16-20: Predicting Time To Clean: Avoid Unscheduled Outages And Extend Asset

There has been a shift in industrial economic philosophy to risk-based maintenance, which comes with inherent hazards of pushing plant equipment to unscheduled downtime associated with extensive fouling and/or failure. Methods have been developed to avoid such pitfalls. Modeling and optimization of heat exchanger operational conditions and cooling water chemistry resulted in findings to improve heat exchanger fouling ruin rates, eliminate the scheduled need for bundle cleaning, and increase the life of equipment. The method processes will be illustrated, as well as laboratory findings and field case studies that document marked improvements.