Output details

Pressure drop of flowing ice slurries in industrial heat exchangers

Mechanical cleaning of complex topologies of plate heat exchangers in process industry is not currently possible without dismantling. Paper proposes and experimentally demonstrates how ice-pigging (cleaning pipes or ducts using crushed ice slurry) can effectively clean such equipment. This has significant commercial and environmental benefit: commercial because it becomes cheaper and faster to do cleaning; environmental because it requires less harsh chemicals and solvents. Technology won IMechE’s "The Engineer" Process and Production Competition 2009 [tinyurl.com/gen-eng-66] and the patent (EP1248689B1) is licenced to Lonza to reduce biocides used in paint production to achieve long, stable shelf-life [tinyurl.com/gen-eng-67].