Fouling in heat exchanger and membrane processes: Development and prevention strategies on industrial scale

In heat exchanger and membrane processes fouling stands for a significant part of the running costs such as e.g. down time for cleaning, consumption of cleaning chemicals, water and energy and contributes also to a shortened equipment life time. It is therefore one of the major challenges in the process industry. The first part of the presentation will give a general introduction into fouling in heat exchanger and membrane processes reviewing the different fouling mechanisms and types of fouling as well as approaches to reduce fouling. Similarities and differences between heat exchanger and membrane processes will be highlighted. In the following, the presentation will then focus on industrial approaches and case studies to reduce fouling in the two processes. For heat exchangers the focus will be on surface coating/modification of heat exchanger plates, while for membranes the focus will be on surface modification and new membrane materials