Managing fouling in refinery networks
Modelling heat exchanger and other networks enables the use of dynamic
fouling models in performance assessment and predictive studies
SIMON PUGH and EDWARD ISHIYAMA
IHS Energy
F
ouling of crude and prod-
uct streams in oil refineries
is an inescapable problem
that causes very significant
financial, environmental and
safety problems. For example,
refinery preheat train (PHT)
networks nearly always suffer
from fouling, resulting in
reduced throughput, increased
energy consumption and more
frequent shutdowns. The finan-
cial, environmental and safety
impact of fouling on processing
73 million barrels of crude oil
per day worldwide is enor-
mous. It is estimated that crude
fouling in PHTs costs 0.25%
BOE of all refined crude, or 66
million barrels per year.
Prediction of fouling is an
increasingly challenging task,
with laboratory fouling studies
able to assess blend compatibil-
ity but often little more than a
first approximation of real
plant performance. Refinery
networks such as PHTs often
exhibit fouling that builds up
relatively slowly and is often
managed by exchanger clean-
ing or improved exchanger
design, as well as rapid fouling
events. It is imperative for
effective refinery operation that
www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001191
rapid events are flagged up
quickly and this can only be
done where the fouling inside
individual shells can be
inferred correctly from plant
measurements. These measure-
ments are often inadequate for
spreadsheet-type analysis,
where the geometries of the
individual exchangers are in
any case over-simplified.
Pragmatic framework
A comprehensive research
programme into crude oil foul-
ing was completed in 2010 in
the UK. This programme was
facilitated by IHS and guided
by the majority of the
super-major oil companies plus
several technology providers.
The group identified that a
pragmatic framework to apply
the research knowledge to
networks such as PHTs was
needed. SmartPM (Smart
Predictive Maintenance) is the
software tool that fulfils this
purpose, and is now assisting
refinery operators, engineers
and managers to make deci-
sions on how to alleviate
fouling in existing and new
plant.
In addition to greatly
improved reconciliation of
monitoring data that can flag
up rapid fouling episodes, the
detailed heat exchanger model-
ling in SmartPM allows
dynamic models for crude
blend and product stream
chronic fouling to be inferred
from the reconciled data. These
models allow operators to
compare capex-heavy solutions
(revamps and so on) with opex
routes (such as regular clean-
ing). Using detailed (rigorous)
thermohydraulic exchanger
modelling and dynamic fouling
models, SmartPM models
correctly the behaviour of
networks of heat exchangers.
The wide range of generic and
proprietary heat exchanger
configurations, including
arrangements such as helical
baffles and tube inserts, is
included.
Within a state-of-the-art,
simple-to-use graphical inter-
face, SmartPM is a turnkey
application that connects opera-
tion, maintenance, engineering
and fouling research, with each
group accessing the appropriate
facilities of the software for the
same refinery model. For exam-
ple, whilst operation and
PTQ Q3 2015 1

