Heat Exchanger Descaling System Using Blowdown

Abstract

A system for descaling a heat exchanger utilized in a produced water system of a steam-based thermal hydrocarbon recovery operation is provided. The system comprises a heat exchanger for acting on a produced water; a steam separator in fluid communication with a steam generator for separating steam of a steam quality suitable for injection into a hydrocarbon reservoir and blowdown of a lower steam quality, the blowdown being caustic; and a blowdown loop in fluid communication with the steam separator for collecting the caustic blowdown, the blowdown loop also in fluid communication with the heat exchanger for directing the caustic blowdown through the heat exchanger for descaling the heat exchanger.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/746,760, filed on Dec. 28, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to systems and methods for descaling or defouling a heat exchanger and more specifically to the use of heated caustic water for descaling or defouling a heat exchanger.

Background

In steam-based thermal recovery operations that are typically aimed at recovering bitumen or heavy oil, a longstanding effective approach to raising steam has involved the use of once-through steam generators (OTSG). Feedwater to the once-through steam generator can come from many sources and, depending upon the properties of the raw water, is treated to render it suitable as a feed stream for a OTSG. In general, a OTSG is operated so that wet steam, typically around 80% steam quality, is generated, although other levels of steam quality may be selected. In some recovery operations, such as those involving steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), the wet steam is first separated into its vapor and liquid components by means of a steam separator at the outlet of the once-through steam generator. The steam thus generated is injected into an oil sands reservoir containing bitumen, or into a reservoir containing heavy oil. The steam heats and mobilizes the bitumen or heavy oil. When the mobile hydrocarbon liquid is lifted to the surface, it is part of a mixture that also contains water from condensed steam, formation water, and various minerals and other constituents which may be dissolved or suspended in the mixture, along with vapor and gaseous constituents. After appropriate gas-liquid separation followed by treatment of the liquid stream to substantially segregate produced water from the produced liquid hydrocarbon constituent, current oilfield practice often involves some form of recycling of the produced water.

Heat exchangers, such as a water:boiler feedwater (BFW) heat exchanger or water:glycol heat exchanger, are often used to cool produced water for later use. For example, produced water may be 125° C. and through the heat exchangers is cooled to 90° C. The produced water that is being cooled by the heat exchangers generally includes deposits or impurities such as minerals, acids, clays etc., which cause the heat exchangers to gradually become fouled with deposits referred to as scale. Typically, in hydrocarbon production operations, produced water is cooled using the heat exchangers and the scale comprises various organics including organic acids and clays that are brown in colour and generally flaky and adhere strongly to the interior surfaces of the heat exchanger and associated components and pipes. The fouling or scale buildup on the interior of the heat exchanger reduces the heat transfer rate to the produced water side. The flow rate of the produced water passing through the heat exchanger is also reduced as the interior diameter is reduced by the scale. Over time, the heat transfer rate and the flow rate are reduced sufficiently that the heat exchanger must be descaled or defouled in order to remove the buildup of deposits to restore the heat transfer ability of the heat exchanger and restore the flow rate. An example of the fouling of the interior of a produced water line is shown in FIG. 1 which shows the interior of a fouled vortex meter in a heat exchanger system. In addition, FIG. 2 shows the fouling tendencies of three heat exchangers as a function of heat transfer rate versus run life which shows how the scale buildup affects the transfer of heat into the produced water running through the heat exchangers.

It has been seen in various hydrocarbon operations that there are varying time periods for heat exchanger cleaning to achieve suitable results. Typically, the time frame for cleaning a heat exchanger is around 30-50% of the run life, where the run life is generally between 36-48 hours.

This means that for a run life of 36-48 hours the exchanger may have to be shut down for up to 24 hours in order to restore a suitable operational flow rate of the heat exchanger. Typical cleaning of an exchanger often involves the hiring and cost of a third party contractor to physically dismantle and remove the build up often through the use of chemicals. Operation of the heat exchanger during this time period is halted or at the very least reduced as water may be redirected through other heat exchangers, but nevertheless, the overall flow rate through the heat exchangers of the operation is reduced during servicing of the heat exchanger. In addition, at some point each heat exchanger in the operation must be taken off-line for cleaning Furthermore, the use of chemicals in cleaning creates the need for disposal of these chemicals after use.

