Techniques for characterization and quantification analysis of foulant deposition in Alfa Laval’s high-speed separators : A literature study

Abstract: Alfa Laval is a global company that provides solutions, products, and services for industry, such as high-speed separators for marine and food-application. Foulant deposition on the stainless-steel surfaces of Alfa Laval’s high-speed separators has shown to result in lowering of the separation efficiency. In this report, a literature study was conducted to present research documenting the use of analytical techniques for characterization and quantification of oil and dairy foulant deposition on stainless-steel surfaces. The focus of the research was oil foulant deposition and dairy foulant deposition on stainless steel surfaces. The following techniques were examined; NMR, AFM, SEM, XPS/ESCA, EDS/EDX and RBS, ToF – SIMS, EPMA, TGA, Fluorescent Microscopy, and HTGC.  The various techniques were evaluated from their applicability on fouling deposits of Alfa Laval’s high-speed separators and the settings of interest for each technique were also presented. This study also presented possible surface coatings of stainless-steel to impede the initial foulant deposition.  In conclusion, the surface coatings that were found were polyethyleneimine with TiO2 on an epoxy resin surface on the surface, and electronless nickel with embedded polytetrafluoroethylene nanoparticles to reduce surface energy. From the found techniques, the techniques may demonstrate information about specific properties, like chemical composition e.g., and may be suitable for individual use. However, to obtain a general picture of the foulants deposited onto the surface, several of these techniques could be combined, like RBS & EDS. Further research on which techniques are most complementary in identifying, characterizing, and quantifying foulant deposition would be of interest.