Types of fouling in Heat Exchanger

Fouling can be done by the accompanying authors:

1) Scaling is the most common form of fouling and is associated with inverse solubility salts. Examples of such salts are CaCO3, CaSO4, Ca3(PO4)2, CaSiO3, Ca(OH)2, Mg(OH)2, MgSiO3, Na2SO4, LiSO4, and Li2CO3.

2)Corrosion fouling is caused by chemical reaction of some fluid constituents with the heat exchanger tube material.

3)Chemical reaction fouling involves chemical reactions in the process stream which results in deposition of material on the heat exchanger tubes. This commonly occurs in food processing industries.

4)Freezing fouling is occurs when a portion of the hot stream is cooled to near the freezing point for one of its components. This commonly occurs in refineries where paraffin frequently solidifies from petroleum products at various stages in the refining process. , obstructing both flow and heat transfer.

5)Biological fouling is common where untreated water from natural resources such as rivers and lakes is used as a coolant. Biological micro-organisms such as algae or other microbes can grow inside the heat exchanger and hinder heat transfer.

6)Particulate fouling results from the presence of microscale sized particles in solution. When such particles accumulate on a heat exchanger surface they sometimes fuse and harden. Like scale these deposits are difficult to remove.