Alfa Laval launches ‘Ask the HEXperts’ report, urging marine industry to prioritise proactive maintenance amid energy uncertainty

Alfa Laval is calling upon the marine industry to unlock new efficiencies and resilience by prioritising proactive heat exchanger maintenance, as detailed in its new report, ‘Ask the HEXperts’.

Alfa Laval’s latest whitepaper makes the case for why heat exchanger servicing can now deliver a major competitive advantage for the sector, with research showing that a single fouled heat exchanger can create losses of over €12,000 over a two-month period, while also generating an additional 175 tons of CO2.

According to the whitepaper, heat transfer efficiency decreases significantly over time due to the accumulation of fouling, driving up operating costs and carbon emissions while increasing the risk of equipment failure.

Regular servicing can help restore heat transfer efficiency through cleaning, reconditioning, and the repair or replacement of components like gaskets, helping marine businesses to rediscover a competitive edge that can reduce overheads and carbon footprints simultaneously.

Alessandro Bracco, Managing Director for Alfa Laval UK and Ireland, said: “In a market that is being buffeted by external factors that are out of the sector’s control, it makes sense to turn inwards and find efficiencies through factors that you do have influence over.

“There is no better example of this than heat exchangers. They can be found in vast quantities in nearly every single process line, yet many businesses still choose to run them to failure – a false economy. Servicing heat exchangers proactively not only allows you to control when downtime is undertaken but delivers efficiency savings that can be genuinely revolutionary for businesses operating in this environment.”

‘Ask the HEXperts’ includes in-depth analysis of the energy market that the marine industry now operates in, a comparison of reactive and proactive maintenance methods, a step-by-step walkthrough of the servicing process itself, and a number of real-life case studies from Alfa Laval partners.

Alfa Laval maintains service centres in nearly 100 countries across the globe, including a 5,000m2 facility in Camberley, Surrey. All heat exchangers serviced at the site undergo an intensive, 10-step servicing process, including a number of processes that are unique to Alfa Laval. The company’s non-destructive testing (NDT) for instance, uses a dye penetrant to detect invisible cracks that might be missed by third-party services.

Alessandro concluded: “Servicing can be the lifeline that the marine industry never knew it needed. In the wake of tightening decarbonisation targets, rising energy costs and growing overseas competition, now is the time to ‘Ask the HEXperts’, and see what heat exchanger servicing can do for your business.”