A need therefore exists to provide a system to obviate or mitigate at least one disadvantage of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a descaling system for descaling or defouling a heat exchanger utilized in a produced water system of a steam-based thermal hydrocarbon recovery operation. Wet steam exiting a OTSG, or other suitable steam generator, is separated into its substantially vapor and substantially liquid components by means of a steam separator at the outlet or downstream of the OTSG. The vapor component exiting the steam separator, comprising substantially 100% steam quality, also known as dry saturated steam, is injected into the reservoir. The liquid component exiting the steam separator is referred to as blowdown, and contains, in concentrated form, substantially all of the impurities that were originally in the feedwater. A portion of blowdown is maintained to ensure minimal to no scaling in the OTSG. The blowdown, with its high impurity levels, is generally disposed of and is considered a waste product.

In another aspect, it has been determined that blowdown may be used to remove the scale buildup or fouling, referred to as descaling or defouling, in the heat exchanger, returning the exchanger to operational parameters. As a result, a system has been developed to utilize the blowdown that is typically wasted and instead reuse the blowdown in descaling or defouling the heat exchangers of a hydrocarbon production operation in less time than is traditionally required to service the heat exchanger. In addition to reducing the downtime or offline time of the heat exchanger, the reuse of the blowdown, in certain embodiments, may also reduce the net amount of water or energy consumed by the steam-based thermal hydrocarbon recovery operation.

In one illustrative non-limiting embodiment, the blowdown may be taken from a point further downstream of the steam separator in the produced water system where some heat captured in the blowdown has been removed from the blowdown for reuse, thereby reducing the net cost of heat exchanger cleaning as this further downstream blowdown may be purely a waste stream and the energy contained therein is lost.

In one embodiment of the present invention there is provided a system for descaling a heat exchanger in a produced water system of a hydrocarbon production operation using caustic heated water to descale the heat exchanger, the system comprising:

• • a) a heat exchanger for acting on a produced water;
  • b) a caustic heated water supply; steam separator in fluid communication with a steam generator for separating steam of a steam quality suitable for injection into a hydrocarbon reservoir and blowdown of a lower steam quality, the blowdown being caustic;
  • c) a caustic heated water loop in fluid communication with the caustic heated water supply, the caustic heated water loop loop also in fluid communication with the heat exchanger for directing the caustic heating water through the heat exchanger for descaling the heat exchanger;
  • d) a valve for controlling the rate of flow of the caustic heated water through the heat exchanger; and
  • e) a valve for preventing flow of a produced water through the heat exchanger during descaling of the heat exchanger.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the caustic heated water is blowdown and the system further comprises:

• • g) a steam separator in fluid communication with a steam generator for separating steam of a steam quality suitable for injection into a hydrocarbon reservoir and blowdown of a lower steam quality, the blowdown being caustic;
  • and wherein the caustic heated water loop is a blowdown loop in fluid communication with the steam separator for collecting the caustic blowdown, the blowdown loop also in fluid communication with the heat exchanger for directing the caustic blowdown through the heat exchanger for descaling the heat exchanger.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the caustic heated water has a pH of at least about 10.5.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the caustic heated water has a steam quality of 40% or lower.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the caustic heated water has a saturated liquid temperature of about 310° C. or lower.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the system comprises a plurality of heat exchangers, each heat exchanger in an isolatable cleaning loop in communication with the caustic heated water loop, thereby allowing individual isolation of one or more heat exchangers with the caustic heated water loop for descaling the one or more isolated heat exchangers.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the system further comprises a pressure letdown valve for reducing the pressure of the blowdown before inlet to the heat exchanger to ensure the blowdown is at a pressure below an operating maximum of the heat exchanger.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the system further comprises a blowdown cleaning tank for removing precipitate from the blowdown following descaling of the heat exchanger.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the caustic heated water loop comprises valving allowing for the blowdown to be passed through the heat exchanger in either a direction of the process flow or in a reverse direction to the process flow.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the system further comprises:

• • a blowdown exchanger in fluid communication with the blowdown loop for removing some heat from the blowdown and producing a secondary caustic blowdown having a lower steam quality than the blowdown generated by the steam separator; and
  • a secondary blowdown loop in fluid communication with the blowdown exchanger for collecting the secondary caustic blowdown, the secondary blowdown loop also in fluid communication with the one or more heat exchangers for directing the secondary caustic blowdown through the one or more heat exchangers for descaling the one or more heat exchangers.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the secondary caustic blowdown has a steam quality of 20% or lower.

In a further embodiment of a system or systems as outlined above, the secondary caustic blowdown has a saturated liquid temperature of about 170° C. or lower.

