Chemical Engineering Interview Question:

How can you keep our seawater used for heat rejection clean before entering our heat exchangers?

Submitted by: Administrator

Seawater is used as a cooling agent in condensers and coolers. Intermittent injection of chlorine gas is used to eliminate marine growth. The system is a once through type. The band screens before the suction of the pumps are supposed to eliminate scales and other suspended materials. The band screens are not properly functioning. Cooling water flow is about 2.6 million gallons per hour.

The prescreening and mobile screens are not a sufficient protection for the recirculating water. This is a very common problem. In clean salt water the biological grow in the cooling water pipes is the main problem (mussels, barnacle, algae, etc.). After the life cycle is finished they die and blocking the condenser tubes. To solve this debris problems use self-cleaning Debris Filters (DF) directly installed in front of the waterbox of the heat exchangers.
Submitted by: Administrator