Spiral Heat Exchangers
Nexson’s spiral heat exchangers are a proven technology that combines outstanding thermal efficiency, mechanical durability, and self-cleaning capability. Thanks to their unique single-channel construction and ability to handle demanding media, spiral heat exchangers are the natural alternative to traditional shell-and-tube units in challenging sectors such as refineries, petrochemicals, oil & gas, and environmental technology.
What is a spiral heat exchanger – and how does it work?
A spiral heat exchanger transfers heat between two fluids and is widely used in process industries where high efficiency, a compact footprint, and fouling resistance are essential.
Unlike conventional exchangers (e.g., shell-and-tube or plate types), a spiral heat exchanger consists of two spiral-shaped channels wound tightly around a central core. Each fluid (or vapor) enters its own spiral—one on either side of a thin metal plate—and flows in opposite directions. This counter-flow arrangement maximises heat transfer.
Operating principle
Two media (e.g., a hot and a cold liquid) enter separate spiral channels.
Heat flows through the thin metal partition that separates the channels.
The spiral path and single channel per medium create continuous turbulent flow that prevents deposition and clogging.
If deposits start to form, local velocity rises and “scours” them away—the self-cleaning effect.
The hot stream is cooled and the cold stream is heated—without mixing the fluids.
Why choose Nexson spiral heat exchangers?
| Key benefit | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Self-cleaning single-channel design | Turbulent flow eliminates fouling and blockage—ideal for dirty, viscous, or fibre-laden fluids in industries such as oil, pulp & paper, wastewater, and biogas. |
| World-class energy efficiency | Up to three times higher heat-transfer coefficients than shell-and-tube units, delivering significant energy savings and lower operating costs. |
| Built for extremes | Designed for pressures up to 200 barg and temperatures from –200 °C to 450 °C, suiting the harshest process environments. |
| Compact & cost-effective | A single SPHE can replace up to three traditional shell-and-tube exchangers, freeing floor space and reducing installation costs. Units may be mounted vertically or horizontally. |
Spiral Heat Exchanger Type 1 – Liquid-to-Liquid
Application
For demanding duties with particle-laden, fibrous, or fouling liquids—common in refineries, petrochemical and chemical plants, and other heavy-duty processes.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Flow regime | Liquid–liquid |
| Design pressure | Up to 200 barg |
| Temperature range | –200 °C to 450 °C |
| Heat-transfer area | 2–700 m² |
| Inspection | Full access via removable covers |
| Materials | Stainless steel, carbon steel, duplex, super-duplex, titanium, nickel alloys |
Advantages
Self-cleaning single-channel flow
Long service life under cyclic pressure/temperature conditions
Can replace up to three shell-and-tube exchangers
Space-saving compact design
Flexible vertical or horizontal installation
Spiral Heat Exchanger
Type 2 – Condenser / Evaporator
Application
Vacuum condensation, vent condensation, and evaporation. Can be mounted directly on columns or reactors without extra support, cutting installation cost.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Flow regime | Steam–liquid, cross-flow |
| Pressure drop | ≈ 0.1 kPa |
| Heat-transfer area | 2–3000 m² |
| Construction | Direct column mounting possible |
| Cleaning | Easy channel access |
Advantages
Minimal steam-side pressure drop—ideal under vacuum
Robust for harsh media
Full access to the entire spiral for cleaning
Optional sub-cooling of inert gases and condensate
Spiral Heat Exchanger
Type 3 – Steam Heater
Application
Steam heating in duties with cyclic loads and high thermal-efficiency requirements—ideal for process, food, and energy industries.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Flow regime | Steam–liquid, cross-flow |
| Design pressure | Up to 200 barg |
| Temperature | Up to 450 °C |
| Heat-transfer area | 2–500 m² |
| Construction | Fatigue-resistant, compact |
Advantages
Handles extreme temperature and pressure swings without cracking
Low pressure drop during condensation
Self-cleaning channel for contaminated steam
Simple installation, low operating cost
Maximum heat surface in a minimal footprint
Spiral Heat Exchanger
Type 2 Column – Modular Spiral Exchanger
Application
Large-scale condensation inside industrial columns (e.g., distillation). Comprises multiple spiral exchangers welded in series within a common shell.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Flow regime | Steam–liquid |
| Pressure drop | ≈ 0.1 kPa |
| Heat-transfer area | 200–5000 m² |
| Design | Modular, adaptable to existing plant |
| Cleaning | Optional built-in cleaning system |
Advantages
Optimised for very high condensation loads
Minimal pressure drop—perfect for vacuum processes
Customised to process and layout requirements
Reduced maintenance costs
Highly efficient solution with small heat-transfer area for continuous operation
Spiral heat exchangers in Industry
Spiral heat exchangers are used in many different industrial applications due to their efficient and reliable heat transfer capabilities for challenging media. Their flexibility and ability to handle different liquids, dirty/fouling or high viscous media or product slurries with high solid content, as well as gases or bi-phasic media make them useful in many fields and applications. The spiral heat exchangers are often used as economizers, heaters/coolers, or in two-phase applications such as condensing or evaporation operations, steam heaters, reboilers, etc.
