(42b) Improving Crude Oil Fouling Monitoring, Prediction and Mitigation Strategies in Refinery Preheat Trains

Monitoring of crude oil pre-heat trains in atmospheric distillation units is key to ensure profitable and environmentally friendly refinery operations [1]. Traditional monitoring methodologies that rely on fouling resistance calculations neglect several key factors, including the effects of pressure drops, and are not able to predict future performance as a function of process conditions. As a result, maintenance and operating decisions are not data-driven and heavily relay on the operators’ experience.

In this presentation, industrial case studies will be shown to illustrate how advanced models implemented in Hexxcell Studio™, a comprehensive software framework integrates solutions for monitoring, design and retrofit analysis of heat exchangers and their networks, can be used to monitor operations, diagnose causes of fouling, and accurately predict future performance and lead to improved overall economics, environmental impact and safety.

References

[1] Coletti, F. and Hewitt, G.F. (2014). Crude Oil Fouling, Deposit Characterization, Measurements, and Modeling. Gulf Professional Publishing. ISBN: 9780128012567