Application of an Artificial Neural Network Method for the Prediction of the Tube-Side Fouling Resistance in a Shell-And-Tube Heat Exchanger

The accumulation of undesirable deposits on the heat exchange surface represents a critical issue in industrial heat exchangers.Taking experimental measurements of the fouling is relatively difficult and,often,this method does not lead to precise results.To overcome these problems,in the present study,a new approach based on an Artificial Neural Network(ANN)is used to predict the fouling resistance as a function of specific measurable variables in the phosphoric acid concentration process.These include:the phosphoric acid inlet and outlet temperatures,the steam temperature,the phosphoric acid density,the phosphoric acid volume flow rate circulating in the loop.Some statistical accuracy indices are employed simultaneously to justify the interrelation between these independent variables and the fouling resistance and to select the best training algorithm allowing the determination of the optimal number of hidden neurons.In particular,the BFGS quasi-Newton back-propagation approach is found to be the most performing of the considered training algorithms.Furthermore,the best topology ANN for the shell and tube heat exchanger is obtained with a network consisting of one hidden layer with 13 neurons using a tangent sigmoid transfer function for the hidden and output layers.This model predicts the experimental values of the fouling resistance with AARD%=0.065,MSE=2.168×10^(−11),RMSE=4.656×10^(−6)and r^(2)=0.994.

Prussian Blue/Cellulose Acetate Thin Film Composite Nanofiltration Membrane for Molecular Sieving and Catalytic Fouling Resistance

Nanofiltration(NF)membranes as high selective separators are appealing for molecular sieving,which still remains a great challenge for the mixed dyes with same charge.In this study,cellulose acetate(CA)membranes were firstly aminated by ethylene imine polymer(PEI),and then the thin film of metal organic frameworks(MOFs)were constructed onto aminated CA membrane through forward-diffusion,slow crystallization and in situ growth of Fe Co-Prussian blue(FeCo-PB)crystallization layers.The designed PB@CA composite NF membrane shows an ideal rejection for Congo red(CR)/methyl orange(MO)mixture solution,with 99.7%±0.2%for CR and 33.5%±2%for MO.In addition,the composite NF membrane demonstrated good efficiency for photocatalytic degradation of organic fouling(permeability recovery ratio was up to 92%)due to the active FeCo-PB micro-cubes.Thus,this work provides a practical strategy to prepare MOFs mediated thin film composite nanofiltration membrane for precise molecular sieving and catalytic antifouling performances.

Analysis of influence of heat exchangerfouling on heat transfer performancebased on thermal fluid coupling

A study on heat transfer performance by thermal fluid coupling simulation for the fouling in a shell-tube heat exchanger used in engineering was presented. The coupling simulation was performed in a fluid and solid domains under three different fouling conditions: fouling inside the tube, fouling outside the tube, and fouling inside the shell. The flow field, temperature, and pressure distributions in the heat exchanger were solved numerically to analyze the heat transfer performance parameters, such as thermal resistance. It is found that the pressure drop of the heat exchanger and the thermal resistance of the tube wall increase by nearly 30% and 20%, respectively, when the relative fouling thickness reaches 10%. The fouling inside the tube has more impact on the heat transfer performance of the heat exchanger, and the fouling inside the shell has less impact.

Performance Assessment of Heat Exchangers for Process Heat Integration

Pinch Analysis is an attractive solution for reduction of thermal energy costs in thermo-chemical industries.In this approach,maximum internally recoverable heat is determined and a heat exchange network is designed to meet the recovery targets.The thermal performance of a heat exchanger over its lifetime is however a concern to industries.Thermal performance of a heat exchanger is affected by many factors which include the physical prop-erties of the shell and tube materials,and the chemical properties of the heat transferfluid.In this study,thermal performance of shell and tube heat exchangers designed to meet heat recovery targets in a Pinch Analysis study is simulated.The aim of this paper is to present predictions of thermal performances of shell and tube heat exchan-gers with different heat transferfluids and geometries as they undergo fouling degradation.Engineering approaches based on thermodynamic analysis,heat balance and Kern Design equations,as well as what-if simu-lation modeling are used in this work.Shell and tube heat exchangers were designed to meet internal heat recov-ery targets for three process plants,A,B and C.These targets were published in a separate paper.The effects of degradation of the tubes-due to incremental growth of fouling resistance-on thermal performance of the exchan-ger were simulated using Visual Basic Analysis(VBA).Overall,it was found that growth in fouling reduces ther-mal efficiency of shell and tube heat exchangers with an exponential relationship.An increase of 100%of fouling resistance leads to an average reduction of 0.37%heat transfer.Higher values of logarithmic mean temperature difference(LMTD)and higher ratios of external diameter to internal diameter of the exchanger tubes amplify the effect of fouling growth on thermal performance of the exchangers.The results of this work can be applied in pinch analysis,during design of heat exchangers to meet the internal heat recovery targets,especially in predicting how fouling growth can affect these targets.This can also be useful in helping operators of shell and tube heat exchangers to determine cleaning intervals of the exchangers to avoid heat transfer loss.

