ABSTRACT Christine Grant North Carolina State University CTS-9500399 The fouling of metal surfaces is a widespread problem in the chemical and food processing industries. Fouled heat transfer surfaces lead to increased costs due to added heat transfer surface area, energy losses, maintenance, and production losses caused by unit down-time. Poor yield and off-specification production due to inefficient cleaning results in substantial economic losses. In the United States the costs associated with fouling in the food and chemical industry have been estimated to be 1.8-2.9 billion dollars per year. The proposed research focuses on two specific process areas where decontamination is a major problem: (1) the removal of fouling residues generated during high temperature milk processing (e.g., aseptic processes) from stainless steel pipes and (2) the removal of oils from stainless steel tubes.
