In Oil & Gas, fouling, i.e. deposition of unwanted materials on heat transfer surfaces, is a notorious problem with severe effects on refinery economics, energy efficiency and carbon footprint. The total heat exchanger fouling costs were shown to exceed US$4.4 billion annually for industrialised countries. Shell-and-tube heat exchangers, prevalent in refineries and petrochemical plants, experience most of the fouling on external tube surfaces. Traditional water jet systems (manual and automated) are unable to penetrate the 6mm space between the tube rows, thereby leaving approximately 40%-60% of fouling uncleaned. Tube Tech, a market leader with more than 25 years of experience in fouling removal, have developed ShellJeTT, an innovative cleaning technology carefully engineered to go through these corridors, enabling 98% fouling removal. This keeps heat exchangers free from fouling; enabling considerable financial savings for the refinery operators. Specifically, results achieved from two case studies where ShellJeTT was applied (TRL-6), evidenced Return on Investment (ROI) of 5:1 to 20:1. During ShellSideJet, we target to enhance our current system’s automation capabilities, allowing our operators to deploy ShellJeTT in a robotic mode. This will move them further away from the blasted area and reduce the deployment time. Project’s activities are structured to raise the technology readiness of ShellSideJet to TRL-9, through an extended period of market replication and demonstration activities. ShellSideJet is poised to have a tremendous impact in both economic and environmental terms; it will enable the oil refining industry to reduce operational costs by $2.46bn per year while reducing CO2 emissions by 313200 tonnes per year. Over a 5-year period after ShellSideJet’s market launch we aim to increase our revenue by €6.75 million up to €33.75 million per year. In 2025, our cumulative net profits are calculated at €24 million, having generated more than 120 jobs.

In oil refineries, the Pre-Heat Train (PHT) is a network of usually shell-and-tube heat exchangers which aims to reduce the energy requirements in the crude distillation unit, i.e. the unit where the fractionation of the all the crude-oil takes place. When the PHT does not work efficiently, more fuel must be burnt in the downstream furnace. A typical decay rate in the coil inlet temperature in the PHT is 2-5℃ per year, or 8-11℃ per year according to less optimistic estimates. A yearly average drop of 5℃ costs a refinery about €1 - €1,5 million. A 1℃ drop in the furnace coil inlet temperature has been reported to cost for a UK refinery (processing 210,000 bbl per day ) ca. €400,000 per year. There are several modifications or enhancements that can improve heat exchanger efficiency, but unless they are installed during manufacturing, it is not cost efficient to apply them after the heat exchanger has been put to operation. The Flow Enhancer is a shell-and-tube heat exchanger enhancement that improves crude oil flow from the header’s inlet towards the heat exchanger’s tubes. It ensures reduced turbulence, a 10% increase in tube inflow velocity and a corresponding 7°C increase in outlet temperature. The potential savings to refineries could reach up to €1.8m per year and a 9:1 return on investment. In order to ensure the adoption of the technology, we have formed a partnership that brings together all the necessary elements: technology, manufacturing, commercialisation and scientific analysis to develop a marketing strategy based on proven results. The Flow Enhancer will increase the efficiency of European and global refineries, with significant environmental benefits, as it results in a reduction of 8 tonnes of CO2 per day for each 100k barrels processed, and has the potential to reduce EU CO2 emissions by 466k tonnes per year.