Conference Dates
July 1-6, 2007
First Page
71
Abstract
Significant progress has been made in understanding the underlying mechanisms of hydrocarbon fouling and characterizing the effects of physical and chemical parameters in single-phase flows. However, the interactive effects of two-phase flows and fouling mechanisms are poorly understood. Many of the industrial heat exchangers in refining and petrochemical processing operate under multiphase flow conditions with varying flow regimes. Fouling and localized corrosion are generally experienced due to maldistribution of vapor and liquid phases in such heat exchangers. This is because design methods are inadequate to determine localized process conditions that could induce severe fouling locally, which could also lead to localized corrosion by concentrating corrosion species in the deposits. This paper discusses design approaches to evaluate twophase flow conditions and design exchangers to minimize fouling. Such design approaches may not be optimum for heat transfer and pressure drop considerations; however, it will minimize fouling and localized corrosion. The paper focuses on improved design of feed/effluent exchangers with tube side flows and reboilers for minimizing shell-side fouling and a case study is presented. The result is lower lifecycle ownership cost of the exchanger.
Recommended Citation
C.B. Panchal and Blazo Ljubicic, "DESIGNING TWO-PHASE FLOW HEAT EXCHANGERS FOR MITIGATING FOULING" in "Heat Exchanger Fouling and Cleaning VII", Hans Müller-Steinhagen, Institute of Technical Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and Institute for Thermodynamics and Thermal Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Germany; M. Reza Malayeri, University of Stuttgart, Germany; A. Paul Watkinson, The University of British Columbia, Canada Eds, ECI Symposium Series, (2007). https://dc.engconfintl.org/heatexchanger2007/11