Fouling mechanisms in the early stage of an enhanced coagulation-ultrafiltration process

We investigated the fouling performances of ultrafiltration （UF） membrane for treating in-line coagulated water in an enhanced coagulation-UF hybrid process. Then we analyzed the fouling mechanisms in the early stage of UF using mathematical models and microscopy observation methods. Finally, we discussed the impact of aeration on membrane fouling in this paper. The results showed that a two-stage of trans-membrane pressure （-TMP） profile during the operation of enhanced coagulation-UF membrane was observed, and the relationship between permeability and operation time fitted well with a logarithmic curve. Membrane pores blocking and cake filtration were confirmed as main membrane fouling mechanisms using the mathematical models. The two stages of membrane fouling mechanisms were further deduced, namely, the membrane pore narrowing followed by the formation of cake layer. Membrane autopsy analysis using scanning electron microscopy （SEM） images of the membrane surface sampled from different filtration cycles also confirmed the mechanisms of pores blocking and cake filtration. Moreover, according to the variations of the permeability and membrane fouling resistance, aeration was able to mitigate and control the membrane fouling to a certain extent, but the optimization of aeration conditions still needs to be studied.

IMPROVING HYDROPHILICITY AND PROTEIN ANTIFOULING OF ELECTROSPUN POLY(VINYLIDENEFLUORIDE-HEXAFLUOROPROPYLENE) NANOFIBER MEMBRANES

Poly（vinylidenefluoride-hexafluoropropylene） （PVDF-HFP） nanofiber membranes with improved hydrophilicity and protein fouling resistance via surface graft copolymerization of hydrophilic monomers were prepared. The surface modification involves atmospheric pressure glow discharge plasma （APGDP） pretreatment followed by graft copolymerization of poly（ethylene glycol） methyl ether methacrylate （PEGMA）. The success of the graft modification with PEGMA on the PVDF-HFP fibrous membrane is ascertained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared measurements （ATR-FTIR）. The hydrophilic property of the nanofiber membranes is assessed by water contact angle measurements. The results show that the PEGMA grafted PVDF-HFP nanofiber membrane has a water contact angle of 0° compared with the pristine value of 132°. The protein adsorption was effectively reduced after PEGMA grafting on the PVDF-HFP nanofiber membrane surface. The PEGMA polymer grafting density on the PVDF-HFP membrane surface is measured by the gravimetric method, and the filtration performance is characterized by the measurement of water flux. The results indicate that the water flux of the grafted PVDF-HFP fibrous membrane increases significantly with the increase of the PEGMA grafting density.

Experimental study on fouling characteristics and influence factors of spiral-grooved tube

In this paper,we carried out a series of experiments on fouling characteristics of 6 kinds of spiral-grooved tubes to investigate the impact of hardness,temperature and structure parameters of cold water on fouling characteristics of spiral-grooved tube.Experimental results showed that when cold-water temperature decreased,fouling resistance of spiral-grooved tube also decreased.Asymptotic fouling resistance increased accompanied with increase of cold-water hardness.However,the asymptotic fouling resistance appeared to reduce when hardness increased to some extent.Geometric parameters of spiral-grooved tubes had remarkable effect on fouling resistance,which showed a tendency of decrease with increase of groove depth and decrease of pitch.In this study,the minimum asymptotic fouling resistance was observed in the spiral-grooved tube with small pitch and large groove depth.

COMPLEX HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT BY FLUID INDUCED VIBRATION

A new method of heat transfer enhancement by fluid induced vibration was putforward, and its theoretical a-nalysis and experimental study were performed. Though people alwaystry to prophylaxis fluid induced vibration for regarding it as an accident, the utilization space offluid induced vibration is still very large. The in-surface and out-surface vibrations which comefrom the fluid induce elastic tube bundles, can effectively increase the convective heat transfercoefficient, and also decrease the fouling resistance, then increase the heat transfer coefficientremarkably.