Heat Exchanger World Conference and Expo Americas, and Fugitive Emissions Summit Americas conclude today. The conferences are held together December 9 – 10, 2020. The joint event is held at the Royal Soneta Hotel and Dec 9th had a pretty fair attendance – including virtual attendees.

What really caught my eye at the meeting was the intersection between heat exchangers and fugitive emissions. What I am referring to are gaskets. I did not know that gaskets are complicated, can be custom made, and are sometimes designed with finite element analysis. What I was told by vendors is that off-the-self gaskets can be specified for a heat exchanger as allowed by TEMA. However, once in place, the temperature and pressure of the system can vary so much that the gasket cannot handle the expansion/contraction strain. Thus, a custom gasket must be designed.

The event closes today. Good news, however, the organizer, KCI World, will return to Houston in June with Valve World. This is a big conference. See you there.