Heat Exchanger Coating

Fairtex Group offers industrial coatings for heat exchangers, condensers, tube sheets, water boxes, end bells, flange faces, piping, and various other equipment exposed to corrosion and degradation. Heat exchanger coatings, tube sheet coatings, and coatings on related equipment can prevent future corrosion and degradation. Tube sheet coatings can be used as a solution to prevent both corrosion and tube-to-tube sheet leakage.

We can offer specifically manufactured anti-corrosion coatings designed for the prevention and elimination of corrosion and erosion found in tube-sheets and tubes of heat exchangers and condensers. Fairtex Group uses its own technology to produce and apply coatings to restore and strengthen tube-sheets, water boxes, tube inlets, and the full length of the tube internals back to their original condition.

Surface Condenser Tube Sheets

Tube sheet corrosion on power plant surface condensers is a common issue, as many plants have re-tubed their aging condensers with higher alloy metals such as titanium and stainless steel. The main cause of tube sheet corrosion is due to the dissimilarities between the tube sheet material and the new higher alloys being installed.

Condenser tubes are traditionally expanded into the tube sheet using rollers. During normal use, the friction seal of the tube-to-tube sheet could become damaged for various reasons. Breaking this seal can cause water to leak into the hot well, which can have serious adverse effects on the overall performance of the unit and ultimately damage steam-side equipment, such as turbine blades.

Fairtex Group coated tube applications are globally known to prevent fouling in heat exchangers. Our applications of low surface energy tube ID coatings have eliminated deposit nucleation down the tube, reducing heat exchanger fouling and cleaning.

Using highly functional immersion service coatings, Fairtex Group applies a thin, homogenous film down the tube. The coated tube has a greatly reduced surface tension compared to uncoated steel and is inert to cooling water. Fairtex Group coatings are hydrophobic and create a high contact angle; immersion resistance to 365°F gives the Fairtex Group coatings durability for periodic operating unit steamouts.

For cooling water, tube coating protects from deposit corrosion, and we deliver a “holiday-free” application at 200 to 300 microns total thickness. We apply heat exchanger coating to shell and tube exchangers, tube bundles, U-tube and plate and frame exchangers. Tube sheet coating – as part of the Fairtex Group tube coating application – protects tube ends and the integrity of the roller-expanded tube joint.

Refinery and petrochemical clients have found exchanger tube ID coatings can immediately solve “bad actor” exchanger reliability issues where low flow and deposit accumulation limit the functional life of an asset. Our heat exchanger internal coatings are specified as a value-added option for replacement exchangers and are a lower-cost alternative to an alloy upgrade.

Fairtex Group has continued to develop its portfolio of thin-film coating materials suited to a wide range of industrial services, including cooling water, crude and hydrocarbon products, solvent, and acid services. Sol-Gel and hybrid materials are functional at < 25 microns total thickness. These ultra-thin applications are solutions for operation-critical exchangers where crude and hydrocarbon services are the primary causes of fouling in heat exchangers and can be applied to exchanger tube IDs, ODs, and plate and frame exchangers.

Fairtex Group can identify the best coating for operating unit conditions and provide an application procedure and quality control report for surface prep, coating application, and inspection. The coated tube ID application is performed after the exchanger has been fabricated; the complete exchanger or tube bundle is coated, either at one of Curran’s global coating plants or in the field.

The restoration of in-service, corroded exchangers is a practical repair strategy that Fairtex Group has years of successful project experience with. It starts with "clean white metal" surface prep of the exchanger and remediation of soluble contaminants. Many of Fairtex Group's tube coatings can be field-applied and force-cured.