Figure 1 Schematic of a case study preheat train. Label ‘E’ denotes heat
exchangers. FIT and FOT represent furnace inlet and outlet temperature,
respectively
maintenance run data reconcili- often used for candidate selec-
ation and cleaning scheduling, tion in exchanger cleaning.
engineering costs the benefits of There are many missed oppor-
revamp options, researchers tunities when using these types
review the fouling propensity of model as they fail to resolve
of various crude slates, perhaps key issues:
in a range of refineries. All • Many heat exchanger
share the same goal, which is networks are poorly instru-
maximising profit through mented, with important
increased efficiency and temperatures and even flow
reduced maintenance. rates missing, or at least
SmartPM is a heat exchanger temporarily unavailable.
network simulation software • Intermediate temperatures
aimed at tackling fouling between shells in series are
related problems encountered rarely measured yet tempera-
in oil refining. The software ture fields in these shells are
couples thermohydraulic very different; hence the foul-
network analysis with dynamic ing in the shells differs
fouling simulations, enabling significantly.
the user to reliably predict plant • An increasing number of
operational limitations, refineries are now using effi-
economic penalties and envi- cient baffle types such as
ronmental impacts resulting Helixchangers and EMbaffles;
from heat exchanger fouling. tube inserts such as Turbotal
The software was designed (but and Spirelf are in frequent use.
not necessarily limited) to • Online exchangers compen-
model heat exchanger networks sate for loss of overall heat
in crude oil refineries. duty when other exchangers
are taken offline for cleaning.
Missed opportunities • Cleaning hottest shells can
Many refineries use spread- lead to a loss of preheat in
sheet based models or other upstream shells as the tempera-
approximate models to evalu- ture of streams (for example,
ate plant operational data and streams such as vacuum residue
assess heat transfer efficiency. are often bridged between
These rudimentary models are exchangers downstream and
2 PTQ Q3 2015
upstream of the desalter, where
temperature variation propa-
gates throughput the network
when associated units are
cleaned).
• Increase in pressure drop
with fouling can result in
throughput reduction.
• Hot end exchangers can
experience crude-side boiling,
which can lead to throughput
reductions.
SmartPM resolves these and
other issues by using full
network simulation, detailed
exchanger modelling and
dynamic fouling models in all
modes of operation from data
reconciliation to cleaning
scheduling.
Application to preheat trains
A key application of the soft-
ware is in the modelling of the
crude preheating system.
Fractional distillation of crude
oil is an energy intensive
process. The process requires
the crude to be heated from
ambient temperature to around
700°F (370°C). The required
heat is provided through a
network of heat exchangers
called preheat trains (PHTs)
and furnaces. PHTs recover
heat from the product and
pump-around streams of the
distillation column. A simple
example of a PHT based on an
Argentinian refinery is shown
in Figure 1.1 Crude is pumped
through a set of heat exchang-
ers and enters a desalter. The
desalter washes the crude with
water to remove the inorganic,
water soluble impurities in the
crude. The vapour component
of the crude is removed through
a flash column. Crude is further
heated downstream of the flash
through a set of heat exchang-
ers where it enters the furnace
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at the furnace inlet temperature
(FIT). The crude is then heated
in the furnace to the furnace
outlet temperature (FOT), prior
to entering the fractional distil-
lation column.
Crude oil is a complex
mixture of petrochemicals and
impurities and is prone to foul-
ing.1,2,3 US refineries are
reporting new fouling prob-
lems that are a direct
consequence of the increasing
amounts of domestic tight oils
in the crude slate. These prob-
lems arise from the changing
nature of the slate (one refinery
for example is seeing swings
upwards of 5-10 API points on
a day-to-day or week-to-week
basis), additives in the crudes
and crude incompatibility
issues.
Many tight oils have added
corrosion inhibitors (usually
amine based) and drag reduc-
ing agents. This can lead to
operating issues in the preheat
exchangers and furnaces, and
in the atmospheric distillation
towers where the amine salts
are deposited, inhibiting heat
transfer and fouling the tower.
Increased deposition of sand
and particulates are observed
in heat exchangers upstream of
the desalter. In usual PHT
operation, chemical reaction
fouling dominates the fouling
mechanism downstream of the
desalter. Operational irregulari-
ties such as inefficient desalting
can lead to inorganic deposi-
tion. Such problems are
exacerbated as tight oils stabi-
lise emulsions in the desalter
and increase heat exchanger
fouling in downstream units
Desalting efficiency can be
further challenged by wax
precipitation in the cold train
exchangers.4
www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001191
8D
2.8
2.4 9A
h.ft2.ºF.BTU−1.h−1
8C
Fouling rate,
2.0
9DE
1.6 8B 9BC
1.2
0.8
8A 3
0.4
5
0
7
280 320 8 Crude-side velocity,
360 390 430 460
ft.s−1
500 540 570
Crude-side film temperature, ºF
Figure 2 Comparison of fouling in exchangers downstream of the desalter. The
surface indicates a fit of a dynamic fouling model
Figure 2 is an illustration of components to vaporise at this
heat exchanger fouling behav- stage. The surface plot in Figure
iour in a crude preheating 2 represents a model fit for
system introduced in Figure 1.1 chemical reaction fouling.
The figure shows the sensitivity In the last decade, identifying
of the fouling rate with the and utilising dynamic fouling
operating conditions of the heat conditions for best practices has
exchanger, namely the crude gained importance in refinery
stream film temperature and operation, engineering design
the crude stream velocity. and management decision-mak-
Apart from exchangers E8D ing.6,7 Recognising the
and E8C, the fouling rates have increasing importance of utilis-
an increasing trend with ing fouling knowledge to
increased film temperature and practice, IHS developed
reduced crude-side velocity. SmartPM combining fouling
This dynamic behaviour process physics and proprie-
matches reported experimental taryheat exchanger technology
fouling literature where crude – developed over the last 40
undergoes chemical reaction years by IHS – with new,
fouling.5 The outliers, E8D and advanced simulation and clean-
E8C, are the second and third ing analysis techniques
heat exchangers downstream of developed at Cambridge
the desalter. These units are University. This article high-
suspected to experience salt lights the use of SmartPM
crystallisation due to inefficient software in refinery wide foul-
desalting with water carryover. ing mitigation studies.
Salt crystallisation might not be
observed in the exchanger Novel approach to fouling
immediately downstream of the management
desalter as the thermodynamic Refineries are dynamic environ-
conditions might not be suffi- ments with operational
cient enough for the water parameters varying with the
PTQ Q3 2015 3

