| Abstract: | Fouling of oils on heat exchanger surfaces and pipelines is a common problem in a variety of industrial applications. This is because the oil deposits on the heat transfer surface causes an increase in pressure drop and a decrease in heat exchanger efficiency. In the current work, oil fouling in double pipe heat exchanger was investigated and mitigated using a surface‐active agent for the flow of a dispersion fluid containing different dispersed oil fractions in water. The effect of the dispersed oil fraction (5%vol and 10%vol) and temperature (35°C‐55°C) on the oil fouling rate was studied and discussed under turbulent flow conditions for both hot and cold fluids. Different amounts of alkylbenzene sulfonate as a surfactant were added to reduce the fouling rate under turbulent flow. It was found that the fouling thermal resistance (Rf) increases when the fluid temperature decreases. The higher the dispersed oil fraction, the higher the Rf for all temperatures due to higher oil deposition. Addition of 0.2%vol to 0.5%vol of alkylbenzene sulfonate caused an appreciable reduction in Rf depending on oil fraction and Reynolds number. The mitigation percent was higher for a lower Reynolds number, reaching up to 96%. |
