FOULING RESISTANCE MODEL FOR PREDICTION OF CACO3 SCALING IN AISI-316 TUBES

The term fouling is generally used to describe the deposition of unwan ted (initially fluid) particles, which increases both resistance to he at transfer and pressure drop through the heat exchanger. CaCO3 which is predominantly present in the cooling water, has inverse solubility characteristics i.e., it is less soluble in warm water, resulting in d eposition of scales in heat transfer equipment. An experimental progra m is described in this paper to study the growth of fouling as a funct ion of tube surface temperature, Reynolds number, tube diameter and th e time for which the tube has been subjected to the scale forming solu tion. The data collected from the experiments are used to develop a fo uling resistance model. In addition, the results obtained from the pre sent study are also compared with those discussed earlier by several i nvestigators with regard to CaCO3 fouling.