Full HEX and network modelling
• Detailed HEX simulations
• Network thermo-hydraulics
SmartPM
Research tools
• Dynamic fouling models
• Models for fouling rigs
Figure 3 Key aspects of SmartPM software (HEX denotes ‘heat exchanger’)
type of crude processed to the
type of products required by
the market. Heat recovery
systems endure these opera-
tional dynamics, making the
prediction of heat exchanger
fouling a ‘complex process’.
SmartPM breaks the ‘complex
process’ to manageable, smaller,
problems, unmasking the key
parameters responsible for foul-
ing. The refinery’s store of
historical raw performance
measurements are assessed for
viability and validity and foul-
ing physics models are fitted to
track historical fouling perfor-
mance. This enables the
operator with a wide range of
planning scenarios, from the
development of optimum
predictive maintenance sched-
ules to the assessment of the
economic and environmental
performance benefits of
revamps and even network
redesign. Even without histori-
cal data, the fouling physics
models can be used to guide
these scenarios based on perfor-
mance of other refineries
processing similar crudes. Key
components of SmartPM are
shown in Figure 3.
Heat exchanger specification
sheets, P&ID diagrams and
stream thermophysical proper-
ties provide the information to
build a preheat train model.
4 PTQ Q3 2015
Tfilm is the film temperature and
τs is the surface shear stress.
Proprietary technologies
Dynamic fouling models are
• Tube inserts (e.g. Turbotal)
then used for predicting future
• Novel baffle arrangements
performances including perfor-
mances based on changes to the
Decision-making tools network (through retrofit and
• Advanced data reconciliation revamp projects) or perfor-
• Cleaning scheduling
mances based on generated
• Retrofit and revamp
optimum cleaning schedules.
These aspects will be discussed
in a series of case studies.
Any information on the loca- Case study 1: Advanced data
tions of monitoring tags and reconciliation
associated measurement are In SmartPM, monitoring data
also entered, either through are linked to the network simu-
connecting to the plant’s lator model though the
distributed control system graphical attachment of tags to
(DCS) or through importing appropriate streams (Figure 4
data storage files. Data recon- shows tags attached to a UK
ciliation is performed to fit the refinery crude preheating train).
available data to a physical These tags store time-depend-
model (a heat and mass ent flow rate, temperature,
balance). During this analysis, and/or pressure measurement
a full network simulation is data. Not all streams have
performed to generate all engi- temperature/flow measure-
neering geometrical and ments. The thermophysical
operational parameters of the properties of the streams and
exchangers (for instance, the actual available tempera-
stream film coefficients, ture/flow measurements have
Reynolds numbers, surface uncertainties. Data reconcilia-
shear stresses and metal tion approach is based on three
temperatures). Fouling analysis steps:
is performed for the reconciled 1. Generation of missing data
data where fouling propensity through simulation using full
factors are obtained for particu- heat exchanger modelling
lar crude blends. Fouling 2. Filtering unreliable data
propensity factor is defined for through a ‘trusted’ heat balance
a crude blend and represents 3. Grouping heat exchanger
the degree of fouling in a monitoring data into periods of
specific operating condition. processed crude blends.
An example form of the rate of Figure 4 highlights a snapshot
fouling of a heat exchanger is of the agreement of the availa-
shown by: ble plant measurements with
the calculated temperature at
𝑑𝑑𝑅𝑅! 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹  𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝
= 𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 −
𝐸𝐸
𝑓𝑓 𝜏𝜏!
the tag locations. The tags are
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 ℎ 𝑅𝑅𝑇𝑇!"#$
(1) coloured green, orange or red.
‘Green’ implies that the moni-
Here, h is the film transfer tored data have a very close fit
coefficient, E is the activation following the mass and heat
energy, R is the gas constant, balance. ‘Orange’ is an indica-
www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001191
Figure 4 SmartPM network with a snapshot highlight of the quality of monitoring data. The colours of the tags, green, or-
ange and red, attached to the stream indicates either the data is of good quality, ‘handle data with caution’, or incorrect
tion to handle the data with
caution due to possible inaccu-
racies in thermophysical
properties or monitoring
instruments. ‘Red’ indicates
data outside a usual range,
perhaps due to the adjustment
of the reconciled temperature
to ensure the heat balance or
an incorrect tag measurement.
A key output is the historical
operational parameters (such
as variation in transfer coeffi-
cients, stream velocities)
including fouling resistance
(Rf) profiles for each exchanger
with time. When a heat
exchanger is selected, a combi-
nation plot (see Figure 5) shows
the change in Rf profile with
variation in the crude blend.
ww.digitalrefining.com/article/1001191
The green area in the fouling
resistance graph (see Figure 5)
is a fit of the dynamic fouling
model described by Equation 1.
This describes a ‘fouling
propensity’ of 450 h-1, for the
crude blend, crude A and
crude blended in a specific
average proportion over the
period January 2011 to October
2011. The sudden drop in foul-
ing resistance around August
2011 denotes a heat exchanger
cleaning event. The fouling
resistance profile no longer
follows the trend given in
Equation 1 using ‘fouling
propensity’ of 450 h-1 as the
crude blend composition has
changed. A third crude has
been introduced from October
2011, reducing the fouling
trend. The profiles for heat
duty and the crude-side shear
stress for this exchanger are
shown in Figure 6. While the
shear stress remains constant,
the heat duty has reduced
significantly due to the
increased thermal resistance.
The historical cleaning action is
superimposed on the plot,
denoting a minimum fouling
resistance identified following
a cleaning event.
Case study 2:
When to clean which units
A common strategy to mitigate
the effects of fouling is to peri-
odically clean fouled units.
Systematic cleaning of fouled
PTQ Q3 2015 5
 heat exchangers is a proven
100 methodology to minimise
80 economic penalties.6,8,9 Heuristic
Crude slate 60 cleaning scheduling formula-
tions implemented in SmartPM
40 incorporate practical constraints
20 such as:
0 1. Mechanical constraints: loca-
tions of heat exchanger
0.07
Fouling resistance,

