Tips for Reducing Fouling in Heat Exchangers:

1) Increase Energy Consumption:

▪ Though increasing your energy consumption is not always in your
facility’s best environmental or budgetary interests, it can help reduce
fouling in your heat exchanger.
▪ Increasing your energy consumption so that your heat exchanger
operates at peak intensity, the increased turbulence may mean the
contaminants in the feedwater do not have a chance to settle.
▪ However, this method of fouling reduction is expensive and wasteful,
and it’s not always effective.

2) Control Materials Causing Buildup:

▪ If you have a choice in the water you use in your heat exchanger, you
can try to choose softer water that contains fewer impurities.
▪ You can also try to filter out impurities, including microbiological
contaminants. Even though systems like boiler systems are so hot they
rarely provide ideal breeding grounds for bacteria, microbes may be a
significant concern in some heat exchanger applications like cooling
towers.
▪ However, filtration and purification systems are expensive. They are
sometimes feasible on smaller scales, but they are rarely practical for
large-scale commercial and industrial applications.

3) Leakages due to poor service:

▪ Tubular heat exchangers typically have a service interval of 6,000
running hours, or two years.
▪ The service should be conducted regularly at this interval qualified
service engineer.

Prepared by Primal Hirpara

4) Leakages due to incorrect gaskets:
▪ A Tetra Pak tubular heat exchanger has many gaskets or O
rings. Different types are used for different places, but they
may look almost identical. Some are made to resist high
temperatures, and some are high temperatures, and some are
not.
▪ It is important to use original gaskets with the right rubber quality and
marked with a product label and number for easy identification. Then
follow the instructions carefully.
▪ The right gasket must be placed in the right section of the unit for a
heat exchanger to function properly without leakage.

5) Leakages due to corrosion:

▪ The salty solution can attack this form of stainless steel, especially in
higher concentrations and at high temperatures.
▪ The result can be disastrous if a hole forms and incoming product on
the shell side becomes mixed with outgoing product on the tube side.
▪ The result can be disastrous if a hole forms and incoming product on
the shell side becomes mixed with outgoing product on the tube side.
▪ Always inform the manufacturer if you are planning to process salty
solutions such as sport drinks, salty types of yoghurt drinks or sauces
containing Salts. In that case, an alloy of stainless.

6) Contamination due to poor cleaning:

▪ Proper cleaning according to the recommendations ensures the sterility
of heat exchangers.
▪ If you have a cleaning detergent and cleaning regime that works well,
don’t change it! Just by changing the cleaning agent or cutting the
cleaning time, you may be able to save money – but the cleaning could
become less efficient, resulting in the build-up of residues.
▪ That means unwanted bacteria can multiply and that you are not
sterilizing the equipment properly. Likewise, you can run into problems
if the cleaning is not performed at regular intervals.

7) Pressure drop is too high:

▪ There can be several reasons for an increase in the pressure drop.
▪ One ingredient, such as a starch derivative, has been replaced by
starch from another supplier, The viscosity of the product has changed.
▪ Whenever selecting a suitable tubular heat exchanger, it is important
for the manufacturer to Know the exact physical properties.
Unexpected increases in pressure drop.

Prepared by Primal Hirpara