Hexxcell Studio™ - Hybrid Digital Twins for Industrial Thermal Systems
Fouling in thermal systems is one of the most challenging, long-standing and costly problems the process industry worldwide is facing today. In particular, fouling in heat exchanger networks leads to increased operating costs, maintenance issues, environmental impact of operations and health&safety hazards.
Hexxcell technology assists heat exchanger engineers, R&D specialists and plant personnel to assess, predict and mitigate fouling in heat exchangers.
Hexxcell’s proprietary technology was originally developed at Imperial College London and further developed in close collaboration with oil majors.
Hexxcell Studio™ – Accurate prediction of fouling in heat exchangers
Hexxcell Studio™ is Hexxcell's proprietary digital platform that uses Hybrid Digital Twin technology which integrates Artificial Intelligence with rigorous physics-based models and deep domain knowledge for advanced monitoring, predictive analytics and prescriptive maintenance of industrial thermal systems.
Hexxcell Studio™ is used by refineries and petrochemical plants worldwide to increase production and energy efficiency, mitigate fouling, optimally manage cleaning of heat exchangers, reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
Benefits
Increase Production
Operators are warned ahead of time when throughput limitations or furnace limits will be reached and prompted actions to be taken to avoid losing production.
Reduced and More Effective Maintenance
Define optimal cleaning schedules: which heat exchanger to clean, when to clean it and how to clean.
Reduce Fuel and CO2 Emissions
Optimally managing operations translates in significant cuts of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption.
Reduce Waste Disposal
By minimising fouling and cleaning actions required, waste disposal and associated costs are also reduced.
Mitigation by Design
Plant data are used to assess the performance of potential retrofit options and choose the one that offers the best Return on Investment (ROI).
Data Valorisation
Maximise the value of your Historian data by extracting actionable insights to mitigate fouling in heat exchangers.
Under the bonnet – Advanced mathematical models
At the core of the Hexxcell Studio™ system, an advanced mathematical model based on mathematical models originally developed at Imperial College London, allows to accurately calculate time-varying fouling rates as a function of local conditions in the heat exchanger. The model accounts for the complex interactions between thermal and hydraulic phenomena and equipment geometry resulting in unprecedented accuracy. These deterministic models are coupled with Artificial Intelligence to boost accuracy and enhance capabilities.
Deployment in Industry – Easy to use environment
Implemented in a user-friendly flowsheeting environment with state-of-the-art numerical solution methods, Hexxcell Studio™ provides a consistent, robust and flexible system for the solution of engineering heat transfer fouling problems at all stages of the engineering workflow, from R&D to operations support.
A key benefit is the ability to consider and analyse, using consistent models and assumptions, the trade-offs between design activities and operational aspects. It provides a unified framework that helps preventing “silos” between company functions allowing easy sharing of assumptions, validations and developments between R&D, engineering design, operations and operations support functions.
Technical features
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Thermal and hydraulic model: accounts not just for the thermal impact of fouling but also for the increased pressure drops and possible reduction of throughput
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Tube-side fouling: A moving boundary approach is used to capture the growth of the fouling layer over time at any given point across the tube length, the corresponding reduction in cross–sectional flow area. A fouling rate model used in a distributed way, allows calculating the local value of fouling resistance at each point along the exchanger length as opposed to an average value for the whole exchanger.
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Shell-side fouling: Effects of fouling in the shell-side is taken into account, including growth on the tube outer surfaces and occlusion of geometrical clearances.
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Geometry: The heat exchanger configuration is accounted for (e.g. number of tube–side passes, tube diameter and length, baffle spacing, pitch arrangement, etc.).
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Physical properties: The variation of physical properties with temperature and space for both shell–side and tube–side fluids is taken into account. Different thermophysical property models/packages (including proprietary ones) can be used.
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Ageing of deposits: an ageing model (Coletti et al., 2010) is implemented to describe the structural changes of the fouling deposit over time, hence its thermal conductivity.
Explore our solutions:
Advanced Analytics: Fouling Propensity Analysis™
Advanced analytics to unveil key correlations between operating parameters, crude slates and fouling behaviour
Equipment Design: Dynamic Retrofit Test™
A predictive approach to test performance of a proposed retrofit design
Advanced Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance
•Assessment of fouling costs
•Monitor refinery pre-heat trains performance
•Best cleaning scheduling
•Optimise flow splits
•HEX bypass management