Surface Roughness & Heat Transfer

[Matador]

We use evaporators to concentrate organic material so it can be burnt in the boiler.

Evaporator tube fouling is a constant problem & we use high pressure water (10,000 - 15,000 psi) to clean the tubes.

I'm concerned the high pressure blast may be damaging the evaporator tube surfaces, which may change the heat transfer coefficient.

Does anyone know where I can find information on how the heat transfer of stainless steel changes for different surface roughness valves? Better still does anyone use high pressure water to clean HX or evaporator tubes.

 

[svanels]

Do not worry about the high pressure. It is standard cleaning method for heat exchangers in refineries. Do a search on hydroblasting and you will see that there are a lot of companies offering this service.

Regards Steven van Els
SAvanEls@cq-link.sr