Effects of vapor pressure/velocity and concentration on condensation heat transfer for steam-ethanol vapor mixture

When a steam-ethanol vapor mixture condenses on a vertical flat plate, the form of the condensate film changes and many drops are created. This non-film condensation is called pseudo-dropwise or Marangoni condensation. This paper aims to study the main influencing factors on the Marangoni condensation of steam-ethanol vapor.The factors include the ethanol concentration, vapor pressure, vapor velocity and vapor-to-surface temperature difference. The experiments show that the heat transfer coefficient has a maximum value of approximately 42 kW/m² K when the ethanol concentration is 1%. At the low concentrations of 0.5, 1, 5.1 and 9.8%, the condensation heat transfer is greater than for pure steam. In addition, the heat transfer for all vapor mixtures increases with both the rise of vapor pressure and vapor velocity.