Detection methods of fouling in heat exchangers in the food industry

Fouling is unwanted deposit on a (heat transfer) surface. In food and dairy industry it is a major problem because heat transfer to the product is decreased resulting in reduced product quality and safety. Thus, plant efficiency is reduced and unsupervised cleaning has to be conducted. This limits processing time and increases plant downtime and costs. Monitoring fouling and cleaning requires high demands for the measuring and analysing system. This paper gives an overview over different fouling monitoring methods in heat exchangers. Experimental (pressure drop, temperature and heat transfer parameters, electrical parameters, acoustic methods), numerical, and computational methods are presented and compared.

► Fouling is unwanted deposit and a severe problem in food industry due to cleaning.
► Different fouling detection methods based on various principles were developed.
► An overview over different fouling detection method together with results is given.
► The methods are described in detail and compared with each other.
► Finally, recommendations for detection methods considering the objectives are given.