Heat exchangers are used for cooling and condensation, mainly in vacuum distillation, absorption and rectification processes in chemical plants. Glass heat exchangers enable visual process control during scale-up and production and processing of multiple (acidic) chemical substances. We offer glass spiral type heat exchangers and shell & tube type heat exchangers, often operated in combination with a secondary condenser for additional vapor condensation.

The glass spiral heat exchangers can be operated in parallel as batteries to form large heat exchange areas for higher condensation performances and larger reactors systems in pilot plants. They feature easy cleaning and operation of cooling media at up to 3 bar pressure.

Shell and tube type heat exchangers are used in combination with packed rectification columns as reflux condenser on larger systems. Buchi offers full glass type heat exchangers and a glass / silicon carbide (SiC) heat exchangers with 0.6 to 23m² heat exchange area. SiC heat exchangers feature excellent thermal transfer, thus reducing the requested heat exchange area compared to full glass types and reducing the requested space for the complete system. The optional safety chamber enables easy leakage examination and increases the operation pressure of the cooling media to 6 bar.