JAG heat exchangers with REEFLOW plates in wastewater applications

What is REEFLOW?

REEFLOW is a plate option for the JFD-060F gasketed plate heat exchanger from the JAG series, designed for applications where standard flow channels may be insufficient. The plate geometry creates wider flow channels, which can be beneficial when handling contaminated or viscous media, as well as media containing solid particles, fibres, suspensions, or sludge.

In practice, this means that a JAG heat exchanger with REEFLOW plates can be used wherever the user expects greater flow freedom, more stable system operation, and a reduced risk of heat exchanger clogging.

Why is REEFLOW suitable for wastewater applications?

Wastewater applications, including sewage systems, wastewater treatment plants, biogas plants, and process water systems, often operate with difficult media. These may include sewage sludge, industrial wastewater, digestate, media from biogas plants, process water containing particles, suspensions, and media with increased viscosity.

Under such conditions, a conventional plate heat exchanger may be exposed to channel clogging, deposit build-up, increased pressure drops, and the need for frequent cleaning. The REEFLOW plate was developed specifically for applications where a larger flow channel cross-section can support more stable process operation.

What wastewater-related problems can a JAG heat exchanger with REEFLOW help address?

A JAG heat exchanger with the REEFLOW plate option can be considered for installations where problems occur, such as:

• heat exchanger clogging,
• frequent cleaning,
• deposit build-up,
• presence of solid particles,
• high medium viscosity,
• unstable flow,
• high pressure drops,
• short operating periods between service intervals,
• modernisation of an existing system affected by fouling.

The REEFLOW plate can reduce the risk of clogging in properly selected applications and support a more stable flow of more demanding media.

Application of heat exchangers in wastewater treatment plants

In wastewater treatment plants, heat exchangers can be used for energy recovery, heating or cooling of process media, temperature stabilisation in technological processes, and operation of circuits related to biogas and digestate.

In such applications, it is important not only to achieve the required thermal performance, but also to maintain the openness of the flow channels. Therefore, the heat exchanger design should be selected with consideration of the actual medium composition, sludge content, viscosity, flow rate, temperature, and allowable pressure losses.

Why is a gasketed construction important in wastewater applications?

JAG gasketed plate heat exchangers offer a significant advantage in wastewater applications because they can be opened for inspection, cleaning, servicing, or configuration changes. This is particularly important in installations where the medium may cause deposit build-up or periodic contamination of the heat transfer surface.

In wastewater applications, completely eliminating the need for cleaning is not always possible. Therefore, the ability to dismantle the heat exchanger and access the plates is an important operational argument.

Technical data important for product positioning

The maximum allowable pressure is 16 bar, and the operating temperature range is from -20°C to 170°C, depending on material selection and application conditions. Available gasket materials include EPDM HTX, NBR, and Viton.

These parameters make REEFLOW an option for applications requiring a larger flow channel, rather than a universal replacement for every standard plate.