The complex phenomenon of crude oil fouling is a byproduct of several chemical and physical mechanisms acting together. It is caused by deposition of waxes, salts, catalyst fines, and corrosion products, chemical reaction fouling, sedimentation or bio-fouling. Fouling costs millions of dollars in maintenance for refineries per year, globally. The equipment which is affected the most is crude oil pre-heat exchangers. Fouling increases the fuel requirement, compromises the heat recovery, causes undesirable production line shutdowns and other safety concerns. It is important to have an approach to determine the degree of fouling in heat exchangers, and monitor their health. This paper focuses on the use of CFD modeling to get a good estimate of fouling inside crude oil heat exchangers. Results are validated with experimental data, thus giving confidence in the predictions of CFD model.
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