Urgent help: Condenser clogging issue
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One of our company’s vertical shell-and-tube condensers is operated as follows: hot oil and gas enter at the upper end of the tube side, where they are condensed; cooling water enters at the lower end of the shell side and exits at the upper end. It has been found that after short periods of use, due to the presence of heavy oil and wax components in the oil and gas, condensation occurs at the upper part of the tube side, which can lead to the formation of coke-like substances. This results in frequent blockages at that area, requiring regular cleaning – a rather troublesome process. The approach I’m thinking of is: first, to see if it’s possible to remove the heavy oil components from the oil and gas, but I’m not sure about the method Secondly, the diameter of the heat exchange tubes should be increased. The current tubes are 32X2.5; would it be better to use tubes with a larger diameter, such as 38X3? I wonder if any of you guys have any good suggestions? Need help? ? ? ?
As LZ mentioned, a charred substance forms at the upper end of the pipe; will any space be left behind? At the same time, its heat transfer coefficient will be very low, and the significance of heat exchange becomes minimal. I think that simply increasing the pipe diameter would render the heat exchange function of the heat exchanger meaningless; it is possible to consider this from the perspective of process conditions. As LZ mentioned, removing the heavy oil components from the oil and gas.
Ask what the temperatures of the hot oil and gas are before and after passing through the condenser.
Switching to a larger pipe diameter may not necessarily yield good results; try to find solutions from a process perspective. Other heat exchangers such as spiral plate heat exchangers can also be used
Control the condensation temperature and use staged condensation to remove most of the heavy oil and wax components first; if two stages are not sufficient, use three stages:P
It is necessary to prevent the entrainment of coke powder in the oil and gas before it enters the cooler, or to appropriately lower the temperature of the oil and gas (depending on the degree of coking), with the ultimate goal being to reduce problems related to coking and entrainment in the oil and gas.