HTRI Process Heat Transfer

Technology
- Fouling and PHE -

Hans U. Zettler
Heat Transfer Research, Inc.

NOVEM/NLAHX Meeting
The Hague, The Netherlands
November 29th, 2002

Outline

l Benefits of using HTRI Technology

l Crude Oil Fouling Research
l HTRI Xchanger Suite - Xphe
 Using HTRI Technology
Fouling Research

l Important to effectively benefit from

progress in heat transfer research
l Need to distinguish between true fouling
and safety factors
l Should consider effect of operating
conditions and fluid characteristics

Cooling Water Fouling Rate

Correlation
l Original Formulation of
“Deposit – Removal Concept”

x 
d f 
 kf  dR  −E   
 = f
= C1Ρd Ω n exp  − C2  τ 
RT  R 
dt dt  g as   b
 Cooling Tower Water

l Seven year study: 40 water compositions

l Exhibited asymptotic rate behavior
l Asymptotic fouling factor solved from rate
equation with deposit term = removal term

 −E 
*
( )
R f = C3 C4 exp C5τ C 6 τ aTs exp 
b
R T 

 g sa 

Behavior of a Selected
Cooling Water
Fouling Factor, hr ft2 ° F /Btu

1.0
Surface
0.1 Temperature, °C

0.01 65.5 76.7

0.001
54.4

0.0001
2 4 6 8 10 12
Velocity, ft/sec
 TEMA
fouling
factor

Water Fouling Model

 Cooling
water
fouling
model

Summary
l Cooling water fouling example confirms
advantage of research incorporated in
HTRI Xchanger Suite
 Crude Oil
Fouling Research Overview
l Background
l Summary of Results
l Plots of All Data
l Prediction Model
l Recent Surface Studies
l Conclusions

Studies to Date

l Conditions
– Temperatures
– Flow velocities
l Surfaces
– Stainless, carbon steel, polished, finned
l Properties/Components
– Physical properties (density, viscosity)
– Inorganics: sulfur, metals (except salt)
– Component types (CII)
 Results: Ranking of
Important Parameters
Twelve Crudes

l Surface temperature
l Velocity
l Component types
l Surface
l Inorganics (except salt)
l Other physical properties

Surface Temperature
Effect > 260 °C (500 °F)

l Fouling rate is exponentially related to

surface temperature
l Arrhenius function is applicable
– Activation energy, function of reaction type
l cracking straight chain molecules
l asphaltene decomposition
 Component Types
Typical Concentrations

l Asphaltenes (<5 – 10%)

– Cause fouling as function of surface
temperature and residence time on
surface

l Aromatics and Resins (40 – 60%)

– Have stable cyclic molecules that stabilize
asphaltenes in solution

Component Types
Typical Concentrations

l Saturates (30 – 60%)

– Have straight or branched-chain single-bond
molecules
– Cause fouling by
l destabilizing asphaltenes, which causes them to
clump in large groups (micelles) that decompose
at the surface
l cracking to coke at high surface temperature
Colloidal Instability Index (CII)

l Definition
(Saturates + Asphaltenes)
CII =
(Resins + Aromatics )
l Apparent effects, based on current
research
– Low range < 0.5: Stable crude, low fouling
– High range > 1.2: Unstable crude, high fouling
– Mid-range: No effect correlated between CII and
fouling

Velocity

l Low velocity
– Diffusion limited
– Fouling increases with velocity

l High velocity
– Deposit shearing
– Fouling decreases with velocity
 Velocity
l Mid-range
– Direct velocity effects difficult to correlate
Fouling Rate

Velocity

– Indirect effects on wall temperature are

significant

Recent Surface Studies

l Fins: Increase on-stream time by

providing more surface for deposition

l Surface roughness: fouling rates

– Highest to lowest
l carbon steel
l stainless steel
l electropolished stainless steel
 Inorganics/Properties

l Reactive sulfur
– Some indication it increases fouling

l Other inorganics (except salt)

– No conclusive evidence of effects

l Properties (density, viscosity)

– No conclusive evidence of effects

Conclusions
l At given velocity and within certain
ranges, crudes foul according to the
Arrhenius reaction rate equation
l Crudes that have very low or very high
values of CII, however, do not fit the
pattern and require special evaluation
l Bulk temperature may be more
important than once thought
l Surface enhancements have some
potential but more research is needed
 Benefits
l Current: On-stream time can be
increased by using higher velocities

l Future: Deposit-removal model, in

combination with component effects, is
potentially a valuable tool to quantify
effects of higher velocity in designing
lower fouling crude exchangers

HTRI Xchanger Suite ®

Concept
l Consistent Microsoft® Windows® interface
(GUI)
l Design/rating of multiple unit types
– Air coolers
– Economizers
– Shell-and-tube exchangers
– Plate heat exchangers
– Interactive shell-and-tube tubesheet layout
– HTRI Property Generator
l Platform for future units
 Xphe 2.0

l New HTRI Xchanger Suite component

– Calculation engine/interface combination
– Heat transfer and pressure drop for plate
and frame exchangers
l Look and feel of Xchanger Suite
– Xace, Xist, Xtlo
 Xphe Interface

Calculation Options
l Rating
l Simulation
l Design
– Grid design
– Classic design
– Grid of classic designs
l Single-phase liquid
 Geometry
l One to six hot/cold passes
l Mixed passes, e.g., 1 hot/2 cold
l One or two plate types
– Up to three effective chevron angles
l Multiple sub-streams (plate groups)
– Maximum 12 total

Geometry

l Cocurrent or countercurrent flow

– Within and between passes
l Internal plate databank
l User-defined plate type databank
 Incrementation

10

1 2 3 4 5 6

Incrementation

10

1 2 3 4 5 6
 Internal Plate Databank

User-defined Plate Databank

User-defined Plate Databank

New plate in user databank

Plate Configuration

l Passes
– Four hot/three cold
– Channel specification automatically
calculated
Port Arrangement

Reports View
Graphs View – 3D

Graphs View – 2D