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Solving Heat Exchanger Problems
Excessive Load

Due to increased plant capacity, or high fluid temperature differences, greater heat transfer than originally
designed for the heat exchanger often exists. In such instances, the outlet temperature of one of the streams
may depart from optimum conditions. The disadvantage in operating such equipment may be continuous
greater energy use of interrelated equipment, harmful effects on the capacity of portions of a plant, or restricted
capacity for the overall plant. Improvements can result from heat exchanger services and upgrade heat
exchanger engineering, which involve identifying the optimal process conditions for new equipment design,
and, the assessment of the resulting benefits for achieving those conditions, and finally optimally designing
upgrade heat exchanger equipment to accomplish the plant desired goals for improvement.

Gradual Fouling Buildup, Harming Heat Transfer

Depending on the service, certain heat exchanger equipment is more likely to develop fouling substances
buildup, causing decreasing heat transfer, which may also harm plant or equipment efficiency, capacity, or
both, and may also cause continuous higher plant energy use. Heat exchanger fouling exists for many heat
exchanger services, but it is particularly troublesome in process cooling, where recycled cooling water from a
cooling tower is used for cooling. In such equipment, fouling can result from large temperature differences,
accumulation of or precipitation of solids on heat transfer surface, as well as other thermal-mechanical design
considerations of the heat exchanger equipment. Upgrading of process coolers through optimized heat
exchanger engineering can achieve improved resistance to fouling, through careful control in design of fluid
velocities and temperatures, as well as from proper selection of materials of construction and use of the best
heat exchanger type. Decreasing heat transfer resulting from equipment fouling usually lowers both plant
capacity and efficiency over time, and damaged performance is usually only improved by plant shut-down for
the heat exchanger to be cleaned. All plants want to minimize this down time, so optimum exchanger designs
in heat exchanger engineering should minimize the effects of fouling, to fully maximize production and run time.
When cleaning becomes necessary, usually hydro-blasting or chemical cleaning procedures can be successful
in restoring the best performance for the heat exchanger. In rare cases, specialized cleaning techniques may
be necessary for hard to clean applications.

Excessive Stream Pressure Loss

When heat exchanger equipment is originally supplied in a new plant, optimal size and selection in the heat
exchanger engineering should have been performed to support efficient plant operation. That is, a range of
heat exchanger equipment sizes (designs) should have been studied to specify the most favorable economic
design with attractive economic performance for the equipment, considering energy costs during that time.
Sometimes this is not the case. When large plant contractors develop "standard plant designs" to offer clients,
they reuse major sections of previous plant designs which will achieve the venture client's requirements,
usually for higher capacity.

Also, over time, plants may be gradually upgraded with improvements in subsections of the plant site, resulting