Heat Exchangers Performance Monitoring and Intervention Planning Supported by Real-Time Calculations

Abstract Multiple types of heat exchangers - including printed circuit, shell and tube and plate type models - from six offshore production units were selected by a multidisciplinary team assigned to develop a comprehensive monitoring strategy to support routine interventions, both offshore and onshore, aimed at preserving or restoring performance. The calculations, information management and workflow to prevent operational losses due to poor heat exchanger performance are exhibited along with estimated results. Research was done to find the best method to represent the actual performance of heat exchangers through an easily interpreted metric that could be continuously updated and available to the monitoring team. As most of the exchangers were printed-circuit type, online simulations were not considered to be an option, directing efforts on implementing real-time calculations such as thermal effectiveness equations. The key variables for monitoring each heat exchanger were defined, with the correlation between equipment performance and these variables being influenced by factors such as available information, thermal service, and equipment type. Once variables were known, an integrated workflow based on multivariable real-time monitoring was established, with regular multidisciplinary meetings focused on evaluating operational commitment to the issued notifications, tracking the status of ongoing interventions, the effectiveness of executed ones and optimizing re-source allocation. Resource utilization was closely monitored to ensure service schedule compliance. This monitoring pipeline provided the technical foundation to identify scenarios when the re-placement of heat exchangers for onshore cleaning was required, preventing increased losses due to poor performance. Furthermore, they served as a basis for creating a reliable approach to allocating shared resources and avoiding losses considering all six production units, instead of focusing on each one separately. On the operational front, simple cleaning-in-place operations were regularly requested and had their results reported, developing discipline around good practices of heat exchanger operations, increasing performance stability, and generating data to develop correlations between cleaning results, equipment service, state before intervention, type of intervention, executing team and unit. The novelty lay in the use of an integrated strategy based on a combination of variables, such as thermal effectiveness, temperature approach, and pressure drop, to organize distinct types of interventions, ranging from backwashing to onshore heavy cleaning, across multiple offshore units sharing resources. The results of these interventions along with the data generated provided feedback for continuous improvement cycles.