isolation valves to identify if

0.06 the heat exchanger can be
h.ft2.ºF.Btu−1

0.05
isolated individually or as a
0.04
group
0.03
0.02
2. Operational constraints: for
0.01 instance, operation at constant
0 pumparound heat duty/return
Jan 2011 Apr 2011 Jul 2011 Oct 2011 temperature, furnace firing
capacity limits
3. Economic constraints: for
Figure 5 Combination plot of the variation in crude slate and fouling resistance instance, cleaning budget for
over an operational period. The green area on the fouling resistance is the the financial year.
fouling resistance predicted via Equation 1 Once the mechanical, opera-
tional and economic constraints
are specified together with the
economic parameters (cost of
Crude-side equivalent

3 energy, cost of lost opportu-

nity, cost of cleaning), the
shear, Pa

2 scheduling formulation gener-

1 ates an optimised cleaning
schedule giving the highest
0
economic benefits. The sched-
uling formulation uses the
15 predictive capability of
12 SmartPM coupled with the
MMBtu.h−1
Heat duty,

9 dynamic fouling models identi-

6 fied for the crude slate being
3 processed. Table 1 is a simpli-
0 fied Gantt chart representation
of when to clean which units.
Specific details (date of unit to
Fouling resistance,

0.05 be taken offline, furnace inlet

h.ft2.ºF.Btu−1

0.04
temperature drop, and so on)
0.03
0.02 could be extracted from the
0.01 software. The net benefit for
0 each financial year and the CO2
Jan 2011 Apr 2011 Jul 2011 Oct 2011 emission savings are summa-
rised in Table 2.
When there are product
Figure 6 Combination plot of the variation in crude-side surface shear, heat streams connecting heat
duty and fouling resistance. The vertical stripe indicates a historical cleaning exchangers above and below
event (hydro blasting). ‘Star’ on the fouling resistance graph identifies the the desalter (see Figure 4),
minimum fouling resistance after a cleaning action cleaning actions downstream of