In another embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method of descaling a heat exchanger for use with produced water generated from a hydrocarbon production operation, the method comprising:

• • i) generating a caustic heated water from a hydrocarbon production operation;
  • ii) bringing the heat exchanger offline; and
  • iii) passing the caustic heated water through the heat exchanger.

In a further embodiment of a method or methods as outlined above, the method further comprises:

• • iv) reducing the pressure of the caustic heated water to a level below the operating threshold of the heat exchanger before step iii).

In a further embodiment of a method or methods as outlined above, the caustic heated water is blowdown generated from a steam generator/separator system.

In a further embodiment of a method or methods as outlined above, the caustic heated water has a pH of about 10.5 or higher.

In a further embodiment of a method or methods as outlined above, step iii) is carried out for between about 1 and 12 hours.

In a further embodiment of a method or methods as outlined above, step iii) is carried out for between about 2 and 4 hours.

In a further embodiment of a method or methods as outlined above, step iii) is carried out for about 1 hour.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a photo showing the fouling or scale-buildup of a vortex meter in a produced water line;

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the fouling tendencies as a function of heat transfer in three different water/BFW heat exchangers;

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the cleaning trends as a function of heat transfer illustrating the effect of cleaning or descaling using one embodiment of a system of the present invention on two heat exchangers;

FIG. 4 is a schematic of one embodiment of a system for cleaning a heat exchanger using blowdown;

FIG. 5 is a schematic of another embodiment of a system for cleaning a series of heat exchangers using blowdown;

FIG. 6 is a chart showing the change in average heat transfer versus cleaning time of both primary blowdown (V-2020) and secondary blowdown (E-2030);

FIG. 7 is a chart showing clean heat transfer (HT) coefficient versus cleaning time, demonstrating that cleaning times as low as 1 hour have been shown to be effective in at least partially cleaning the heat exchangers wherein the clean HT coefficient is a function of other variables;

FIG. 8 is a chart showing Differential Fouling Factor Diff R versus Dirty Fouling Factor R; and

FIG. 9 is a chart showing Diff R versus R in reaction to cleaning time.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purposes of this disclosure, the terms “descaling” and “defouling” may be used interchangeably and refer to the removal or at least partial removal of deposit or scale buildup or fouling that occurs as a result of the operation of a heat exchanger with produced water passing therethrough. It will be appreciated that the scale or fouling may be comprised of a number of different compounds including for example organics and/or organic acids and clays. Just as the terms “descaling” and “defouling” may be used interchangeably, the terms “scale”, “fouling” and “deposits” may also be used interchangeably for the purposes of this disclosure.

It will also be appreciated that the term “steam” encompasses heated water, as at various operating temperatures and pressures heated water may be in the vapour phase and unless otherwise indicated, the terms “steam” and “heated water” are not intended to be mutually exclusive. It is typical to observe both phases of vapour and fluid in the blowdown as would be appreciated.

It will also be appreciated that although reference is made to the descaling of a heat exchanger, the descaling or partial descaling of piping and/or components associated with the heat exchanger may also be carried out to some level.

It has been determined that blowdown may be used to remove the scale buildup or fouling in a heat exchanger that operates with production water passing therethrough.

Blowdown from the steam separator generally comprises a heated water and/or steam under pressure. The heated water and/or steam is of a temperature either insufficient for use in the hydrocarbon production operation or is below a predetermined quality threshold of the steam separator and is partitioned by the steam separator and deemed as blowdown. The blowdown is typically caustic in nature and generally has a pH is some systems of from about 10.5-12. The pH may however be outside of this range. The blowdown being concentrated with high impurity levels is generally caustic as a result of the presence of those impurities.

Caustic heated water including blowdown has been shown to be useful in removing fouling buildup, primarily organic acids and clays, and returning heat exchangers to clean operating conditions. FIG. 3 shows a graph of three heat exchangers and their heat transfer rates over time as they gradually become fouled and are then cleaned using a system according to the present invention. As can be seen, following blowdown cleaning, heat transfer rates are restored to initial or near-initial conditions.

Test results have shown that blowdown may be used to chemically remove fouling in heat exchangers. As a result, a system has been developed to utilize caustic heated water, such as blowdown, that is typically wasted and to instead reuse the blowdown in descaling the heat exchangers. In this way, the energy contained within the blowdown is not wasted but rather reused.

