Abstract:
Refining of crude oil is thorough and intricate process involving hundreds of steps in order
to produce usable products. At the heart of every refining process on any level, heating of
streams is one of the major unit operations involved. In most cases, this is done using
utility streams through the use of heat exchangers. However, fouling of heat exchangers
still persists as one of the biggest problems faced by industries. This issue is especially
relevant to shell and tube type heat exchangers that have a higher chance of fouling as
compared to some of its alternative designs like the plate and frame exchanger.
In high temperature applications with considerable number of salts and other fouling
factors, scaling is justifiable with measures in place to limit this phenomenon. While this is
the case for highly impure feed, other plants use a much cleaner type of crude oil which
allows for a far less extensive pretreatment process. In such settings, when fouling
develops over time, integration of harsher pretreatment equipment may turn out costly
and time consuming. A simple yet effective method for such plants is the design and
installation of desalters in order to separate salts and other foulants from the process
stream which results in a considerably lower risk of fouling and reduces the maintenance
cost of the heat exchangers used.
