Heat transfer fouling

U = Overall heat transfer (fouled) coefficient. Equation 10-37... 

Do the steam systems operate at the needed pressure rather than at the available boiler pressure Too large a pressure leads to a higher condensation temperature for steam. This causes an unnecessarily large temperature differential for heat transfer. Fouling and other problems arise as a consequence, reducing the energy efficiency. In other words, use utilities at the lowest practical temperature. A simple solution to reduce the steam temperature is the use of a thermocompressor. This device uses high-pressure steam to increase the pressure of low-pressure steam to form steam at a desired intermediate pressure. 

Also, Rf 0, the resistance to heat transfer (fouling resistance or fouling factor) caused by the shell-side scale is equal to the last term in the denominator of Equa-tion4.11. 

Wall heat transfer fouling resistance (m K/W) g Acceleration due to gravity (m/sec )... 

Chen, L. Heat transfer, fouling and combustion of supercritical fuels. Def. Tech. Info. Center, Report 940321. 

Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers Heat-Transfer Fouling Resistance... 

One disadvantage of fluidized heds is that attrition of the catalyst can cause the generation of catalyst flnes, which are then carried over from the hed and lost from the system. This carryover of catalyst flnes sometimes necessitates cooling the reactor effluent through direct-contact heat transfer hy mixing with a cold fluid, since the fines tend to foul conventional heat exchangers. 

The reactor effluent might require cooling by direct heat transfer because the reaction needs to be stopped quickly, or a conventional exchanger would foul, or the reactor products are too hot or corrosive to pass to a conventional heat exchanger. The reactor product is mixed with a liquid that can be recycled, cooled product, or an inert material such as water. The liquid vaporizes partially or totally and cools the reactor effluent. Here, the reactor Teed is a cold stream, and the vapor and any liquid from the quench are hot streams. 

Emulsion Process. The emulsion polymerization process utilizes water as a continuous phase with the reactants suspended as microscopic particles. This low viscosity system allows facile mixing and heat transfer for control purposes. An emulsifier is generally employed to stabilize the water insoluble monomers and other reactants, and to prevent reactor fouling. With SAN the system is composed of water, monomers, chain-transfer agents for molecular weight control, emulsifiers, and initiators. Both batch and semibatch processes are employed. Copolymerization is normally carried out at 60 to 100°C to conversions of - 97%. Lower temperature polymerization can be achieved with redox-initiator systems (51). 

Direct Contact Heat Exchangers. In a direct contact exchanger, two fluid streams come into direct contact, exchange heat and maybe also mass, and then separate. Very high heat-transfer rates, practically no fouling, lower capital costs, and lower approach temperatures are the principal advantages. 

Commonly used heat-transfer surfaces are internal coils and external jackets. Coils are particularly suitable for low viscosity Hquids in combination with turbine impellers, but are unsuitable with process Hquids that foul. Jackets are more effective when using close-clearance impellers for high viscosity fluids. For jacketed vessels, wall baffles should be used with turbines if the fluid viscosity is less than 5 Pa-s (50 P). For vessels equipped with cods, wall baffles should be used if the clear space between turns is at least twice the outside diameter of the cod tubing and the fluid viscosity is less than 1 Pa-s (10... 

The rate of heat-transfer q through the jacket or cod heat-transfer areaM is estimated from log mean temperature difference AT by = UAAT The overall heat-transfer coefficient U depends on thermal conductivity of metal, fouling factors, and heat-transfer coefficients on service and process sides. The process side heat-transfer coefficient depends on the mixing system design (17) and can be calculated from the correlations for turbines in Figure 35a. 

Cooling System Corrosion Corrosion can be defined as the destmction of a metal by chemical or electrochemical reaction with its environment. In cooling systems, corrosion causes two basic problems. The first and most obvious is the failure of equipment with the resultant cost of replacement and plant downtime. The second is decreased plant efficiency to loss of heat transfer, the result of heat exchanger fouling caused by the accumulation of corrosion products. 

Only trace amounts of side-chain chlorinated products are formed with suitably active catalysts. It is usually desirable to remove reactive chlorides prior to fractionation in order to niinimi2e the risk of equipment corrosion. The separation of o- and -chlorotoluenes by fractionation requires a high efficiency, isomer-separation column. The small amount of y -chlorotoluene formed in the chlorination cannot be separated by fractionation and remains in the -isomer fraction. The toluene feed should be essentially free of paraffinic impurities that may produce high boiling residues that foul heat-transfer surfaces. Trace water contamination has no effect on product composition. Steel can be used as constmction material for catalyst systems containing iron. However, glass-lined equipment is usually preferred and must be used with other catalyst systems. 

The inside of the convection tubes rarely foul, but occasionally the Hquid unsaturates in feedstocks tend to polymerize and stick to the walls and thus reduce the heat transfer. This soft coke is normally removed by mechanical means. In limited cases, the coke can also be burnt off with air and steam. Normally, the outside surface of the convection section fouls due to dust and particles in the flue gas. Periodically (6 to 36 months), the outside surface is cleaned by steam lancing. With Hquid fuel firing, the surface may require more frequent cleaning. 

The values of h, and AP, calculated by this procedure are for clean exchangers and are intended to be as accurate as possible, not conservative. A fouled exchanger will generally give lower heat-transfer rates, as reflected by the dirt resistances incorporated into Eq. (11-2), and higher pressure drops. Some estimate of fouling effects on pres-... 

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