Numerical investigation of asphaltene fouling growth in crude oil preheat trains using multi fluid approach
Abstract In this study, the asphaltene deposition and the fouling layer growth are modeled using the multi fluid approach. The crude oil is considered as a multi species fluid which the asphaltene species can deposit on the heat transfer surfaces due to the volume reaction. The effective mechanisms of asphaltene particle transport are the molecular and eddy diffusions. Therefore the species modeling approach is utilized for particles transport by diffusion processes in the carrier phase. To model the fouling layer growth without considering an initial thickness for the deposited layer, extra terms are added to the momentum equations of primary and secondary phases. The results of the numerical model are validated against available experimental data and a good agreement is seen. Finally, the developed model is applied for a specific case and the effect of fouling layer growth on the fluid velocity, the temperature variations, and the heat transfer rate are investigated. The results show that the heat transfer rate decreases during the fouling and the developed model could predict accurately the physics of fouling layer growth.