The aim of this paper is to build a mathematical model of the fouling resistance that is able to give the evolution of the fouling, which causes economic and energetic losses by degrading the heat transfer coefficient. First, a mathematical model of the fouling resistance based on the overall heat transfer coefficient and on the inside film heat transfer coefficient is developed. Then, the overall heat transfer coefficient is obtained from the mass and heat balances of the reboiler. The inside film heat transfer coefficient is determined from correlations with some process variables. The resulting model is a function of measured quantities and is validated with industrial data. To estimate the fouling resistance, only two parameters have to be identified.
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