Particulate Fouling and On-Line Cleaning of Ferric Oxide Particles in Internally Enhanced Tubes

This paper describes the results of accelerated particulate fouling tests performed on three enhanced tubes and a plain tube. The tests were performed using ferric oxide as the foulant material. Three enhanced tubes included 25 start, 10 start helically ribbed tube and a ripple tube. Effect of the water velocity (1.2–1.7 m/s) on fouling resistance was investigated. The maximum fouling resistance occurred in the 25 start helically ribbed tube (about 8.0 × 10^?5 m²K/W after 100 hours). For the 10 start helically ribbed tube, the fouling resistance was relatively small (less than 1.8 × 10^?5 m²K/W). The rippled and plain tubes show almost negligible fouling resistance. High velocity flushing was effective for all the tubes except for the 25 start helically ribbed tube. On-line brush cleaning maintained the fouling resistance below 1.8 × 10^?5 m²K/W for all tubes. The fouling concentrations used in the tests were significantly higher than would be expected in commercial heat exchangers. Also, the velocity range investigated was lower than would be expected in heat exchanger operation.