r/ChemicalEngineering • u/mrnormality • 2d ago

O&G Tracking U of Heat Exchangers

Hello,

Is there really a significance for tracking Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient of heat exchangers over time? Monitoring the heat exchanger outlet temperature or simple lculation for the heat duty would already be a good indicator for the fouling that happens within the exchanger. If this is the case, there is no point in calculating U and tracking it, right?

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u/Kelvininin 2d ago

I use to start and service seeded slurry MVR evaporators. Tracking the heat transfer coefficient was how we monitored the health of the system. Declining heat transfer coefficient meant the unit was scaling.