AFC(Air Fin Fan Cooler) CLEANING

2016.10.24

Charm Green Engineering Pte Ltd

512 Chai Chee Lane #06-12 Singapore 469028

 Index

AFC Cleaning
I. AFC Cleaning-related need to know

II. Application of Refinery

1. Korea Refinery(Hyundai oil bank)

1) Description & evaluation of specific cleaning task

2) Air Fin Fan Cooler Cleaning

2. Singapore Refinery(Exxon Mobil)

III. Application of Power Plant

1. Indonesia(Listrindo)

2. Philippines(EDC)

IV. Others

1. Vessels(Singapore)

2. Incineration Plant(Singapore)

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I. The Fundamental Knowledge related to AFC

1. Heat transfer-disturbing material, Sources of contaminants, Thermal conductivity

Deposited Material Sources of Contaminants Thermal conductivity Remark

Dust, Soil, Dead bodies of

Contained in the air No data
winged insects

Oil Lubricants for Fan No data

Thermal oxidation of Copper

Copper oxide (Welding material)
No data A small quantity

Thermal oxidation of Iron 0.09(Fe2O3)

Iron oxide (Tube material) 0.45(Fe3O4)
Composite scale

Thermal oxidation of Aluminum

Aluminum oxide (Fin material)
3.60(Al2O3) Composite scale

※ Thermal conductivity of Metal

Thermal conductivity

Alloys W/(㎡ · ℃)

Copper 420

Carbon steel (0.23 C, 0.64 Mn) 55

Aluminum 235

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I. AFC Cleaning-related Need To Know

2. Contaminants-removing effects according to the Cleaning methods

Dust, Soil, Dead

Aluminum Copper oxide
Cleaning agent bodies of Oil Remark
oxide Iron oxide
winged insects

* Workable during
WATER(Spray) operation

Foam Cleaning * Not available during

(Neutral) operation

Material damage
Foam Cleaning (Aluminum dissolution)
(Alkali) * Not available during
operation

* Workable during
ST-302R operation

3. Material Impairment Test Method

** Check whether the material is dissolved by dipping the Aluminum specimen (Aluminum foil) into the cleaning solution.
: Check the appearance and weight changes after a certain period of time

** Beaker Test Aluminum specimen

Solution A Solution B Solution C

** Possible to supply the verification data on the metal damage of Jiwontech chemicals
(Certified Institution Test Data & Jiwontecn Test Data)

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I. AFC Cleaning-related Need To Know

** Foam Cleaning (Examples of the material damages after Alkali cleaning)

≫ Corrosion results appear immediately or after a certain period of time.

All scales are removed after cleaning.

(ST-302R 25%, 60℃, 20min Spraying)
(See the external appearance of Tube
4. Cleaning effects when applying ST-302R to AFC and the sides of Fin)

≫ Remove all contaminants such as dust, soil, oil, aluminum oxide and iron oxide.

Before cleaning
(See the external
appearance of Tube and
the sides of Fin)

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I. AFC Cleaning-related Need To Know

5. ST-302R application effect after cleaning

1) Temperature comparison before and after cleaning

* Singapore Refinery - Before cleaning : 85.91℃
-18.19℃
- After cleaning : 67.72℃
* Korean Refinery - Before cleaning : 93℃
-13℃, ** 3 unit operations out of 4 Fans (1unit breakdown)
- After cleaning : 80℃
2) Possible to calculate the saving amounts by temperature difference before and after cleaning
3) When Water spraying, it is expected to lower -5℃

≫ Singapore Refinery ≫ Hyundai Oil Bank(Korean Refinery) Outlet Temp.

