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Heat Exchangers Fouling, Cleaning and Maintenance

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Handbook of Thermal Science and Engineering

Abstract

Fouling results in a significant cost to the process and power industry, and a better understanding of the fouling behavior and mitigating measures is of interest to both personnel in operating facilities and research organizations. Fouling reduces the heat transfer rate and increases the pressure drop of heat exchangers. Fouling mechanisms are broadly classified as sedimentation, chemical reaction, crystallization, and biological. Heat exchanger designs should accommodate these fouling mechanisms and guidelines based on the vast operating experience that are discussed. Assignment of thermal margin, expressed as excess area, is one of the most important design parameters. Margins range from less than 10% excess area for light fouling applications to more than 100% for heavy fouling service. Fouling research has focused on understanding fouling mechanisms, predicting fouling behavior and mitigating its consequences. Due to its complexity, development of predictive models has been slow and much recent research has focused on cleaning and prevention technologies. Online techniques to clean heat exchangers have been implemented, but there are no universally accepted techniques. In addition to chemical and mechanical cleaning methods, electric and magnetic fields and ultrasonic/acoustic techniques are used.

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Abbreviations

A :

Heat transfer area

A c :

Cross-sectional flow area

A i :

Inside heat transfer area

A m :

Mean heat transfer area

A o :

Outside heat transfer area

B :

inverse time constant for asymptotic fouling

c :

Concentration of fouling content in fluid stream

C b :

Concentration of foulant in bulk fluid

C s :

Concentration of foulant in fluid at surface

CII :

Colloidal instability index

E :

Activation energy

f :

Friction factor

G :

Mass velocity

h clean :

Clean heat transfer coefficient

h i :

Inside heat transfer coefficient

h o :

Outside heat transfer coefficient

h service :

Service heat transfer coefficient with resistance factor applied

J :

Mass flux of fouling components

K :

Lead coefficient in Arrhenius

K 1 :

Constant for deposition term in Kern-Seaton model

K 2 :

Constant for removal term in Kern-Seaton model

k c :

Sticking probability

k w :

Thermal conductivity of wall

q :

Heat flux

R :

Universal gas constant

R f :

Fouling resistance

\( {R}_f^{\ast } \) :

Asymptotic fouling resistance

R factor :

Resistance factor

R fi :

Inside fouling resistance

R fo :

Outside fouling resistance

Re:

Reynolds number

SI :

Saturation index

t :

Time

T b :

Bulk temperature

T f :

Film temperature

T s :

Surface temperature

T w :

Wall temperature

T water :

Water temperature

U clean :

Clean heat exchanger coefficient

U service :

Overall heat transfer coefficient in service

V :

Velocity, m/s

W :

Mass flow rate

x f :

Fouling thickness

x w :

Wall thickness, m

α :

Correlation constant for Ebert-Panchal model

β :

Correlation constant for Ebert-Panchal model

γ :

Correlation constant for Ebert-Panchal model

ΔP :

Pressure drop

ΔP clean :

Clean pressure drop

ΔP fouled :

Fouled pressure drop

ΔR :

change in thermal resistance

ρ :

Fluid density

τ :

Shear stress

ϕ d :

Fouling deposit rate

ϕ r :

Fouling removal rate

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Heat Transfer Research, Inc., Navasota, TX, USA

    Thomas Lestina

Authors
  1. Thomas Lestina
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Lestina .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Francis A. Kulacki

Section Editor information

  1. Politecnica/COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Brazil

    Renato Cotta

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California, USA

    Kambiz Vafai

  3. Herff College of Engineering, The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    Sumanta Acharya

  4. Gas Technology Institute, Illinois, Illinois, USA

    Yaroslav Chudnovsky

  5. Rm 8260, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Javad Mostaghimi

  6. Cekmeköy Campus, Özyegin University, Çekmeköy - Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Mengüc

  7. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Vijay K. Dhir

  8. Division of Energy Delivery and Utilization, Gas Technology Institute, 1700 South Mount Prospect Road, 60018, Des Plaines, Illinois, USA

    Yaroslav Chudnovsky Ph.D

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Lestina, T. (2017). Heat Exchangers Fouling, Cleaning and Maintenance. In: Kulacki, F. (eds) Handbook of Thermal Science and Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32003-8_24-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32003-8_24-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32003-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32003-8

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