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O
il refineries and petro- times still used in oil refiner-
chemical plants oper- ies and petrochemical plants to
ate with quite a large remove the organic portion of
number of heat exchangers. Reactor Furnace
deposits such as oil and grease,
Fouling is an omnipresent prob- followed by acid cleaning to dis-
lem, causing significant losses solve scale and soften deposits.
in energy recovery or generat- But the results with such clas-
ing an increase in pressure drop. Feed/effluent sical cleaning programmes are
Periodical cleaning is manda- heat exchanger often only moderate, and fur-
tory even if distillation equip- system ther mechanical cleaning is
1 Packinox heat exchanger
ment is well designed. If fouling 2 Texas Tower heat exchanger or
required with additional costs.
is observed, it can initiate a set of several heat exchangers The combination of alka-
series of downstream problems. line and acid cleaning is not
In many cases, heat exchangers Figure 1 Feed/effluent heat the method of choice when vis-
are taken out of service because exchanger network cous, tenacious materials such
of severe pressure drop increase, as heavy fuels or additives
not reduced heat transfer. with heat exchanger networks from upstream processes need
Heat recovery is essential in of at least six to 12 exchang- removing. High-performing
process units which are oper- ers installed horizontally. More aqueous cleaning programmes
ated with reactors. Typical common are Packinox plate from the Kurita CD series can
process units with feed/efflu- heat exchangers or Texas Tower significantly reduce downtime
ent exchangers installed are tubular heat exchangers, which with excellent results. Metal sur-
hydrotreaters, hydrocrack- are installed vertically (see faces heavily fouled with oils,
ers, catalytic reformers, par- Figure 1). grease, tars, waxes, fatty oils or
affin dehydrogenation plants, Heat exchanger performance other substances are cleaned
paraxylene plants, and metha- can be restored by traditional without the need for costly
nol synthesis plants. Feedstock mechanical cleaning methods, organic solvents such as light
is heated to a high tempera- tailor-made chemical cleaning cycle oil (LCO), diesel or white
ture to be vaporised and reacted programmes, or a combination spirit. Water is sufficient for
with a gas, which in most cases of both. Mechanical cleaning the preparation of the chemi-
is hydrogen. The desired reac- of complex heat exchanger net- cal cleaning solution, which is
tion products and unreacted works using high pressure circulated with suitable equip-
gases are de-superheated and cleaning technologies can take ment. Heat exchanger networks
condensed for separation. several days. Classical alkaline are cleaned in a few hours, with
Some process units still operate cleaning procedures are some- deposits and sticky layers dis-