Fouling Performance of A Horizontal Corrugated Tube due to Air Injection

In the present study, the fouling performance of a circumferentially corrugated tube was probed due to the air injection. The molasses of sugar beet was considered as the working fluid. The tube was considered to be under constant heat flux. Also, the flow rate of the molasses of sugar beet was considered to be constant. Five different flow rates of the airstream were considered to check the effect of airflow rate. The flow rate of working fluid was kept at the constant flow rate of 2 L/min. The tests were conducted for 5000s (84 minutes). For a better understanding of the nature of the flow, the structure of two-phase steam was recorded via a Canon SX540 Camera. The results presented that the air injection in the corrugated tube will completely change the structure of the working fluid which will bring a very turbulent structure for the working fluid. The thermal results presented that during the testing time, the air injection will keep the heat transfer coefficient about 120% higher than a single-phase stream. The mass evaluation results revealed that the air injection could decrease the weight of fouled substance up to 75%.