Below are some Industries and applications where Spiral Heat Exchangers can be applied with great success:
Oil & Gas Industry:
In the Oil & Gas industry, Onshore and Offshore, several Heat Exchanger positions can be handled efficiently by Spiral Heat Exchangers.
One such application is for MEG Reclamation:
MEG (Mono-Ethylene Glycol) is widely used in wellheads and pipelines to prevent hydrate formation in pipelines. The goal of MEG reclamation process is to put a MEG-water-salt mix in contact with a heated recycled stream of MEG to recover the MEG and water components. The Spiral heat exchangers have been, for a long time, proven to be the ideal heat exchanger to handle difficult operating conditions and simplify drastically maintenance frequency. Nexson spiral heat exchangers are used for mono-ethylene glycol recovery loops thanks to their ability to handle particles without any crystallization.
Petroleum Refineries:
In Petroleum Refineries petroleum is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, bitumen and asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum naphtha.
Petroleum Refining, being of fossil origin has opportunities for Carbon Capture as well as blending with fossil-free fuels, BioFuels, and research for new process routes for fossil-free feedstocks, such as new bio-oils feeds and carbon capture utilization.
Refining petroleum requires several process steps such as: – Desalting; – Atmospheric and Vacuum Distillation; – Catalytic Cracking; – Reforming; – Blending, etc.
One such application is for the Coker unit as an Economizer or Cooler:
In the coker process, the goal is to convert heavy elements to lighter products and flexigas. The main advantages of this process are to create a high-value liquid product as well as clean flexigas, which can be used in different ways, either as refined fuel or for power generation.
With wide channels, compact sizes and correctly selected geometry for an optimal velocity of media streams, Spiral Heat Exchangers have successfully solved the fouling problem of heat exchange equipment in the difficult coker process.
- Spiral Heat Exchanger is used as an economizer to preheat the slurry stripper feed.
- Spiral Heat Exchangers are being used as coolers to cool the slurry stripper bottoms.
Petrochemical Industries:
An enormous amount of chemicals of various types are being made from petroleum derivates for industrial use and consumer goods that require a wide range of different unit operations. Some of the most common petrochemicals manufactured worldwide are PVC and Vinilchloride, PolyEthylen, PolyAmides, Ethylene Glycol and PolyEsters, PolyStyrene, Therphtalic Acid and PET, TDI (Toulene Diisocyante), MDI (Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate), etc.
Two such application is for the PVC Process – Reflux condenser and PVC Slurry Interchanger:
Nexson heat exchangers are adapted to comply with environmental constraints and high-pressure requirements. In the PVC industry, fouling due to the high concentration of suspended solids in the media and viscous polymers requires intensive maintenance when dealing with multi-channel heat exchangers. Spiral has been for a long time proven to be the ideal heat exchanger to handle difficult operating conditions and simplified drastically maintenance frequency.
Spiral Heat Exchangers can be applied with great success as:
- Reflux Condensers. The reflux condenser is mounted directly on the striping column.
- PVC Slurry Interchanger to recover heat from PVC slurries.
Mining and Steel Industries:
With the ongoing energy changes from traditional fossil-based energy and fuel to the electrification of processes and vehicles the mining industry will be affected as more minerals will be necessary for batteries etc. Global warming and new more sustainable mining and mineral upgrading processes are being developed to reduce carbon footprint. Also, for the steel industry new processes are being researched to eliminate carbon-intensive coke oven gas and reduce iron by Direct Reduction Process with H2 gas as a reduction agent.
The traditional production process, with coke oven gas, is likely to be used for many years in most parts of the world. These facilities need upgrades for better energy effectiveness, lower emissions, and have huge opportunities for Carbon Capture and carbon capture utilization.
Spiral Heat Exchangers are often used in Mineral upgrading and leaching processes for minerals as:
Zinc Slurry heating, these Spiral Heat Exchangers are customized units to heat zinc slurry with steam, while in operation always keeping the heat exchanger clean. The unit is purely symmetric, thus the end user can reverse the flow direction and media for both channels, in such a way that zinc slurry and steam change channels, when zinc fouling build-up starts to reduce thermal performances.