6 PTQ Q3 2015 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001191

the desalter could have a
strong influence on the desalter
inlet temperature. 7 is an illus-
tration of the desalter inlet
temperature when the heat
exchanger network is subject to
a cleaning action. The increases
and decreases in the desalter
inlet temperature are related to
dynamic fouling and scheduled
cleaning:
O to A: The desalter inlet
temperature gradually
increases as the heat exchang-
ers downstream of the desalter
are fouling (faster than the heat
exchangers upstream of the
desalter) causing the product
stream to enter the upstream
heat exchangers at a higher
temperature.
An example representation of when to clean which units. The number 7
denotes the number of days taken to clean the unit
2015 2016 2017
Unit name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1
2 1 2 3
E014 7 7
E015 7 7
E008 7
E001 7 7 7
E002 7 7 7
E056 7 7
E023 7
E024 7
E025 7
E018 7
E033 7
E034 7
E021 7 7 7 7
E016 7 7
Table 1
340
B
330
A
320
Temperature, ºF

A to B: The heat exchanger 310 O

downstream of the desalter has 300 E
been cleaned, causing the prod- 290
C
uct stream to eject more heat at 280
the upstream heat exchangers. 270
B to C: The heat exchanger F
260
upstream of the desalter is
250
taken offline for cleaning.
C to D: The heat exchanger 240

15
13

13

14

14

14

15
downstream of the desalter is
01

01

20
20

20

20

20

20

20
r2

l2

back online after being cleaned ar

g

ov

ct

ec

n
Ju
Ap
Ja

Ju
Au

M
N

D
15
23

6
29

13
22
16

29

(recovering more heat), reduc-

ing the heat recovered on the
heat exchangers upstream of
the desalter.
D to E: The heat exchanger
upstream of the desalter is
back online after being cleaned.
The refinery operator could
assess economic benefits of
which exchangers to clean
‘today’, based on the descend-
ing order of benefit (see Table
3). The network duty gain is
less than the individual heat
exchanger duty gain (difference
of unit duty ‘after’ and ‘before’
cleaning), as the individual
thermal energy gain diminishes
as it moves along the network.
The annual net benefit repre-
Figure 7 Schematic of an example desalter inlet temperature in a heat
exchanger network where the heat exchangers are undergoing cleaning
Annualised summary of the generated cleaning schedule
Year Start End No of Cleaning benefit Cleaning benefit Total cost Total net
date date cleans average furnace CO2 saving, cleaning, savings,
duty, MMbtu/hr tons US$ US$
1 01/01/2015 31/12/2015 8 18.31 8800 260 000 717 800
2 01/01/2016 31/12/2016 8 39.38 18 900 220 000 2 114 900
Table 2
sents the benefit over a one year exchanger being offline for
operating period. The cost of cleaning. The operator could
cleaning includes the cost of make decisive economic evalua-
cleaning the actual unit plus the tions in situations where there
additional energy cost for the will be a plant shutdown in
furnace to accommodate the near future (for example, in a

ww.digitalrefining.com/article/1001191 PTQ Q3 2015 7

 Summary of benefits in descending order on exchangers cleaned ‘today’ includes models for proprie-
tary heat exchanger designs
and tube insert technologies
Top 5 candidates for cleaning ‘today’ (8 February 2015)
Unit name Annual net Cost of Unit duty Unit duty Network duty gain Initial FIT which enables the thermohy-
benefit cleaning before cleaning, after cleaning, after cleaning, increase draulics to be evaluated with
MMBtu/hr MMBtu/hr MMBtu/hr °F
E014/E015 300 200 74 200 39.57 49.15 5.56 4.9
retrofit changes (see Figure 8).
E008 179 600 28 200 16.17 28.22 3.77 5.3 Table 4 is a summary of
E001/002 144 000 69 100 34.16 46.93 2.81 2.4 selected tube insert geometries
E056 141 100 22 900 2.89 6.42 1.88 1.6
E023/024 116 700 64 200 44.75 54.90 3.59 5.1 and annual energy benefit due
to a reduction in fouling and
Table 3 enhancement in heat transfer.
The software enables the
assessment of thermal energy
gain with pressure drop limita-
tions of the stream.
Network re-piping and heat
exchanger rearrangements
could also be explored through
introducing the changes to the
heat exchanger model.6