Outlet Temp. Avg. temp. before
Avg. temp. before cleaning : 93℃
Cleaning-target Cleaning-target
cleaning : 85.91℃ Avg. temp. after
Air Fan Cooler Air Fan Cooler
Avg. temp. after cleaning : 80℃
cleaning : 67.72℃

Average temp. : 105℃ Avg. temp. : 105℃

Compressor Compressor

Distillation Distillation
Tower Tower

** 3 Fans operation out of 4 Fans (1 Fan breakdown)

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II. Application of Refinery
1. Korea Refinery (Hyundai Oil Refinery)
1) Description & evaluation of specific cleaning task

CDU O/H as 60~80℃
Hazardous working condition.
Must work under safety line
① Top louver is very weak, so we should not stand on it. This man in photo is working by standing
on structural frame between aluminum louver. We recommend to step up scaffolding and connect
safety line with link for safer, stable and effective cleaning.
② Even cleaning was done under switch off fan (not all at the same time but one by one in turn),
production still going on (no hindrance of production and operation of the plant), so fluid was
flowing inside of tube having temperature of 60~150℃ and worker felt a little hot but he could finish
cleaning.
③ In general, there is almost no case that AFC fluid temperature goes over 150℃.

One of the other method that

could be implemented

Bundle side- dangerous Temperature of O/H is around 110℃

working condition (X) and after spraying of our cleaning chemical,
Bundle structure we could see evaporation and cooled down temp.

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II. Application of Refinery

There is support frame between bundle,

we recommend to put additional support Top roof of Induced Draft AFC is relatively safe and
strong to work.

Induced Draft AFC working photo

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II. Application of Refinery

Set up water pool under AFC for recirculation Wrap up motor for water protection
of cleaning chemical by submerged pump

Cleaning of dirty cleaning chemical

spilled over during cleaning work Small spray system with pump

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II. Application of Refinery

④ Only switch off one of AFC fan so that there is no hindrance of plant operation and continued production.
Cleaning during plant operation is a little difficult, but high temperature helps smooth and efficient cleaning.
Sometimes, when turning off the fan, the cleaning work of AFC is done at night due to the difficulty of maintaining the
temperature as the temperature at night goes down.

A B
Switch off fan one by one as seen on this case.
( A -> B -> C-> D )

C D

⑤ Cleaning should be done as per each plant’s safety guidelines.

E.g. Dongbu Steel Mill case on Fin Tube cleaning.

Size of spray hose : 1 inch
Pressure : 1.5 -2kg/cm2
Spray quantity : 100 ltr /min

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II. Application of Refinery
2) Air Fin Fan Cooler Cleaning

Forced draft_ belt drive AFC

Top Louver
Control ▶

FD AFC top view FD AFC side view FD AFC bottom view

Fan Pitch
Control ▶
(automatically
Adjustable
Fan blades)

FD AFC top view FD AFC side view FD AFC bottom view

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II. Application of Refinery

Induced draft_ belt drive AFC

ID AFC top view ID AFC side view ID AFC bottom view

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II. Application of Refinery

Induced draft AFC Cleaning work

Cleaning AFC Upper part of bundle cleaning

Receiving cleaning chemical Bottom part of bundle cleaning

Upper
part
Bundle

Bottom
part
Bundle
Cleaning and rinse water Pump sys’
Upper and bottom : Dual Bundles
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II. Application of Refinery

Induced draft AFC Cleaning

Induced draft Air Fin Fan Cleaning Before and After

Before

After

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II. Application of Refinery

Forced draft AFC Cleaning

◀Cleaning AFC

Clean up work going on

◀FD AFC side view

Receiving cleaning chemical

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II. Application of Refinery

Cleaning method & procedures

① Switch off Fan, wrap up fan motor to block cleaning chemical and install canvas to collect cleaning chemical.
② Spray chemical after diluting chemical with water to make 15%~25% content and recycle cleaning chemical by collecting
from down side of bundle. Nozzle hose is about ½ inches.
③ Spray water enough to clean the remaining chemical and dissolved scale. No need to wary of chemical solution to be spilled over as it
does not corrode aluminum.
- Spray chemical solution from top and bottom in case of the dual bundle type cooler.
- Spray enough chemical solution from top in case of the forced draft AFC.
- If switching off fan when cleaning AFC, then temperature of process fluid goes up by 70℃~130℃ and cleaning effect is enhanced.
- If there is no time or it is impossible to stop Fans due to load, then clean the cooler even at night time.
- 3 workers in a team and took 4 hours to clean a bundle of 4m X12m X 6 layers fin fan cooler excluding preparation time.

