Evaluating Chemical Inhibitors for Crystallisation Fouling Mitigation: Bulk vs. Surface Dynamics

Crystallisation fouling is a major challenge in heat exchangers as it causes decreased efficiency. Mitigating this challenge is therefore critical and chemical inhibitors are widely used for this purpose. However, the use of chemical inhibitors could pose environmental concerns. To optimally utilise inhibitors, it is essential to understand their underlying mechanisms. In the study, we investigated the performance of a commercial chemical inhibitor in single and multicomponent brines.Surface deposition studies were performed in a tubular reactor and the deposits were imaged using X-ray CT scanning and analyzed using metrology parameters.