Case study 4:
Limits on furnace operations
Furnaces (fired heaters) are
also known to undergo coking
Figure 8 Preheat train diagram with a list of tube-insert models available in on the crude side, where the
SmartPM rate of coking is strongly influ-
enced by the variation in FIT.10
Insert type, geometry and energy benefit due to heat transfer enhance- The properties of the coke
ment and fouling reduction deposits are further compli-
cated as they are subject to
Insert type Insert geometry Annual energy benefit, US$
ageing.11 Coke formation in
Twisted tapes 360 turn per 100 mm 304 000 furnace tubes can increase the
Hitran Loop density of 1 370 000 tube surface (skin) temperature
Petroval 4:1 463 000 through impeding heat trans-
fer. The mechanical integrity of
Table 4 the furnace could be hindered
through exposure of its tubes
six-month period). When clean- Case study 3: Capex heavy to temperatures above the
ing heat exchangers at plant solutions maximum specified safety
shutdowns, there would be no SmartPM enables the user to limits imposed by the manu-
additional energy cost for the explore retrofit and revamp facturer.12 SmartPM explores
furnace but the cost of cleaning options in a series of stages. the variation of the tube skin
the actual unit could be tripled Heat exchanger modifications temperature (TST) of a crude
due to contractors charging a (addition of tube inserts, furnace throughout its opera-
higher cost. If the heat switching crude from shell-side tion. FIT is directly influenced
exchanger is to be cleaned at to tube-side, swapping out a through the degree of heat
the plant shutdown, the segmental baffle for a helical recovery in the PHT. A typical
network will lose the energy baffle, and so on) can be crude furnace consists of two
benefit that could have been assessed based on individual main sections: a convective
recovered through cleaning the performance and network section and the radiant section.
unit ‘today’. performance. SmartPM As the crude within the furnace

8 PTQ Q3 2015 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001191

is in two-phase flow, the foul-
ing mechanism is complicated
and the dynamic behaviour
varies in both temporal and
axial dimensions.10 Radiative
heat transfer to the tubes of the
radiant section consists of
several factors including heat
transfer from the burner flame
to the tubes, the refractory wall
to the tubes and the gas to the
tubes. As only one side of the
tubes is facing the burner, the
degree of coke formation
within the tube internal is
non-uniform.13 The case study
illustrated in this section uses
SmartPM to investigate the
influence of heat exchanger
cleans on the variation in TST
and the operating strategies for
safe operation of the furnace.
The preheat train network
illustrated in Figure 1 is utilised
to describe the following three
scenarios.
Scenario 1: Influence of FIT on
TST in the absence of furnace
coking
The performance of the
preheat train was simulated, (i)
without any cleaning actions,
and (ii) with an optimised
cleaning schedule. Without
any cleaning actions, FIT drops
considerably (approximately
90°F drop in three years; solid
bold line in Figure 9a). In
actual operation, the heat
exchangers are subject to
cleaning and would maintain a
higher FIT. The variation in
FIT for an optimum cleaning
schedule is plotted as the
discontinuous line in Figure 9a.
The sharp drops in the FIT
correspond to heat exchanger
cleaning actions. Table 5 repre-
sents the optimum schedule on
when and which units are
cleaned. With the reduction in
ww.digitalrefining.com/article/1001191
A Scenario 1 with HEX cleaning
580
Scenario 1 without HEX cleaning
560
540
520
FIT, ºF
500
480
460
440
420
0 10 20 30 40
Time, months
B
1160
Scenario 1 with HEX cleaning
Tube skin temperature, ºF 1150
Scenario 1 without HEX cleaning
1140 Maximum skin temperature
1130
1120
1110
1100
1090
1080
1070
1060
0 10 20 30 40
Time, months
Figure 9 Scenario 1, in the absence of furnace coking: (a) variation of FIT with
time, and (b) variation of TST with time. Solid line: no cleaning; discontinuous
line: with cleaning actions; horizontal bold discontinuous line in (b): maximum
safety specification for TST
FIT, to maintain a constant Scenario 2: Influence of FIT on
FOT, the furnace has to TST with furnace coking
provide the additional duty. With furnace coking, the TST
Higher furnace duty results in would be higher as the coke
increased TST, depicted in material would have a lower
Figure 9b. When no cleaning thermal conductivity than the
actions are performed, TST has tube material. For illustration,
increased to about 1140°F Scenario 1 was repeated
(615°C) by the end of the simu- including a constant coking
lation. This has increased rate. Figure 10 illustrates the
beyond the safety operating variation in TST with operating
limit of 1103°F (595°C), period. Without any cleaning
denoted in the horizontal actions, TST has increased to
dashed line. Under the opti- 1160°F (625°C) by the end of
mised scheduling, TST the three years. This is ~50°F
increases considerably, corre- higher than the case in the
sponding to the period when absence of furnace coking. It is
the heat exchanger is offline also noticeable that several
for cleaning. cleaning actions force the TST
PTQ Q3 2015 9
 to exceed the maximum TST
Scenario 2 with HEX cleaning limit during the periods when
1160 the heat exchangers are offline
Scenario 2 without HEX cleaning
1150 Maximum skin temperature (dashed spikes in Figure 10).
Tube skin temperature, ºF

