Mastering heat
Miguel Gutierrez is a field consultant engineer at Saudi Aramco , based in Saudi Arabia . Miguel ’ s role is vast and varied , encompassing all angles of stationary equipment support . We spoke with Miguel to gain his insights on the dynamic challenges and advancements in heat transfer technologies within the oil and gas sector .
By Iryna Mukha , Heat Exchanger World
Miguel draws from a background as a stationary equipment engineer with a degree in mechanical engineering to fulfil an extensive and varied role . “ I started working in the oil and gas industry in 1992 , the same year I graduated . I have more than 30 years of experience working mostly as a stationary equipment engineer . I spent most of my career at Saudi Aramco providing technical support to Ras Tanura refinery ,” says Miguel . He has been working at Saudi Aramco for 18 years , currently serving as a field engineering consultant in the area of stationary equipment , which involves heat exchangers , pressure vessels , piping , valves , among some others .
What are some of the challenges your company is experiencing with heat transfer ? “ The majority of the issues that affect the heat transfer performance on a heat exchanger is related to fouling , which is the build-up of corrosion products and sediments on the surface area of the tubes limiting the heat transfer , causing fluid flow restrictions and increase the pressure drop across the equipment .” “ In the oil and gas industry , especially in the refining sector , the main challenges associated to equipment fouling are observed in seawater trim coolers and condensers , where the biological organic growth ( also known as biofouling ) inside the tubes impact on the heat transfer efficiency and at the same propitiate microbiologically induced corrosion ( MIC ).” “ In order to prevent this phenomenon , multiple efforts are carried out in continuous basis such as chemical treatment optimization , better control of the operation parameters using data base automation such as IOW ( Integrity operating Window ), increase equipment backwash frequency , etc .”
What are the specific materials that you use for heat exchangers ? “ When it comes to the selection of the heat exchanger materials , it is governed by the damage mechanism identified on the specific application / service and we normally use API 571 standard as reference . Additionally , each process plant in the facility has what we call