs to be heated. Circulation immersion heaters can be used for heating the oil and transporting it through pipelines.

Glycol Dehydration Of The Natural Gas

Natural gas is an excellent fuel for a variety of reasons. For easy transportation and storage of the natural gas, it needs to undergo a range of procedures. One of these is the glycol dehydration process, where water is removed by evaporation from the natural gas, both in the liquid and gas form. The flange immersion heater is used to heat up the gas to the boiling point of the water to evaporate and separate it into required components.

De-ionized Water For Sterilization 

Many refineries require heated de-ionized water for sterilizing their equipments. The de-ionized water is extremely corrosive; therefore, not all heating methods are suitable. For such corrosive substances, the flanged immersion heaters, covered with different alloy sheaths, are used. This prevents the heater from erosion and heats up the desired liquid rapidly. Other corrosive substances that can be heated up using immersion heaters include processed water and detergent solutions.

Heating Chemicals 

There are number of chemicals that require heating to carry out various chemical engineering procedures.  Immersion heaters are excellent medium to heat chemicals like acetone, barium hydroxide, formaldehyde, magnesium chloride, sodium phosphate and methyl chloride. The ability to heat such chemicals makes immersion heaters an ideal heating solution for petroleum and pharmaceutical industries.

Heating Machine Lubrication Oils 

For refineries to operate smoothly, maintenance of heavy machineries is essential. To carry out the lubrication process effectively, lubricant oils are needed. For machine lubrications and gearboxes, lube oil needs to be stored under specific temperature. Hence, the immersion heater is installed in the lube oil reservoir. The heated oil helps to maintain the lubrication application procedures for refineries.

Food Oil And Sugar Refinery

Both the refineries use immersion heaters for a variety of procedures including distillation and evaporation of the unrefined cooking oil and liquid sugar.

Degreasing Tanks

All the refineries put the immersion heaters over the top, for degreasing the tanks .These portable immersion heaters are excellent to maintain uniform temperature across the tank. The heaters can be easily installed and removed, as they are not required to be kept in the tank essentially, for the process to take place.

Refineries, with multiple chemical processes going on, require considerable finances and extreme precisions for successful delivery of the results. One of the essential elements of all these procedures is the heating capacity of the materials. Immersion heaters are excellent solutions for heating activities, as they are cost- efficient, easy to use and very effective. Various types of immersion heaters can be used for different purposes, according to the specific needs and requirements, from preventing erosion of the corrosive materials to making heavy oils less viscous.

Thus, immersion heaters are highly significant for use in the industries. They offer variant functions with maximum benefits.