Crude Oil Fouling: A Review

Detection methods of fouling in heat exchangers in the food industry

“…In beverage industry, particulate/sedimentation fouling during membrane filtration of beer and other fermented beverages plays an important role (Blanpain & Lalande, 1997;Czekaj, López, & Güell, 2000). In water treatment plants, mostly scaling and biofilms are present and can hinder processing (Laine, Campos, Baudin, & Janex, 2003;Müller-Steinhagen, Hartnett, Irvine, Cho, & Greene, 1999) while in crude oil processing scaling and chemical reaction occur reducing heat exchanger performance (Butterworth, 2002;Deshvannar, Rafeen, Ramasamy, & Subbaro, 2010). In heat exchangers, the pressure between inlet and outlet is measured regularly.…”

Temperature effects on solubility of asphaltenes in crude oils

“…Factors, such as, temperature, pressure and crude oil composition have been observed to effect asphaltenes solubility and precipitation *Corresponding author address: Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskander, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, MALAYSIA. Email: marappagounder@petronas.com.my, Phone: +6053687585 (Crittenden et al, 2009;Deshannavar et al, 2010;Ramasamy and Deshannavar, 2014;Watkinson, 2003).…”

Improved threshold fouling models for crude oils

“…Even though there is a lack of crude oil fouling characterization standards, extensive experimental works have been carried out to understand the hydrocarbon fouling and a number of factors influencing fouling have been identified and studied [11]. Several types of fouling experimental units are used to study crude oil fouling which are broadly categorized as laboratory and field units.…”