One non-limiting embodiment of a descaling system that uses blowdown for descaling a heat exchanger in a hydrocarbon production operation is shown generally in the schematic of a blowdown cleaning system 12 in FIG. 4. Wet steam from a steam generator 8 is input to a steam separator 10. It will be appreciated that steam may be provided by a plurality of steam generators such as OTSG's which may be arranged in series. Generally, the input to the steam separator 10 has a steam quality lower than 100% and generally, but without wishing to be limiting, the steam quality may be around about 80%. The steam separator 10 separates steam into two components, dry saturated steam for use in downhole injection into a well, for example in a steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) operation, and blowdown. In one embodiment, the blowdown comprises a steam having a steam quality of 40% or lower. In another embodiment, the blowdown may be characterized as 310° C. saturated liquid. Of course, it will be appreciated that a range of temperatures can be achieved by controlling the system pressure and that the pressure drop across a control valve of the steam separator 10 can result in two-phase flow. The blowdown exiting the steam separator 10 is caustic and in one embodiment, the blowdown may have a pH of about 10.5-12. Introduction of the blowdown into the cleaning loop occurs via the operation of valve 100.

The blowdown water may then be directed through a heat exchanger 30 for descaling the heat exchanger 30.

As is shown in FIG. 4, the piping and valving of the blowdown cleaning system 12, may be configured to facilitate cleaning of the heat exchanger 30 by the flow of blowdown in the direction of the process flow or in the reverse direction (otherwise known as backwash flow). In one embodiment, normal cleaning may be achieved via backwash flow. Flow of blowdown may be controlled through various valves in the process flow piping and the blowdown piping. It will be appreciated that any suitable valving arrangement may be used for carrying out the recycling of the blowdown through the blowdown cleaning system 12 for descaling heat exchanger 30.

The non-limiting schematic of the system 12 shown in FIG. 4 is arranged to allow for caustic heated water, referred to as the cleaning flow, to be optionally with or against produced water flow through the heat exchanger 30. For example, to operate blowdown cleaning fluid against the flow of produced water or to provide a backwash flow, valves 102, 105, 107 and 108 are closed while valves 103, 104, 109 and 106 are opened. Alternatively, to operate blowdown with the flow of produced water, valves 102, 103, 106 and 105 are opened and valves 109, 104, 107 and 108 are closed.

If necessary, a pump (shown in FIG. 5 at 210) may be added to increase the flow rate of the blowdown. It will be appreciated that a throttle valve and flow meter may be used to control the flow rate of the blowdown through the heat exchanger 30. In addition, a pressure letdown valve may be used to reduce the pressure of the blowdown to ensure that the pressure is low enough so that the cleaning fluids do not exceed the mechanical design pressures and temperature of the exchanger. In one embodiment, the exchanger has a maximum design operating temperature of 170° C. and the pressure may be reduced until flashing of the blowdown generates a vapour fraction and the temperature is reduced to approximately 165° C.

An optional injection quill may be included in the system to allow for chemicals to be added to the cleaning stream as required or desired. For example, an additional caustic or caustics may be added to the blowdown so as to increase the pH of the blowdown. Typically caustics may include those caustics, for example NaOH, commonly used in SAGD water treatment systems for produced water or brackish water, for example, in a weak acid cation (WAC) unit. In another aspect, a surfactant may be added to the blowdown.

In one embodiment discussed in more detail below with reference to FIG. 5, when a series of heat exchangers are used in the produced water system, as is typical of a SAGD operation, the system may be adapted so that each heat exchanger may be individually taken offline for cleaning while produced water is either directed to the remaining heat exchangers or to a spare heat exchanger to ensure operation capacity is not reduced during descaling. In systems including multiple heat exchangers, sufficient piping and valving may be provided to isolate each heat exchanger in a cleaning loop so that each heat exchanger may be cleaned individually while the remaining heat exchangers may be used or individually taken offline for maintenance. Likewise, in systems including multiple heat exchangers, sufficient piping and valving may be provided to isolate more than one heat exchanger for cleaning at a time.

