Optimization on scheduling for cleaning heat exchangers in the heat exchanger networks

In the process at a plant that incorporating heat integration for energy recovery, fouling or formation of deposits on the heat exchanger often causes operational problems in production. Increasing the energy consumption resulted in higher operating expenses. Expenses can be reduced if the cleaning is done on a regular basis. Therefore, how to schedule the cleaning for heat exchangers in an industrial complex becomes more important. Scheduling for cleaning heat exchangers can be based on knowledge of the thermal behaviour of the fouling resistance against time. This works is aimed at developing mathematical models for optimization on scheduling for cleaning heat exchangers in heat exchanger networks and its application in the chemical industry in general. Given an increase in fouling, which is very closely linked to the function of time, one tries to determine how frequent cleaning action is and the time in which the exchanger must be cleaned so that industrial operations can run optimally.