US Patent 7332070 Method of preventing heat exchanger fouling

A specific nonionic surfactant is added to a component mainly comprising hydrocarbons before passing through a heat exchanger in a petrochemical plant or a polyolefin production plant, whereby fouling of the heat exchanger can be efficiently prevented, that is, the performance of the heat exchanger can be prevented from being deteriorated, and long-term operation is feasible without sacrificing the speed of production. The nonionic surfactant is preferably a polyoxyalkylene compound represented by the general formula [I] below, more preferably a compound represented by the general formula [II] below.R1—O—[CH2—CH(R3)—O]k—R2[I]wherein R1, R2 and R3 are selected from a hydrogen atom, a C1 to C20 alkyl group, a C6 to C20 aryl group and a C1 to C20 acyl group, and may be the same or different from each other.HO—(CH2CH2O)m—[CH2CH(CH3)O]n—(CH2CH2O)pH[II]wherein m, n and p each represent the average number of repeating units, and m is in the range of 1 to 20, n is 2 to 50 and p is 1 to 20.