Also shown in FIG. 4 is a blowdown exchanger 20 for further recovering some heat from the blowdown. In one embodiment, blowdown that is redirected upstream of the blowdown exchanger 20 via valve 100, although having a higher temperature, is less efficient for the overall system. In contrast, if some heat energy can be recovered by the blowdown exchanger 20 and provided to the boiler feedwater (BFW) system, less heat is lost to the cleaning loop. It has been determined that secondary blowdown produced from the blowdown exchanger 20 may also be used in descaling the heat exchanger 30. Although the secondary blowdown is of a lower temperature and steam quality, for example a steam quality of about 20% or lower, it is sufficiently hot and sufficiently caustic to function in descaling the heat exchanger. Otherwise, no heat is recovered from the secondary blowdown produced by the blowdown exchanger 20 and the secondary blowdown must therefore be disposed of as a waste steam. By redirecting the secondary blowdown through valve 101 and utilizing the secondary blowdown to descale heat exchanger 30, efficiency is gained and there is generally little or no opportunity cost for using this secondary blowdown. The secondary blowdown, in one embodiment, may be characterized as about 170° C. sub-cooled liquid wherein the temperature is process dependent. The sub-cooled liquid is generally a single phase liquid in most cases but can achieve two phases at lower system pressures. One advantage of using the secondary blowdown is that there can be an increased flow potential due to reduced pressure loss in the liquid flow. In addition, the high grade heat is recoverable prior to use of the secondary blowdown as a feed source for descaling. Furthermore, the secondary blowdown does not need to be disposed of, and there is a reduction on the load of the utility system thereby allowing for an increase in facility performance.

The neutralized blowdown, including scale, may be recycled or it may disposed of and optionally sent to the facility for channeling to suitable disposal facilities or equipment. An optional pump may be added to further assist in the transfer of the neutralized blowdown for disposal as shown in FIG. 4. Neutralized blowdown may optionally be directed to a skim tank for capture as well or alternatively.

Further, use of secondary blowdown has been observed to be effective in reducing or mitigating water hammer within the system. Because the water hammer event generally occurs at low pressure (˜800 kPa), this event may be reduced by sub-cooling the secondary blowdown.

FIG. 5 is a schematic of another embodiment of a descaling system shown generally as 300 according to the present invention. This embodiment includes a plurality of heat exchangers 215, 220 and 225, for example, production water:BFW and/or production water:glycol heat exchangers, which may be isolated in a cleaning loop for individual offline cleaning while the remaining heat exchangers may remain online and operational. The system of FIG. 5 further includes a blowdown pump 210 as well as a blowdown cleaning tank 200 for cleaning blowdown water following descaling. The non-limiting schematic of the system 300 shown in FIG. 5 is arranged to allow for cleaning flow to be optionally with or against produced water flow through the heat exchangers 215, 220 and 225. For example, to take heat exchanger 220 offline and operate blowdown cleaning fluid against produced water flow (to provide a backwash flow through heat exchanger 220) while keeping heat exchangers 225 and 215 online, valves 237, 240, 242 and 245 are kept open. This allows blowdown to pass through heat exchanger 220 in a blackwash direction. Valves 230, 232, 233 and 235 are kept open to allow heat exchangers 215 and 225 to remain operational. Valves 231 and 234 are closed to take heat exchanger 220 offline for cleaning Valves 236, 238, 239 and 241 are closed to ensure blowdown does not pass through heat exchangers 215 and 225. It will be appreciated that through the opening or closing of these valves, any of the three heat exchangers may be isolated, taken offline and cleaned while the remaining heat exchangers are kept online. Likewise, more than one heat exchanger may be taken offline while the remaining heat exchanger(s) remain online. A further heat exchanger (not shown) may be added to take over for any of the other heat exchangers taken offline to maintain facility capacity.

The system shown in FIG. 5 may optionally further include piping and valving for using secondary blowdown produced by the blowdown exchanger 20 (shown in FIG. 4).

FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the cleaning time and the heat transfer rate. As can be seen, heat transfer rates have been shown to be partially restored in as little as 2 hours of cleaning time. Cleaning, however, has been shown to be effective after as little as 1 hour as shown in FIG. 7. Furthermore, heat transfer rates are restored in less than the typical 30-50% cleaning time relative to run time as has been historically observed by other traditional cleaning methods. There are varying time periods for cleaning to achieve optimal results, as outlined above. Typically, the time frame for cleaning an exchanger is around 30-50% of the run life using traditional methods, where the run life is generally between 36-48 hours before fouling reduces the heat transfer rate to a point where cleaning is necessary. As shown for example in FIGS. 7-9, using a system as disclosed herein, effective cleaning times have been observed from about 2-9 hours using blowdown, or about 12-15 hours using secondary blowdown in order to return the heat exchanger to suitable operating heat transfer rate conditions. In various circumstances, cleaning times of as little as 1 hour may result in sufficient descaling to allow for operation of the heat exchangers.

In operation including trials and pilot projects, improved cleaning time, relative to conventional cleaning techniques outlined above, has been achieved after a thousand cleans using the primary blowdown source, highlighting the reproducibility of the system as described herein.

Without wishing to be limiting, a typical cleaning flow rate is about 4 tonnes per hour and a range of 1-6 tonnes per hour has been implemented. Further, the temperature of the primary blowdown may be in the range of about 130-160° C.

