INSUS tracks fouling per exchanger from temperature and flow the CDU already records, and advises when cleaning is economically justified against fuel, cleaning cost and lost production. Engineers decide.
01
Fouling reduces heat recovery and raises furnace fuel demand.
02
Each exchanger fouls at a different rate with crude and conditions.
03
Advisory only. Cleaning timing balances fuel, cost and lost production.
The problem
Nothing necessarily fails and no alarm needs to trigger. Heat recovery simply declines across the train, lowering fired heater inlet temperature and increasing fuel demand. Because fouling is non-uniform, the hard question is not whether the train is fouling. It is which exchanger is responsible, how quickly it is progressing and when cleaning becomes economically worthwhile.
The shift
An exchanger does not foul according to the calendar. Its cleaning point moves with crude slate, throughput, operating conditions, fuel cost and the value of taking equipment out of service.
Today
With INSUS
How it works
This fits OptiStudio as preheat-train decision support above the DCS and historian. Access is read-only. It does not initiate cleaning or change setpoints.
Connect
Connect inlet and outlet temperatures, flow rates and pressure drops across the exchangers with crude blend and assay data, desalter conditions, fired heater duty, fuel consumption, throughput, cleaning history and turnaround schedules.
Understand
Calculate heat-transfer performance and fouling resistance over time for each instrumented exchanger, then relate the observed fouling rate to crude blend, temperature and flow conditions.
Predict
Project the fouling trajectory of each exchanger and estimate how alternative cleaning timings would affect fired heater inlet temperature, duty and fuel consumption over the planning horizon.
Advise
Advise cleaning timing and sequence against fuel savings, pumping energy, cleaning cost and potential lost production while respecting how many exchangers can be removed from service and available turnaround windows. Engineers decide.
Verify
After a cleaning, compare recovered heat-transfer duty and fired heater performance with the predicted result. Update the exchanger-specific fouling model when actual recovery differs from expectation.
Getting started
For crude distillation units where fouling raises furnace fuel between cleanings. Delivered through OptiStudio as preheat-train decision support. Expert Services can help with data assessment and validation. Advisory and read-only. No new hardware where exchangers already have temperature and flow coverage.
Related for processing
Preheat fouling and cleaning sits beside blend quality giveaway and amine circulation on the same processing site.
Fouling reduces crude preheat recovery and raises furnace fuel, but cleaning is often timed by calendar or crisis. This use case tracks fouling per exchanger and advises when cleaning is economically justified for engineer review.
Exchanger inlet and outlet temperatures, flow rates, pressure drops, crude blend information, fired heater duty and fuel consumption, cleaning history, throughput and turnaround constraints. No new sensors where coverage already exists.
No. It supports decisions about where and when to investigate or clean. Physical inspection, maintenance planning and final decisions remain with the refinery's teams.
That is a core objective. By estimating fouling resistance per exchanger, the system can attribute a portion of lost preheat to individual exchangers where available measurements support that conclusion.
Through OptiStudio as preheat-train decision support. Expert Services can support data assessment, integration and validation with your process and reliability teams.
Fouling generally develops over weeks rather than seconds, so continuous data ingestion with regular model updates is sufficient. Daily updating is an appropriate operating cadence.
Individual exchanger tracking depends on sufficient temperature and flow instrumentation and reliable cleaning history. National fouling-cost estimates should not be treated as a site-specific business case.
Processing · Crude distillation
A back-test on your own cleaning history will show which exchangers are driving lost preheat, quantify the associated fuel penalty and whether a different cleaning schedule would have changed the economics.
