Industrial Theory: The Power of Predictive Maintenance for Industrial Heat Transfer Systems

Guest:  

Dr. Francesco Coletti is the co-founder and CEO of Hexxcell Ltd., a London based technology and consulting company providing predictive analytics and prescriptive maintenance solutions for industrial heat transfer systems to major international oil, gas, and petrochemical companies. He is also a part-time Associate Professor at Brunel University London where he contributed to the launch of a new Chemical Engineering Department. Prior to Hexxcell, Francesco worked as a Development Specialist at the Praxair Technology Center (now Linde) in Buffalo, NY.  

Francesco has over a decade of experience in development of hybrid AI-deterministic models for predictive maintenance and operations optimization. He is also the Executive Editor of Heat Exchanger Design Handbook, the Secretary of the UK National Heat Transfer Committee, an elected member of the Scientific Committee for the International Heat Transfer Conferences, and a Director of the AIChE Fuels & Petrochemical Division. He holds a Laurea degree in Chemical Engineering from Padova University, Italy, an MSc in Process Systems Engineering and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London, UK. 

Episode in a Tweet:  

“I cannot think of a future where companies will not have a complete picture of all of their assets down to the individual heat exchangers. It’s going to happen.” – Hear more from our guest, Dr. Francesco Coletti, CEO of Hexxcell Ltd., about the digital twin technology enabling predictive maintenance for industrial heat transfer systems.  

Summary:  

In this episode of Industrial Theory, host Kerry Siggins is joined by Dr. Francesco Coletti, the CEO of Hexxcell Ltd., a London based technology and consulting company that provides predictive analytics and prescriptive maintenance solutions for industrial heat transfer systems, primarily in refineries and petrochemical plants. Hexxcell’s technology helps predict and assess fouling to optimize asset operations and minimize the impact of fouling on plant productivity and profits. Francesco shares about his past research into exchanger fouling with crude oil distillation units and how this served as an early source of inspiration towards the creation of Hexxcell. Now, Hexxcell is developing software that will eventually guide condition-based cleaning by detecting the status of an asset, how much fouling is occurring inside the unit, the type of deposits present, and what those conditions require for continued operation. Kerry and Francesco also discuss advancements taking place with heat exchanger design that aim to reduce fouling, as well as to provide retrospective models for potential outcomes of different exchanger designs.  

Listen to the podcast here.