Mitigate fouling in process units via advanced analysis

Fouling, or the undesired accumulation of solid material on a surface, is an increasingly prevalent and challenging problem in processing plants across many industries. As plants move to reduce costs, contaminated feedstocks and ineffective process protection lead to higher fouling rates and associated problems. The costs associated with fouling problems have been estimated at more than $4.37 B/yr in the U.S. alone in 2019. Filter plugging and reduced lifetime, reduced heat transfer in heat exchangers, column packing obstruction, and reduced throughput are a few of the harmful effects caused by fouling, in addition to under deposit corrosion. Plants must maintain low costs and high throughp