Heat Exchanger

A heat exchanger is a piece of equipment that continually transfers heat from one medium to another in order to carry process energy. Heat exchangers are used to transfer heat between two sources. The exchange can take place between a process stream and a utility stream (cold water, pressurized steam, etc), a process stream and a power source (electric heat), or between two process streams resulting in energy integration and reduction of external heat sources. Typically, a heat exchanger is used with two process streams.