Fouling is the dominant operating problem in heat transfer service and is largely predictable. Crude and produced water systems foul with wax, asphaltene, scale, corrosion product, sand and biological growth, and the rate depends on velocity, surface temperature, fluid chemistry and residence time. Design decisions made to reduce capital cost, such as low velocity to limit pressure drop, directly increase the fouling rate. Understanding this relationship allows an operator to distinguish between an exchanger that is fouling because of an unavoidable duty and one that is fouling because it was designed or is being operated incorrectly.

Air cooled exchangers introduce a different set of issues because their performance depends on ambient conditions. A design based on summer design temperature performs very differently at night and in winter, and process outlet temperature control by louvre position, fan pitch, fan speed or bypass has to accommodate that range. Air coolers are also frequently the constraint in hot climates, where high ambient temperature reduces the available temperature difference exactly when cooling duty is highest.

Fired heaters carry the largest safety exposure in this equipment class. They combine an open flame with hydrocarbon inside tubes, and the failure mechanisms are severe: tube rupture from overheating, furnace explosion from accumulated unburnt fuel, flame impingement and coking. Burner management systems, purge requirements, flame detection and tube skin temperature monitoring exist because of documented incidents, and their correct operation depends on people who understand what each protection is preventing.

Finally, heat transfer equipment is where energy efficiency is won or lost. Heat integration between hot and cold streams, exchanger approach temperatures, fired heater excess air control and stack temperature all determine facility fuel consumption and, increasingly, reported emissions. Improvements here are usually available without capital expenditure once the current performance is measured correctly.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Calculate heat duty, log mean temperature difference and overall heat transfer coefficient for a defined exchange service
• Perform a rating calculation to determine whether an installed exchanger can meet a required duty
• Select shell and tube exchanger configuration, TEMA type, tube layout, pass arrangement and baffle design for a given service
• Evaluate plate, spiral, printed circuit and compact exchangers against duty, fouling risk and space constraints
• Specify air cooled exchangers including bundle configuration, fan arrangement and temperature control method
• Analyse fired heater performance including combustion efficiency, excess air, draft, heat flux and tube skin temperature
• Apply fired heater safety requirements including burner management, purge, flame detection and trip philosophy
• Assess fouling mechanisms, predict fouling behaviour and design monitoring and cleaning strategy
• Diagnose heat transfer performance loss and distinguish fouling, leakage, bypassing, maldistribution and instrument error

The training builds from heat transfer fundamentals to design and rating calculation, with participants performing full duty, temperature difference, coefficient and rating calculations for representative facility services. Equipment configuration is examined through exchanger drawings, TEMA type diagrams, bundle arrangements and fired heater sections from operating plants. Fouling behaviour, efficiency loss and tube failure are presented through field data and inspection photographs. The fired heater content includes documented furnace incidents examined for the protection that failed. Participants are encouraged to bring exchanger or heater performance problems from their own facilities for group rating and diagnosis.

Organisations sending participants to this training will:

• Recover process capacity constrained by heat transfer limitations without capital replacement
• Reduce fuel consumption and emissions through better fired heater and heat integration performance
• Optimise cleaning intervals, reducing both fouling-related capacity loss and unnecessary cleaning cost
• Reduce tube failure, leakage and cross-contamination events in exchanger service
• Improve safety performance on fired equipment through better understanding of combustion protection systems
• Strengthen technical review of exchanger and heater designs, ratings and vendor proposals

Participants will:

• Rate an installed exchanger and determine whether it can meet a required duty
• Specify exchanger type, configuration and materials for a defined service
• Assess fired heater efficiency and combustion condition from operating data
• Distinguish fouling from leakage, bypassing and measurement error when performance falls
• Understand fired heater safety systems and the failure modes they protect against
• Build specialist capability in equipment that governs process temperature throughout the facility

• Process, facilities and production engineers
• Mechanical and static equipment engineers responsible for heat transfer equipment
• Operations engineers, supervisors and panel operators
• Maintenance, inspection and integrity engineers
• Energy efficiency and process optimisation engineers
• Project and commissioning engineers specifying exchangers and fired equipment
• Technical staff evaluating exchanger and heater vendor proposals

Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.

Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.