Jorge Pombo
MIT Department: Nuclear Science and Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Prof. Koroush Shirvan
Research Supervisor: Andrea Fazi, Arunkumar Sesgadri, Eric Forret
Undergraduate Institution: Florida International University
Website:
Biography
Jorge Pombo is a senior mechanical engineering student at Florida InternationalUniversity. Born and raised in the Sunshine State, he has been a firsthand witness to the early effects of climate change, primarily caused by the energy sector’s burning of fossil fuels and massive emissions of carbon dioxide. When presenting research from his previous NASA internship at the 2024 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, he was exposed to the desperate need for clean, sustainable energy technologies to mitigate the progress of global warming. This prompted Jorge to pursue a research career in nuclear energy because of its potential as a commercially scalable, carbon-free energy source capable of meeting the world’s growing energy demands. Jorge aspires to focus his Ph.D. on radiation damage to materials under reactor conditions and ultimately become a professor researching nuclear energy to help decarbonize the energy industry.
Abstract
Understanding the Behavior of Fouling in Compact Heat Exchangers
Jorge Pombo1, Andrea Fazi2, and Koroush Shirvan2
1Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Florida International University
2Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Whether it's cooling a car engine, keeping the house warm, or pasteurizing milk, these processes are all facilitated by heat exchangers (HXs): devices that enable two fluids to transfer heat without mixing. Compact heat exchangers (CHXs) are a newer class of HXs that tightly pack heat transferring surfaces into a small space, allowing more heat to move at once. Their high efficiency and low spatial footprint have reduced costs and energy losses across several industries. The nuclear sector has a particular interest in CHXs because of their enhanced thermal performance, potentially allowing modern and next-generation reactors to produce more power than systems using traditional HX. However, the increased surface density and smaller channels of CHXs make these devices especially prone to fouling, a common problem in which foreign materials accumulate on their surfaces.
This phenomenon creates a bottleneck for heat transfer. Deposits on the interior walls of HXs develop thermal resistance, which reduces heat exchange efficiency, elevates differential pressure, and obstructs flow if left untreated. This study investigates the behavior of fouling on various CHX substrate materials. The collected experimental data is used to refine and validate a numerical optimization study for CHX design, aimed at mitigating this performance-limiting phenomenon.