Abstract
Fouling is an acute problem in crude oil preheat train heat exchangers as it affects the thermal and hydraulic performance of individual units as well as the network. Ageing of fouling deposits complicates these interactions and effective tools for visualising these effects are needed. The modified temperature field plot construction, devised by Graham Polley and co-workers in 2002, allows the impact of fouling on pressure drop and heat duty across individual units and the preheat train to be presented in a systematic way. The simple deposit ageing model of Ishiyama et al. (AIChEJ 56:531–545, 2010a) was incorporated into the analysis of a simple preheat train based on that presented by Panchal and Huang-Fu (Heat Transfer Eng 21:3–9, 2000) to calculate the impact of ageing on fouling dynamics and network performance. The modified temperature field plot is shown to be effective in communicating the impact of fouling and ageing, allowing a designer or operator to be able to interpret correctly what might otherwise be conflicting trends or unexpected behaviour.
Highlights
Crude oil distillation is the backbone of any oil refinery
In the results presented here, the conditions in the network are calculated at intervals of length Δt: the fouling and ageing rates are revised, and the amount of fresh deposit laid down over the interval added to each exchanger
The modified temperature field plot (MTFP) for the fast ageing scenarios (Fig. 12d, e) show how large pressure drops arise in E5 and E6 with only small impacts on overall heat transfer, arising from the fouling rate staying high as a result of the deposit thermal conductivity quickly approaching that of a coke
Summary
Crude oil distillation is the backbone of any oil refinery. Distillation is an energy-intensive process and recovery of thermal energy from distillation products to the crude oil feed in a preheat train network is essential for economic operation. The impact of this uncertainty is demonstrated, which shows the effect of thermal conductivity on the relationship between Bif (and heat transfer performance) and ΔP* (and throughput) calculated for a simple countercurrent heat exchanger with Uo and di values typical of those employed on CDU units (Panchal and Huang-Fu 2000; Yeap et al 2004).
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