Recover Act - Ultra-Thin Antifouling Surface Treatments for Industrial Heat Exchangers

Heat exchangers are widely used in power generation, chemical production, petrochemical refining, air conditioning, automotive, aerospace, and many emerging industries including hybrid vehicles, fuel cell systems, thermal solar, and biomass processing plants. Fouling of heat exchangers is a serious and longstanding problem causing significant energy losses (0.25% of Gross National Product), premature material failures, and increased downtime/maintenance. With increased emphasis on environmental regulatory standards, such as carbon cap, energy-intensive production facilities will be required to improve energy efficiency which will impose harsher conditions for the heat exchangers, exacerbating fouling and related problems. This SBIR project is directed towards reducing or eliminating fouling through the use of a novel and innovative coating material which is an ultra-thin (no impact on heat transfer), glassy coating material and can be deposited using an environmentally-friendly, simple, and versatile process. Based on the material