1140
1130 Scenario 3: Control of TST by
1120
variation in crude throughput
Several studies discuss illustra-
1110
tions of imposing a maximum
1100 furnace firing capacity in
1090 preheat train scheduling stud-
1080 ies.14,15 The furnace in case
1070 studies 1 and 2 did not reach its
maximum furnace capacity
1060
0 10 20 30 40 during the simulated period
Time, months and hence exhibited a constant
throughput. TST is a variable
Figure 10 Scenario 2: Variation in TST with time with furnace coking. Solid line: which is not always continu-
no cleaning; horizontal bold discontinuous line: maximum safety specification ously monitored (or calculated)
for TST; discontinuous line: with cleaning actions by furnace operators. In order
to control the TST (that is, to
A Scenario 3 with HEX cleaning maintain the TST below its
820
Scenario 3 without HEX cleaning maximum operating limit),
Crude throughput, 1000lb.h−1

800 imposing a lower furnace firing

780 capacity (for instance, 212 MM
btu h-1) was considered in the
760
simulation. For the case of no
740 cleaning, the simulation starts at
a lower throughput (777 800 lb
720
h-1; bold line in Figure 11a) indi-
700 cating that the furnace has
already reached the imposed
680
0 10 20 30 40 firing capacity. As the through-
Time, months put is reduced, the furnace duty
B
1160
is lower and the TST falls below
Maximum skin temperature the maximum operating limit.
1150
Tube skin temperature, ºF

Scenario 3 without HEX cleaning When the heat exchangers are

1140 Scenario 3 with HEX cleaning
subject to cleaning, a steep
1130
reduction in the throughput is
1120
observed in the periods when
1110
the heat exchangers are offline
1100
(dashed line in Figure 11a). The
1090
corresponding TST is illustrated
1080
in Figure 11b, where TST is
1070
below the maximum limit
1060 throughout the operation.
0 10 20 30 40
Time, months Scenario 1 illustrated an ideal-
ised operation where there is no
Figure 11 Scenario 3: furnace operation with throughput control, (a) coking in the furnace. In prac-
variation of throughput with time, and (b) variation of TST with time. Solid tice, furnaces experience coking
line: no cleaning; discontinuous line: with cleaning actions; horizontal bold and the increase in TST above
discontinuous line (in (b)): maximum safety specification for TST its specified maximum safety

10 PTQ Q3 2015 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001191

 Representation of when and which units are cleaned in the optimum cleaning schedule

Months
HEX 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
E8D X X X
E9A X X X X
E9B X X X X
E9C X X X X
E90 X X X
E9E X X X
8A X X
8B X X
8C X X X

Table 5

limit could be expected (as in

Scenario 2). Scenario 3 illus-
trated the reduction of TST
through reducing the crude
throughput via artificially speci-
fying a furnace firing capacity
below its actual burner capacity.
For Scenario 3, the throughput
reduction was quantified by
integrating the area of Figure
11a and comparing with the
initial constant throughput of
801 600 lb h-1. The total amount
of unprocessed crude amounts
to approximately 350 000 bbl
over the three-year period.
Considering a margin of $2/
bbl, $700 000 has been lost
through reduced production in
this case study. That is, $700 000
is the cost over three years for
operating the TST below its
maximum safety limit.
Scenarios 2 and 3 considered a
constant coking rate for the
furnace. However, furnace
coking exhibits dynamic behav-
iour.10 It would be useful to
combine the dynamic furnace
coking model to establish a
more accurate relationship
between FIT, coking rate and
TST.
Case study 5: Beyond crude
fouling
Fouling in streams other than
crude oil is frequently observed
Table 6
in the refinery. An example is
the fouling of heat exchangers
associated with petroleum
upgrade technologies.
Examples are visbreakers and
high conversion soaker crack-
ing (HSC) units, which are
thermal processes in refineries
to upgrade residual oils
produced by atmospheric or
vacuum distillation of crude.
The associated process streams
in visbreaking and HSC units
consist of heavy hydrocarbons
with very high viscosities and
impurities, resulting in fouling
of heat exchangers used to cool
or heat these streams. Such
fouling is not necessarily
limited to a chemical reaction
type fouling and a range
of fouling models are available
in the SmartPM software (see
Table 6).
Fouling under two-phase
flow conditions could occur
when the associated stream
pressure is not high enough to
keep the stream under single
phase flow (for example, for
crude (Ishiyama and Pugh,
2015)).16 The main effect of
stream boiling on fouling rate
is through the high turbulence
created by the bubbles at the
solid-fluid interface. This
turbulence enhances both heat
and mass transfer. Boiling
reduces the boundary layer
resistance and promotes the
flow of fouling precursor
toward the heated surface.
Such fouling dynamics can be
explored through the PM; the
software utilises two-phase
flow thermohydraulics from
standard engineering literature
(IHS ESDU, 1991).

