Analysis of Fouling Data Based on Prior Knowledge

Conventional regression methods are generally unable to analyse extremely complicated processes involving a considerable number of independent variables with poorly understood interaction. These methods use a defined equation for which the parameters of this equation have to be determined. It is however questionable whether any arbitrarily chosen equation is the best. This study aims to implement the powerful neural network architecture for a comprehensive data bank. The HTRI data bank contains a large and unique set of experimental data for cooling water fouling. Only a selection of the data bank is being used at the present time, due to the large number of independent variables investigated in this experimental study

Heat Exchanger Fouling in Phosphoric Acid Evaporators - Evaluation of Field Data -

Multistage evaporators are frequently used in phosphoric acid plants to increase the concentration of dilute phosphoric acid to 52-55 wt% P2O5. The concentrated phosphoric acid solution is supersaturated with respect to calcium sulfate. As a result, part of the calcium sulfate in the liquor deposits on the heat exchanger tube walls. Since the thermal conductivity of these scales is very low, thin deposits can create a significant resistance to heat transfer. Therefore, regular cleaning of heat exchangers is required, frequently at less than biweekly intervals. As the major costs in modern phosphoric acid plants are the cost of energy, a thorough understanding of the fouling kinetics and of the effects of various operational parameters on the behavior of calcium sulfate is required to improve operation and design of the shell and tube heat exchangers, which are extensively used. In this investigation, a large number of heat exchanger data were collected from shell and tube heat exchangers of the phosphoric acid plant of the Razi Petrochemical Complex (Iran) and the fouling deposits were analyzed with respect to appearance and composition. The overall heat transfer coefficients and fouling resistances were evaluated at different times and a kinetic model for the crystallization fouling was developed. It is shown that the crystallization rate constant obeys an Arrhenius relationship with activation energy of 57 kJ/mol. The predictions of the suggested model are in good agreement with the plant data

Crystallisation Fouling Of Mixed Salts During Convective Heat Transfer And Sub-Cooled Flow Boiling Conditions

The mechanisms of mixed salt crystallisation fouling on heat transfer surfaces have been investigated for convective and sub-cooled flow boiling heat transfer. Effects of various operating parameters such as solution composition and hydrodynamics of the system, on crystallisation fouling of mixtures of calcium sulphate and calcium carbonate have been studied experimentally. The results of the experiments were used to develop a mechanistic model for prediction of fouling resistances. Model predictions were compared with the measured experimental data when calcium sulphate and calcium carbonate form and deposit on the heat transfer surface, simultaneously. Deviations ranging from 6% to 25% were observed which confirm the suitability of the model. Finally, the crystalline samples were analysed using Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-Ray Diffraction and Ion Chromatography techniques. Fractal analysis performed on Scanning Electron Microscopy photographs of the deposits was used to quantify deposit characteristics by introducing the fractal dimension as a new characteristic quantit

SCALE DEPOSITS IN POROUS MEDIA AND THEIR REMOVAL BY EDTA INJECTION

Formation damage has been observed in several oil reservoirs and production equipment in Iranian oil fields. Laboratory and field testing confirmed that the primary cause of damage was the build-up of calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate and strontium sulfate scale either in the perforation tunnels or in the formation sandstone nears the wellbore. Conventional acid treatments could dissolve this scale, but scale precipitation from the spent acid caused rapid productivity decline. A scale removal treatment with Na2H2EDTA has been developed that can effectively dissolve scale and chelate the dissolved metal ions. Chelation of the dissolved scale prevents scale reprecipitation. This study describes the results of an experimental and theoretical study on the removal of formation damage resulting from scale formation in porous media. An experimental investigation was undertaken to look into the possible causes of the injectivity loss in a typical Iranian oilfield. Sets of experimental investigations were undertaken with different objectives in mind. Glass and sand bead packs were used to test the experimental set up and to observe the general behaviour of scale formation and removal by ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) to determine its possible effects on the permeability of the porous medium

The FPGA-based Continious FFT Tune Measurement System for the LHC and its test at the CERN SPS

A base band tune (BBQ) measurement system has been developed at CERN. This system is based on a high-sensitivity direct-diode detection technique followed by a high resolution FFT algorithm implemented in an FPGA. The system allows acquisition of continuous real-time spectra with 32-bit resolution, while a digital frequency synthesiser (DFS) can provide an acquisition synchronised chirp excitation. All the implemented algorithms support dynamic reconfiguration of processing and excitation parameters. Results from both laboratory measurements and tests performed with beam at the CERN SPS are presented