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Chemical Engineering vocabulary · Heat Transfer

Fouling

Meaning in chemical engineering, with examples

/ˈfaʊlɪŋ/nounCommon term

In chemical engineering, fouling means: The build-up of unwanted deposits such as scale, coke, polymer or biological growth on equipment surfaces, which reduces heat transfer and increases pressure drop.

In Turkish: kirlenme, birikinti oluşumu, fouling

How it is used

Used in exchanger design, operations and maintenance planning. Designers add a fouling factor (fouling resistance) to the calculation; operators watch for signs of fouling and schedule cleaning. The verb is 'foul': 'the tubes are fouled'.

Example sentences

  1. Fouling on the cooling water side has cut the exchanger duty by a quarter.

  2. We added a fouling factor of 0.0004 m²·K/W for the crude side.

Common collocations

  • fouling factor
  • heavy fouling
  • fouling resistance
  • reduce fouling
  • heat exchangerA piece of equipment that moves heat from one fluid to another without letting them mix, for example from hot oil to cold water through the walls of tubes or plates.
  • heat transfer coefficientA number that shows how easily heat passes from one fluid to another through a wall, measured in W/(m²·K). The higher it is, the smaller the exchanger can be.
  • pressure dropThe loss of pressure as a fluid flows through a pipe, valve, filter, bed or piece of equipment, caused mainly by friction.
  • turnaroundA large planned shutdown of a plant, usually every few years, for inspection, maintenance, catalyst change, cleaning and installing new equipment.

More terms: Heat Transfer

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