A new weapon against the most expensive “invisible” bottleneck

Fouling forces refineries to shuffle cleaning crews, burn fuel on hot runs, and still surrender production every time exchanger pressure drop spikes. The Danish Technological Institute and Chevron Energy Technology just released lab results on a sol-gel, PDMS-rich coating that flips that script—repelling both organic and inorganic foulants on carbon-steel shell-and-tube (S&T) exchangers, the workhorses of crude preheat trains .

Why conventional S&T exchangers struggle

  • Carbon steel is cheap—but sticky. Its higher surface energy grabs asphaltenes, salts, and iron sulphides faster than titanium or stainless.
  • Operating windows are brutal. Temperatures can exceed 300 °C and pressures 30 + bar, limiting the use of many polymer films.
  • Cleaning cycles eat margin. Frequent pigging or chemical soaks mean lost throughput and labor costs that erode unit EBIT.

The white paper frames these pain points and shows why a fouling-repellent surface is the missing puzzle piece for reliability teams .

Inside the TC200 sol-gel hybrid

Researchers formulated four ultra-thin (≈3–14 µm) inorganic-organic networks cured at 140–200 °C. All were air-spray applied with standard HVLP guns, then cross-cut and tape-tested per ISO 2409—passing adhesion on roughened tube sections .

  • Backbone: Si–O networks modified with PDMS give low surface energy yet withstand crude temperatures.
  • Pretreatments matter: Cold-phosphate or Bonderite layers maximize grip on carbon steel without thermal spray equipment.
  • Shop-friendly process: No exotic equipment beyond a 0.8 mm nozzle and ~185 °C bake cycle.

Six-month immersion: the stand-out performer

In a stirred 1:1 crude-oil/produced-water bath at 70 °C, “Coating 2” on cold-phosphate steel emerged clean after 180 days. Evaluators flagged it for:

  • zero adhesive failure or blistering
  • undetectable under-film corrosion
  • strongest oil-and-water repellency—liquid sheeted off within seconds
  • stable after 72 h hydrolysis at 70 °C

Bullet-proofing against fouling at process conditions where titanium plate-and-frame coatings already excel .

Projected ROI for refineries & chemical plants

Scaling the lab data, the authors estimate that a coating which keeps S&T exchangers clean as effectively as titanium PHE solutions could slash service interventions “dramatically,” translating into major OPEX and CO₂ savings . Field pilots are now planned at 300 °C / 35 bar using the custom Laboratory Oil Test Unit (LOTU) to validate run-length gains and heat-duty recovery .

Fewer cleanings → production days won back
Steadier heat transfer → lower furnace firing rates
Thinner deposit layers → reduced pumping power and CO₂ per barrel

What this means for your heat-transfer network

Reliability engineers looking to stretch turnaround intervals finally have a candidate that combines workshop-friendly application, proven adhesion, and multi-phase foulant repellency. If follow-up pilots mirror the lab, plants processing opportunity crudes could see exchanger delta-P curves flatten for months—not days.

Ready to dive deeper?

Read the full Bischoff white paper here → [link will trigger email gate]

P.S. Have a problematic crude-unit exchanger or condenser you’d like assessed? Schedule a quick call with our coatings team to map out test coupons, budget, and payback timeline.

Meta Title: Fouling Repellent Coating Cuts Shell-Tube Exchanger Downtime 90%

Meta Description: Revolutionary sol-gel coating for carbon steel heat exchangers eliminates fouling for 6+ months. Proven at 300°C, 35 bar. Download technical white paper.