Cleaning induced draft AFC Cleaning Forced draft AFC

Dual bundle type AFC

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II. Application of Refinery

Corroded fin tube due to improper maintenance or improper chemical cleaner

Aluminum equipment can be easily corroded by
acid or alkaline chemical and at Al2(OH)3 and
Al2O3 combine together with deposit, it will block
or drop heat exchanger efficiency.
Al 3+ + 3H2O = Al(OH)3 + 3H+
2Al(OH)3 = Al2O3 +3H2O
Dust and greasy dirt accumulated on fin tubes will expedite corrosion,
regular periodic cleaning is necessary.
Most important point is to use chemical which does not react on aluminum
material, and even there is small residue of fine cleaning chemical on the
surface of equipment, it should not corrode even in low and high
temperature.

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II. Application of Refinery

AFC Cleaning Effect

• Regular cleaning of AFC and maintenance of clean condition will increase cooling effect by removing dirt
deposit and increase heat exchanger efficiency.
• By removing dirt deposit, we can expect life time expansion of equipment.
• Increase the Product Efficiency as the steady and proper operating is realized through Reflux
• Electricity saving by switching off fan motor.

After long period of fin fan cooler operation, we can see accumulation of trickery (such as dust, yellow sand, insect corpse etc)
on bottom side of fin tube, it will block air flow and bring down cooling efficiency of process Fluid. So it is recommended to
remove this kind of trickery for smooth air flow.

Disadvantage of foam cleaning VS cleaning using Jiwontech chemical

• There are no refiner fin fan cleaning by foam cleaning these days in Korea. It is agreed by Hyundai Oil Refinery
that foam cleaning chemical is alkali based product which will give severe erosion on equipment material and
even rinsing with water for 1 – 2 days after foam cleaning, alkali residual remaining will still active.
• Most companies has failed experience with foam cleaning (with material erosion). That’s why they never allow
foam cleaning. This was agreed by Hyundai Oil Refinery.
• Refer page 8 for corroded fin pictures.

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II. Application of Refinery

Reference

Divide Fin Tube into two parts to clean inside of tube and outside of fin.

Remove scale on Aluminum fin and rust at the outside

of pipe to maximize heat exchanger efficiency
(Recommend : ST-302R, Spraying)

Remove rust and scale at the inside of

steel pipe (Recommend : ST-407, circulation)

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II. Application of Refinery

Air Fan Cooler

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II. Application of Refinery

AFC data result after cleaning

** Exit temperature is 87~1080c(average 930c) under low outside temperature

** Maintain AFC exit temperature at 80 oc even switch off one of four fan.

Temperature/weather outside
(lowest temperature of the day)

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II. Application of Refinery

BTX Plant AFC IN/OUT Temperature change

O/H Inlet
temp’

Cleaning sector

O/H Outlet
temp’

Cleaned
Air Fan Cooler ■ In distillation column (left diagram) gas status product in upper part of
over head is cooled by AFC or cooling water and stored at overhead
accumulator, and some portion of condensed fluid is refluxed to upper
part of distillation column and balance portion is moved to next process.
To keep normal and stable operation of overhead cooler is to protect
temperature bouncing of overhead.
The above graph shows normalized temperature control of distillation
column in BTX Plant after cleaning fin tube

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II. Application of Refinery

CDU Process AFC IN/OUT Temperature change

Cleaning sector

Cleaning sector

■ Most of actual cleaning was done at night time and some of standby fan was not operated.
After cleaning work was finished, we have observed normalized and stabilized temperature trend in inlet and outlet overhead.

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II. Application of Refinery
2. Singapore Refinery (Exxon Mobil)

1) Image (Before Cleaning)

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II. Application of Refinery

2) Image (After Cleaning)

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III. Application of Power Plant

1. Indonesia (Listrindo/Gas-fired Power Plant)

▶ Cleaning Target Facility

▶ Before and After Cleaning

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III. Application of Power Plant

2. Philippines(EDC/Geothermal Power Plant)

▶ Cleaning Target Facility

▶ Before and After Cleaning

[Top] [Bottom]
Before Cleaning Before Cleaning

After Cleaning After Cleaning

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IV. Application of Other

1. Singapore (Vessel)

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IV. Application of Other

▶ A/E Air Cooler, Air side cleaning

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