**Industrial Heat Exchanger: Operation and Maintenance to Minimize Fouling and Corrosion Provisional chapterIndustrial Heat Exchanger: Operation and Maintenance to Minimize Fouling and Corrosion**

Teng Kah Hou , Salimnewaz Kazi , Abu Bakar Mahat , Chew Bee Teng , Ahmed Al-Shamma'a and Andy Shaw Teng Kah Hou, Salimnewaz Kazi, Abu Bakar Mahat, Chew Bee Teng, Ahmed Al-Shamma'a and Andy Shaw

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/66274

#### **Abstract**

Heat exchanger is equipment used to transfer heat from one fluid to another. It has extensive domestic and industrial applications. Extensive technical literature is available on heat exchanger design, operation and maintenance, but it is widely scattered throughout the industrial bulletins, industrial design codes and standard, technical journals, etc. The purpose of this book chapter is to consolidate into basic background and concepts design of heat exchangers, operation, cleaning and green technology maintenance on heat exchanger closely related to the industrial practices.

**Keywords:** heat exchanger, fouling, fouling mitigation, green technology, cleaning of heat exchangers

## **1. Introduction**

Heat exchanger plays an important role in industrial application. It is implemented for the purposes of heating and cooling of large-scale industrial process fluids [1]. Heat exchanger is a dynamic design which can be customized to suit any industrial process depending on the temperature, pressure, type of fluid, phase flow, density, chemical composition, viscosity and many other thermodynamic properties [2, 3]. Due to global energy crisis, an efficient heat recovery or dissipation of heat has become a vital challenge for Scientists and Engineers [4].

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Heat exchangers are designed to optimize the surface area of the wall between two fluids to maximize the efficiency, while minimizing resistance to fluid flow through the exchangers within constrain of material cost. The performance of heat exchanging surfaces could be enhanced by the addition of corrugations or fins in heat exchanger, which increase surface area and may channel fluid flow or induce turbulence [5]. Efficiency of industrial heat exchangers could be online monitored by tracking the overall heat transfer coefficient based on its temperatures which tends to decline over time due to fouling [6].

Potential damage towards equipment caused by formation of scale can be very costly if processed water is not treated correctly. Chemicals are commonly used to treat the water in the industry. A total of 7.3 billion dollar worth chemicals per year in the U.S. is released into the air, dumped in streams and buried in landfills every year. Forty percent of these chemicals is purchased by industry for control of scale in cooling tower, boiler and other heat transfer equipment. This percentage also represents more than 2 billion dollar of toxic waste which contribute to trillion of gallon contaminated water disposed annually into the earth which belongs to all of us.

Maintenance of fouled tubular heat exchangers can be performed by several methods such as acid cleaning, sandblasting, high-pressure water jet, bullet cleaning or drill rods. In large-scale cooling water systems for heat exchangers, water treatment such as purification, addition of chemicals, catalytic approach, etc., are used to minimize fouling of the heat exchanging equipment [7]. Other water treatment processes are also used in steam systems for power plants to minimize fouling and corrosion of the heat exchanger and other equipment. Most of the chemical and additives used for fouling and corrosion mitigation are hazardous to the environment [8]. So, the days have come to apply chemicals of approaches benign to the environment [9–11].

#### **2. About industrial heat exchanger**

An industrial heat exchanger is heat transfer equipment that utilizes a thermal energy exchange process between two or more medium available at different temperature. Industrial heat exchangers are applied in various industrial applications such as power plant generation, petroleum oil and gas industry, chemical processing plant, transportation, alternate fuels, cryogenic, air conditioning and refrigeration, heat recovery and other industries. In addition, heat exchangers are the equipment always closely related to our daily life, for example, evaporators, air preheaters, automobile radiators, condensers and oil coolers. In most heat exchangers, a heat transfer surface separates the fluid which incorporates a wide range of different flow configuration to achieve the desired performance in different applications. Heat exchangers could be classified in many different ways. Generally, industrial heat exchangers have been classified according to construction, transfer processes, degrees of surface compactness, flow arrangements, pass arrangements, phase of the process fluids and heat transfer mechanisms as seen in **Figure 1**.

Industrial Heat Exchanger: Operation and Maintenance to Minimize Fouling and Corrosion http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/66274 195

**Figure 1.** Classification of industrial heat exchanger [12].

#### **3. Basic design concepts for heat exchanger**

The design concepts of heat exchanger must meet normal process requirements specified through service conditions for combinations of un-corroded and corroded conditions and the clean and fouled conditions. One of the critical criteria of heat exchanger design is the exchanger must be designed for ease of maintenance, which usually means cleaning or replacement of parts, tubing, fittings, etc. damaged by ageing, vibration, corrosion or erosion throughout the service period.

