BEU TEMA Style Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers

The BEU configuration of shell and tube heat exchangers is a widely-used design in heavy-duty processing industries that combines a U-tube bundle with a bonnet-type stationary head and a rear-end cover enabling bundle removal. The U-tube is held in place using a single tube sheet, allowing for independent expansion and contraction of each tube — this makes the design suitable for applications that other configurations cannot handle such as those with high thermal shock where a large fluid temperature differential will result in expansion. While the curved tubes limit mechanical cleaning on the tube side, the removable bundle offers easier maintenance and cleaning of the shell side compared to fixed-tube designs. Since there are two (or more) tube passes by default due to the ‘U’ shape, this configuration has a greater thermal length than the equivalent unit with a single tube pass (straight tubes); this means that BEU-style units can be made more physically compact when handling equivalent heat transfer loads.

Valutech offers shell and tube heat exchangers in the BEU configuration from our industry-leading manufacturing partners who are able to work with a diverse range of construction materials to provide off-the-shelf and custom-fabricated units adhering to strict manufacturing standards. We also offer spare gaskets (girth flange and bonnet gaskets) for all of our shell and tube heat exchanger models — for more information on our shell and tube manufacturing and spare part capabilities, please click here.

The ‘B’ front head denotes a bonnet-style integral cover; it is the most cost-effective front header option in terms of capital investment, and is well suited to high-pressure applications as it requires only a single seal. The BEU configuration shown in the diagram above includes a pass partition in the front head, indicated by the solid light blue line, that ensures fluids do not prematurely mix physically or thermally as they follow the U-tube flow path. The ‘E’ shell represents a single-pass shell, which is the most commonly used shell configuration in industrial service. The ‘U’ rear head refers to the U-tube construction, where the tube bundle is free to expand and contract independently of the removable rear header. This design offers minimal clearance between the bundle and shell, though it cannot achieve true counterflow when paired with an ‘E’ shell and must always have an even number of tube passes. The U-tube style is the least costly design that allows for removable bundles, allowing for simple mechanical cleaning of the shell side, as well as an extended lifespan of the overall unit by replacing just the bundles.

These units are often selected where maintenance access to the shell side is needed and where higher thermal flexibility is required; the following applications are typical for BEU-style shell and tube heat exchangers:

• Heating high temperature-differential process fluids (e.g. steam as the process fluid).
• Systems that undergo high thermal cycling such as HVAC systems using refrigerants or thermal oil heating/cooling in plastic extrusion.
• Process fluid heating and cooling using dirty, corrosive, or scaling shell-side fluids such as black liquor in pulp and paper mills.
• Heat recovery from high-temperature flue gases in power generation plants.

As outlined above, the BEU configuration is a robust and flexible shell and tube heat exchanger design well-suited to demanding thermal duties and shell-side service conditions. Independently expanding U-tube bundles are ideal for handling high temperature differentials and thermal cycling without inducing stress on the tube sheets. The removable bundle also allows for full mechanical access to the shell side, which is advantageous when handling dirty, scaling, or corrosive fluids. However, the curved tubes are difficult to clean mechanically, meaning relatively clean tube-side fluids are recommended.