Process antifoulants

Documented applications include crude preheat exchangers, vacuum-bottoms circuits, refinery furnaces, delayed cokers and visbreakers. Other formulations address suspended contaminants in hydrocarbon streams.

The treatment function must match the observed problem. Dispersing contaminants, controlling deposition and addressing an existing deposit are different tasks that require appropriate supporting evidence.

• Stream composition, feed-blend changes and deposit analyses
• Heat-transfer or pressure-drop trends and cleaning history
• Injection arrangement, downstream requirements and current treatment

Define the evaluation around site fouling indicators. Compare operating trends under documented conditions, allowing for changes in feed, throughput and temperature.

Review the formulation against the likely fouling mechanism, with a monitoring plan appropriate to the affected circuit.