2025 Spring Meeting and 21st Global Congress on Process Safety
(44c) Advanced Tubacoat Coating in Crude Unit Preheat Exchangers to Reduce Carbon Emissions, Maintenance, Increase HEAT Transfer and Life CYCLE.
Author
Tubacoat Advanced Coatings are highly likely to reduce fouling in heat exchangers due to their resistance to adhesion of fouling precursors. In crude heating this concept was proven in a pilot plant scale test facility where reductions in fouling between 50%-90% were measured. This presentation will quantitatively show the benefits of coating crude heat exchangers. Using that pilot plant data and a simulation of a typical crude preheat train we evaluated the heat duty transferred in the train and the heat duty required from the furnace to show economic benefits of the fouling reduction offered by coatings. The benefits show a reduction in furnace heat duty which leads to reduced energy costs and lower carbon emissions. Because of increased train heat duty, the point where a throughput limit might be reached is delayed resulting in increased life cycle preventing margin losses, and reduced maintenance costs due to fewer heat exchanger cleanings.