It will be appreciated that the caustic blowdown may have a pH lower than 10.5 and provide descaling functionality. A lower pH may have a lower degree of corrosiveness and therefore may be slower in descaling a heat exchanger. All levels of causticity are within the use of the term “caustic” for the purposes of this disclosure, provided the level of causticity is sufficient to at least partially descale the heat exchanger and return it to operational parameters. It should also be appreciated that the longer a heat exchanger must be offline, the less efficient the descaling becomes as heat exchange cannot take place.

It will be appreciated that in addition to a continuous cleaning strategy, a “flush-then-soak” arrangement is also contemplated and may be carried out using the systems disclosed herein. In such an arrangement, the heat exchangers may be put through an alternative soak and flush state.

It will be appreciated that the embodiments detailed above are not intended to be limiting in any way and are for illustrative purposes intended for one of skill in the art. Modifications may be made to the piping, valving and other steam generating and separating components or system without departing from the invention.

Claims

1. A system for descaling a heat exchanger in a produced water system of a hydrocarbon production operation using caustic heated water to descale the heat exchanger, the system comprising:

a) a heat exchanger for acting on a produced water;

b) a caustic heated water supply; steam separator in fluid communication with a steam generator for separating steam of a steam quality suitable for injection into a hydrocarbon reservoir and blowdown of a lower steam quality, the blowdown being caustic;

c) a caustic heated water loop in fluid communication with the caustic heated water supply, the caustic heated water loop loop also in fluid communication with the heat exchanger for directing the caustic heating water through the heat exchanger for descaling the heat exchanger;

d) a valve for controlling the rate of flow of the caustic heated water through the heat exchanger; and

e) a valve for preventing flow of a produced water through the heat exchanger during descaling of the heat exchanger.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the caustic heated water is blowdown and the system further comprises:

g) a steam separator in fluid communication with a steam generator for separating steam of a steam quality suitable for injection into a hydrocarbon reservoir and blowdown of a lower steam quality, the blowdown being caustic;

and wherein the caustic heated water loop is a blowdown loop in fluid communication with the steam separator for collecting the caustic blowdown, the blowdown loop also in fluid communication with the heat exchanger for directing the caustic blowdown through the heat exchanger for descaling the heat exchanger.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the caustic heated water has a pH of at least about 10.5.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the caustic heated water has a steam quality of 40% or lower.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the caustic heated water has a saturated liquid temperature of about 310° C. or lower.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system comprises a plurality of heat exchangers, each heat exchanger in an isolatable cleaning loop in communication with the caustic heated water loop, thereby allowing individual isolation of one or more heat exchangers with the caustic heated water loop for descaling the one or more isolated heat exchangers.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the system further comprises a pressure letdown valve for reducing the pressure of the blowdown before inlet to the heat exchanger to ensure the blowdown is at a pressure below an operating maximum of the heat exchanger.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the system further comprises a blowdown cleaning tank for removing precipitate from the blowdown following descaling of the heat exchanger.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the caustic heated water loop comprises valving allowing for the blowdown to be passed through the heat exchanger in either a direction of the process flow or in a reverse direction to the process flow.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein the system further comprises:

a blowdown exchanger in fluid communication with the blowdown loop for removing some heat from the blowdown and producing a secondary caustic blowdown having a lower steam quality than the blowdown generated by the steam separator; and

a secondary blowdown loop in fluid communication with the blowdown exchanger for collecting the secondary caustic blowdown, the secondary blowdown loop also in fluid communication with the one or more heat exchangers for directing the secondary caustic blowdown through the one or more heat exchangers for descaling the one or more heat exchangers.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the secondary caustic blowdown has a steam quality of 20% or lower.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the secondary caustic blowdown has a saturated liquid temperature of about 170° C. or lower.

13. A method of descaling a heat exchanger for use with produced water generated from a hydrocarbon production operation, the method comprising:

i) generating a caustic heated water from a hydrocarbon production operation;

ii) bringing the heat exchanger offline; and

iii) passing the caustic heated water through the heat exchanger.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

iv) reducing the pressure of the caustic heated water to a level below the operating threshold of the heat exchanger before step iii).

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the caustic heated water is blowdown generated from a steam generator/separator system.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the caustic heated water has a pH of about 10.5 or higher.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein step iii) is carried out for between about 1 and 12 hours.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein step iii) is carried out for between about 2 and 4 hours.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein step iii) is carried out for about 1 hour.