| The heat exchanger is equipment used in an industry setting to transfer heat from a liquid to a liquid, a gas to a gas, or a liquid to a gas. Heat exchangers are the unsung heroes of many industrial processes but they are often taken for granted since no one really pays attention them and companies do not want to pay for unnecessary maintenance costs. The efficiency of a heat exchanger tends to drop once it has been in use for a long time. Since this is a gradual process it largely goes unnoticed until the performance deteriorates dramatically in such a way that it becomes a problem that requires urgent attention. The main cause of inefficiency in a heat exchanger is fouling.
Fouling on heat exchangers is mostly caused by unfavorable water, high temperatures, and impurities in water. In a heat exchanger there is water on one side and a product that needs to be cooled or heated on the other side. Depending on what is on the product side of a heat exchanger, fouling may be worse on this side than on the water side. Fouling is also caused by bio fouling micro-organisms, scaling, and corrosion on the water side of a heat exchanger. Bio fouling is caused by bacteria or algae in water which cause the formation of a biofilm on the surface of the heat exchangers. Scaling is caused by salts which have dissolved in water and corrosion happens due to aggressive water. Once a heat exchanger becomes inefficient due to fouling it requires disassembling so that it can be cleaned manually or by use of chemicals. Cleaning a big heat exchanger requires production to be stopped and this may take 2-3 days.
Merus GmbH has come up with an effective way to significantly lower fouling on heat exchangers. This is achieved by installing a Merus Ring where this problem occurs - at the inlet line of the heat exchanger. If there is fouling on both sides of a heat exchanger the Merus Ring should be installed on each side. Merus GmbH has been able to improve all forms of reducing fouling by using methods that clean heat exchangers automatically. This has been evident in a case where a completely blocked heat exchanger got clean by itself after some time. Merus has also been able to stop fouling and to remove the existing scaling at the same time. This has been helpful to industries as they do not have to stop production just to clean a heat exchanger. Visit merusonline.com to get more information on how to keep your heat exchanger free from fouling.
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