Crude Oil Fouling
Deposit Characterization, Measurements, and Modeling

Coordinators: Coletti Francesco, Hewitt Geoffrey

Language: English

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360 p. · 15x22.8 cm · Hardback

With production from unconventional rigs continuing to escalate and refineries grappling with the challenges of shale and heavier oil feedstocks, petroleum engineers and refinery managers must ensure that equipment used with today?s crude oil is protected from fouling deposits Crude Oil Fouling addresses this overarching challenge for the petroleum community with clear explanations on what causes fouling, current models and new approaches to evaluate and study the formation of deposits, and how today?s models could be applied from lab experiment to onsite field usability for not just the refinery, but for the rig, platform, or pipeline.

Crude Oil Fouling is a must-have reference for every petroleum engineer?s library that gives the basic framework needed to analyze, model, and integrate the best fouling strategies and operations for crude oil systems.

List of Contributors Preface ix Nomenclature

1. Introduction 1.1 Crude Distillation Units in Oil Refineries 1.2 Impact of Fouling on Crude Distillation Units 1.3 Concluding Remarks

2. Basic Science of the Fouling Process 2.1 Fouling Mechanisms 2.2 Routes to Crude Oil Fouling Formation 2.3 Events in Crude Oil Fouling 2.4 Variables Affecting Fouling 2.5 Conclusions

3. Experimental Generation of Fouling Deposits 3.1 Small Scale, Accelerated Conditions: Microbomb Fouling Tests 3.2 Batch System: Stirred Cell at the University of Bath 3.3 Large-Scale Experiments in Flow Systems

4. Deposit Characterization and Measurements 4.1 Analysis of Field Fouling Deposits from Crude Heat Exchangers 4.2 Chemical Structure and Molecular Weight Characterization 4.3 Chemical Imaging of Deposited Foulants and Asphaltenes 4.4 Fluid Dynamic Gauging: Thickness and Strength Measurements

5. Modeling of Fouling from Molecular to Plant Scale 5.1 Review of Heat Exchanger Design Methodologies and Mathematical Models of Fouling 5.2 Thermodynamic and Molecular Modeling 5.3 Fundamental Transport Modeling 5.4 Industrial Scale High-Fidelity Modeling

6. Concluding Remarks

Appendix 1 References Index

Francesco is a co-founder of Hexxcell Ltd., a spin-off company from Imperial College London operating in the area of heat transfer and energy efficiency, where he serves as a Director and Chief Technology Officer. Prior to Hexxcell, Francesco worked at Praxair, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, in Buffalo, NY where he focused on the mathematical optimisation of cryogenic multi-stream heat exchangers and air separation units. Francesco’s scientific interests lie at the intersection of the two exciting fields of Heat Transfer and Process Systems Engineering with focus on modelling, optimsation, and heat integration of energy systems. In these areas, he has co-authored several articles published in international journals and refereed conference porceedings. Since October 2013, he has been appointed Executive Editor of Heat Exchanger Design Handbook (HEDH). Francesco is also serving as Industry Engagement Manager for the UNIHEAT project, a large international research collaboration between Imperial College London and Boreskov Institute of Catalysis in Russia, sponsored by Skolkovo Foundation and BP. He holds a Laurea in Chemical Engineering from the University of Padova, Italy, an MSc in Process Systems Engineering and a PhD from Imperial College London. His PhD thesis “Multi-scale Modelling of Refinery Pre-heat Trains Undergoing Fouling for Improved Energy Efficiency” was awarded the 2010 Newitt prize for Theoretical and Computational Excellence by the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London.
Professor Hewitt is an Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. Professor Hewitt has worked on a variety of subjects in the general field of chemical engineering but his speciality for several decades now has been in mutliphase flow systems, with particular reference to channel flow and heat transfer. He has published many papers and books in this industrially important area and has lectured on the subject widely throughout the wo
  • Defines the most critical variables and events that cause fouling
  • Explains the consequences of fouling and its impact on operations, safety, and economics
  • Provides the technical models available to better predict and eliminate the potential for fouling in any crude system