ww.digitalrefining.com/article/1001191 PTQ Q3 2015 11

 Ageing of foulant deposits
(for instance, coking) could
also have an influence on plant
economics. Deposit ageing is
the process of transformation
of a fouling layer following its
initial formation, whereby the
deposit converts to another,
usually more cohesive, form.
Such ageing models17 are avail-
able to use in SmartPM
simulation studies.
Conclusion
SmartPM is a novel heat
exchanger network modelling
tool enabling the use of
dynamic fouling models in
historical performance assess-
ment and predictive studies.
The software provides a
powerful, yet easy to use plat-
form for reconciling heat
exchanger network data,
dynamic modelling hydrocar-
bon fouling, network
simulation and scheduling
predictive cleaning. Detailed
modelling of thermohydraulic
exchanger is performed,
including segmental, helical
baffles, and a range of commer-
cial tube inserts.
Accurate data reconciliation
can be performed with far
fewer tags than conventional
monitoring software, with no
manual intervention. Predictive
modelling is based on dynamic
models that correctly account
for the fouling physics of
hydrocarbons and crude slates
in shell-and-tube heat
exchangers.
Cleaning scheduling takes
into account all network inter-
actions (compensation effects)
and crude fouling behaviour
for correct estimates of future
economics. Cleaning schedules
are optimised for minimum
energy use, desalter operation
12 PTQ Q3 2015
temperature bounds and crude
maximum throughput. ‘Top 5’
exchangers for ‘cleaning today’
are ranked in terms of descend-
ing order of benefit, enabling
the user to make confident
actions in decisive situations.
All cleaning scheduling calcu-
lations incorporate practical
constrains reflecting, mechani-
cal, financial and operational
limits.
Retrofit and revamp studies
are easily performed as the
software includes thermohy-
draulic models for proprietary
exchanger technologies and
tube inserts, giving a clear
quantification of individual
and network performance
benefits under dynamic fouling
conditions.
Furnace operational limits
such as the firing capacity and
the maximum tube skin
temperature limits can be eval-
uated by the software, enabling
an overview of the influence of
cleaning schedule on the
furnace operations.
Dynamic fouling models for
streams other than crude are
available in the software. This
enables simulation of fouling in
both the heating and cooling
streams in a heat exchanger
and associated networks. Such
fouling situations are observed
in heat exchangers associated
with petroleum upgrading
systems (visbreaker units).
References
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applthermaleng.2010.04.027
2 Watkinson A P, Deposition from
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3 Watkinson A P, Wilson D I, Chemical
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4 Benoit B, Zurlo J, Overcoming the
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080/01457632.2012.739036
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in: Heat Exchanger Fouling and Cleaning,
Crete, Greece, 2013.
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Wilson D I, Ogden-Quin A, Birch G, An
industrial case study on retrofitting heat
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Simon Pugh is a Director and Consultant
with IHS Energy Downstream Research
and is responsible for the development
and application of advanced software for
heat exchanger networks, with particular
emphasis on fouling management
in refinery pre-heat trains. Under his
strategic direction, SmartPM software
was co-developed with Cambridge
University using technology transferred
to IHS from the UK Government funded
crude oil fouling research programme,
CROF, where IHS was coordinator and
technology transfer partner. He holds a
BSc degree in mechanical engineering
from Brunel University, UK.
Edward Ishiyama is a Senior Research
Engineer and Consultant with IHS
Energy Downstream Research and
is lead developer on SmartPM. His
current research into the application
of heat transfer, process control and
thermodynamic principles identifies and
solves problems associated with heat
exchangers and heat exchanger networks
undergoing fouling. He holds a PhD from
the University of Cambridge, UK.
LINKS
More articles from the following
categories:
Corrosion / Fouling Control
Heat Transfer
PTQ Q3 2015 13