Abstract
There are three different factors that can affect adhesion: the process fluid, the processing conditions and the surface of the processing equipment. Of these three factors, the surface properties of the processing equipment are the factor that offers the greatest opportunity for manipulation. The two key surface properties that have been identified to reduce adhesion are the surface energy and the surface topography. The surface energy of a material determines its degree of wettability and, a surface's affinity for water. In previous studies the surface energy of materials have been leveraged in order to create a surface with reduced levels of fouling through surface modification or the addition of polymer coatings with varying degrees of hydrophobicity. In addition, the topography of surfaces has been modified to reduce the level of particle adhesion. These modifications involve creating either a structured or random porous microstructure on the surface. Additional methods identified to reduce fouling include the application of liquid infused porous surfaces at low shear conditions and the use of non-contact heating through techniques such as microwave processing.
Highlights
Stainless steel is one of the most commonly used materials in processing industries due to its strength, corrosive resistance, cleanability and durability [1]
As different compounds within a system can vary over a wide range of different sizes, surface topography that contains only one length scale may not be effective as an antifouling material against all of the components in the system [11]
It was found that an AP Liquid Deposition polyethylene glycol (PEG) coated surface significantly reduced the adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) [a protein] by 90% compared to a bare Si surface, independent of plasma power [84]
Summary
Stainless steel is one of the most commonly used materials in processing industries due to its strength, corrosive resistance, cleanability and durability [1]. In order to combat the effects of fouling, a number of different techniques have been explored to reduce/eliminate adhesion of compounds to a surface These technologies range from the application of a coating through physical or vapour deposition, doping or electroplating [3]. One possibility that presents itself if a durable, corrosive resistant surface modification where stainless steel may be replaced with a lower cost material such as carbon steel [5]. This would have the additional benefit of being able to utilise material with better heat transfer coefficients that may mitigate the effects of any surface coating. There is significant difficulty in comparing reports of different anti-fouling coatings/systems as the experimental conditions vary widely [7]
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