Quantifying the ‘implementation gap’ for antifouling coatings

Abstract

Fouling is a chronic problem in many heat transfer systems and leads to regular cleaning of heat exchangers. Antifouling coatings are one mitigation option: the financial attractiveness of installing a coated exchanger depends on trade-offs between capital and operating costs over the lifetime of the unit. Such considerations effectively set bounds on the price of coatings, bounded by manufacturing costs and the maximum saving that can be achieved from fouling mitigation, in a ‘value pricing’ calculation. The ‘value pricing’ concept is considered here, for the first time, for heat exchangers subject to asymptotic fouling. An explicit solution to the cleaning scheduling optimisation problem is presented for the case of equal heat capacity flow rates in a counter-current single phase exchanger. A case study is used to illustrate the concepts and key learnings. A sensitivity analysis identifies scenarios where the use of antifouling coatings may be attractive, and also where there is no financial benefit in cleaning a fouled exchanger.