Hence, a heat exchanger design should be as simple as possible particularly if heavy fouling is expected. By minimize temperature in conjunction with the choice of fluid velocity and reducing the concentration of foulant precursors, will reduce the incidence of potential fouling. Moreover, highest flowing velocity should be allowed under the constraints of pressure drop and erosion from the flow. In addition, material selection within constrained cost retards the build-up of deposits and allows shorter residence time. It should also be compatible in terms of pH, corrosion and not only just heat exchanger, but also in terms of heat equipment and transfer lines of the heat exchanger.

#### **4. Fouling**

Heat exchangers are designed to optimize the surface area of the wall between two fluids to maximize the efficiency, while minimizing resistance to fluid flow through the exchangers within constrain of material cost. The performance of heat exchanging surfaces could be enhanced by the addition of corrugations or fins in heat exchanger, which increase surface area and may channel fluid flow or induce turbulence [5]. Efficiency of industrial heat exchangers could be online monitored by tracking the overall heat transfer coefficient based on its

Potential damage towards equipment caused by formation of scale can be very costly if processed water is not treated correctly. Chemicals are commonly used to treat the water in the industry. A total of 7.3 billion dollar worth chemicals per year in the U.S. is released into the air, dumped in streams and buried in landfills every year. Forty percent of these chemicals is purchased by industry for control of scale in cooling tower, boiler and other heat transfer equipment. This percentage also represents more than 2 billion dollar of toxic waste which contribute to trillion of gallon contaminated water disposed annually into the earth which

Maintenance of fouled tubular heat exchangers can be performed by several methods such as acid cleaning, sandblasting, high-pressure water jet, bullet cleaning or drill rods. In large-scale cooling water systems for heat exchangers, water treatment such as purification, addition of chemicals, catalytic approach, etc., are used to minimize fouling of the heat exchanging equipment [7]. Other water treatment processes are also used in steam systems for power plants to minimize fouling and corrosion of the heat exchanger and other equipment. Most of the chemical and additives used for fouling and corrosion mitigation are hazardous to the environment [8]. So, the days have come to apply chemicals of approaches benign to the

An industrial heat exchanger is heat transfer equipment that utilizes a thermal energy exchange process between two or more medium available at different temperature. Industrial heat exchangers are applied in various industrial applications such as power plant generation, petroleum oil and gas industry, chemical processing plant, transportation, alternate fuels, cryogenic, air conditioning and refrigeration, heat recovery and other industries. In addition, heat exchangers are the equipment always closely related to our daily life, for example, evaporators, air preheaters, automobile radiators, condensers and oil coolers. In most heat exchangers, a heat transfer surface separates the fluid which incorporates a wide range of different flow configuration to achieve the desired performance in different applications. Heat exchangers could be classified in many different ways. Generally, industrial heat exchangers have been classified according to construction, transfer processes, degrees of surface compactness, flow arrangements, pass arrangements, phase of the process fluids and heat transfer

temperatures which tends to decline over time due to fouling [6].

194 Heat Exchangers– Advanced Features and Applications

belongs to all of us.

environment [9–11].

**2. About industrial heat exchanger**

mechanisms as seen in **Figure 1**.

Fouling is always defined as the formation and accumulation of unwanted materials deposit onto the processing equipment surfaces. These normally very low thermal conductivity materials form an insulation on the surface which can extremely deteriorate the performance of the surface to transfer heat under the temperature difference for which it was designed [13]. On top of this, fouling increases the resistance to fluid flow, resulting in higher pressure drop across the heat exchanger. Many types of fouling can occur on the heat transfer surfaces, for examples, crystallization fouling, particulate fouling, corrosion fouling, chemical reaction fouling, biological fouling and solidification fouling [14]. Fouling can have a very costly effect in the industries which eventually increases fuel usage, interrupts operation, production losses and enhances maintenance costs [15].

The fouling is formed in five stages which can be summarized as initiation of fouling, transport to the surface, attachment to the surface, removal from the surface and ageing at the surface [16]. There are a few parameters influencing the fouling factors, such as pH [9], velocity [17], bulk temperature of fluid [18], temperature of the heat transfer surface, surface structure [19] and roughness [20, 21].

**Figure 2.** Overall fouling process [22].

The overall fouling process is usually considered to be the net result of two simultaneous sub processes: a deposition process and a removal process as shown in **Figure 2**. As illustrated in

**Figure 3.** Fouling resistance against time curves [22].

**Figure 3**, the growth of these deposits causes the heat transfer performance of heat exchanger to decline with time. This problem affects the energy consumption of industrial processes and eventually causes industrial breakdown due to the heat exchanger failure as seen in **Figure 4**.

**Figure 4.** Heavy build-up of deposition on heat exchanger piping [24][23].