Spiral Heat exchangers are also widely used in the Coke Oven Gas upgrading process as:
- Primary / Final Coolers
- Krupp Koppers Process – Dephlegmator
- Benzene / Light Oil Condensers
- Oil Coolers / Heaters
Chemical Industries:
An enormous amount of chemicals or various types are being made for industrial use and consumer goods that require a wide range of different unit operations and heat transfer. Some of the most common chemicals manufactured in the world are Sulphuric Acid, Phosphoric Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Chlorine, Chloridric Acid, Ammonia, Peroxide, Formol and Formic Acid, Inks and Pigments such as Titanium Dioxide, etc.
Many of these chemicals are produced through paths that benefit from the use of Spiral Heat Exchanges. To mention one of these Titanium Dioxide produced with Titanium Tetrachloride as an intermediary product uses Spiral Heat Exchanger for TiCl4 slurries with great success worldwide.
Pulp and Paper Industry:
As for many other Industries also the traditional Pulp and Paper Industry is looking for improvements and how to make better use of potentially valuable side products such as: – BioFuels from Tall Oil; – Methanol production; – Lignin separation from black liquor; – Turpentine; – Sulphuric Acid from off-gas; – BioGas and BioPellets; – New BioChemicals; etc. Many Pulp mills, using the Kraft (sulfate) process, are also self-sufficient in energy, export electricity to the grid and provide district heating to nearby cities. Modern Pulp Mills also have the potential for a Negative Carbon footprint with the use of Carbon Capture and Storage or Utilization. New concepts are created, and these new mills are often called BioPruduct Mills.
Spiral Heat exchangers are also widely used in Pulp and Paper Industry applications, for media such as: – White Liquor; – Black Liquor; – Green Liquor; – White Water; – High Concentrated Condensate; – Foul Condensate; etc.
Food industry:
Growing populations increase the challenges of providing raw materials, processing and transporting food to consumers. Erivac can provide process equipment for a large range of food industries, such as: – Dairy Products, milk and milk proteins; – Breweries; – Fruit Juices; – Starch and vegetable proteins; – Sugar and Alcohol industries; – Edible Oils and Fats; – Soups and Sauces etc. In many cases, Wastewater from Food Industries also has high organic loads making it ideal for BioGas Generation.
Many of these Industries have applications where Spiral Heat Exchangers are among the best options for heat transfer application due to media with high temperatures or viscosity or solid content as for Starch Slurries, Brewery Mash and Fermented media, Refining of vegetable oils at high temperatures, etc.
The spiral heat exchanger’s spiral tube design provides a compact structure and enables efficient heat transfer, making them ideal for high-efficiency heating/cooling solutions. Their ability to handle high pressures and temperatures, as well as different viscosities, dirty and fouling media, media with large content of solids, and corrosive media, makes them an important part of many industrial processes where heat transfer and temperature control are crucial.
Welded spiral heat exchangers – questions and answers
What are welded heat exchangers used for?
Welded spiral heat exchangers are used for heat recovery, heating, cooling, condensation and evaporation. They are suitable for everything from solvents, liquids, viscous fluids, liquids carrying substantial solid loads, and sludge to gases, vapours – in demanding and rough process industry applications and environments.
Why choose spiral heat exchangers?
Welded spiral heat exchangers have a self-cleaning effect thanks to a unique design with only one flow channel on each side and thus high turbulence if the cross-section is reduced by impurities. They can handle dirty and highly viscous media.
What is the advantage of welded spiral plate heat exchangers?
They are compact, robust and energy-efficient. The handle very high temperatures and pressures as well as dirty media on either or both sides of the heat exchanger. They provide high process availability and low downtime for service, easy cleaning, and low maintenance costs.
Are there solutions for extreme conditions?
Yes, Welded Spiral Heat Exchangers can be manufactured for pressures up to approx.. 100 bar and temperatures close to 400 °C. In some applications, solid loads can be approximately 40%. Equipment with a 500 m2 surface area and a diameter of 4 m can be manufactured.
Are Spiral Heat Exchangers easy to clean?
Spiral heat exchangers can use CIP for cleaning, as for any other heat exchanger. When necessary, mechanical cleaning can also be performed by opening the lids on hot and cold sides for access to the flow channels. Hydro jet cleaning can then be performed easily. Only one gasket on each side needs to be replaced periodically, typically when the spiral heat exchanger is opened for mechanical cleaning.