Investigation on Crystallization Fouling in Micro Heat Exchanger

The advantages of microstructure devices concerning heat and mass transfer are well known. However, the usage of microstructure devices in chemical industry is still limited today. A limitation for industrial application is the liability of microstructures to blocking due to impurity of the fluid or by unintended deposition ( fouling) in the microchannels. Fouling can lead to a degradation of the heat transfer performance, to an increase of the pressure drop, to a change of the fluid distribution in the microstructures and to a shorter residence time of the fluid. In the framework of this research project a micro heat exchanger for fundamental experimental investigations on crystallization fouling of CaCO3 in microchannels was developed and manufactured.