COOLING TOWERS

Classification by use
Cooling towers can generally be classified by use into either HVAC (air-conditioning) or
industrial duty as suggested by Rantael, Rogellito and Stronghold, April in the book The
Mystery of Cooling Towers Unfolded.

[edit] HVAC

An HVAC cooling tower is a subcategory rejecting heat from a chiller. Water-cooled chillers
are normally more energy efficient than air-cooled chillers due to heat rejection to tower
water at or near wet-bulb temperatures. Air-cooled chillers must reject heat at the dry-bulb
temperature, and thus have a lower average reverse-Carnot cycle effectiveness. Large office
buildings, hospitals, and schools typically use one or more cooling towers as part of their air
conditioning systems. Generally, industrial cooling towers are much larger than HVAC
towers.

HVAC use of a cooling tower pairs the cooling tower with a water-cooled chiller or water-
cooled condenser. A ton of air-conditioning is the removal of 12,000 Btu/hour (3517 W). The
equivalent ton on the cooling tower side actually rejects about 15,000 Btu/hour (4396 W) due
to the heat-equivalent of the energy needed to drive the chiller's compressor. This equivalent
ton is defined as the heat rejection in cooling 3 U.S. gallons/minute (1,500 pound/hour) of
water 10 °F (5.56 °C), which amounts to 15,000 Btu/hour, or a chiller coefficient-of-
performance (COP) of 4.0. This COP is equivalent to an energy efficiency ratio (EER) of
13.65.

[edit] Industrial cooling towers

Industrial cooling towers can be used to remove heat from various sources such as machinery
or heated process material. The primary use of large, industrial cooling towers is to remove
the heat absorbed in the circulating cooling water systems used in power plants, petroleum
refineries, petrochemical plants, natural gas processing plants, food processing plants, semi-
conductor plants, and for other industrial facilities such as in condensers of distillation
columns, for cooling liquid in crystallization, etc.[2] The circulation rate of cooling water in a
typical 700 MW coal-fired power plant with a cooling tower amounts to about 71,600 cubic
metres an hour (315,000 U.S. gallons per minute)[3] and the circulating water requires a
supply water make-up rate of perhaps 5 percent (i.e., 3,600 cubic metres an hour).

If that same plant had no cooling tower and used once-through cooling water, it would
require about 100,000 cubic metres an hour [4] and that amount of water would have to be
continuously returned to the ocean, lake or river from which it was obtained and continuously
re-supplied to the plant. Furthermore, discharging large amounts of hot water may raise the
temperature of the receiving river or lake to an unacceptable level for the local ecosystem.
Elevated water temperatures can kill fish and other aquatic organisms. (See thermal
pollution.) A cooling tower serves to dissipate the heat into the atmosphere instead and wind
and air diffusion spreads the heat over a much larger area than hot water can distribute heat in
a body of water. Some coal-fired and nuclear power plants located in coastal areas do make
use of once-through ocean water. But even there, the offshore discharge water outlet requires
very careful design to avoid environmental problems.

Petroleum refineries also have very large cooling tower systems. A typical large refinery
processing 40,000 metric tonnes of crude oil per day (300,000 barrels per day) circulates
about 80,000 cubic metres of water per hour through its cooling tower system.

The world's tallest cooling tower is the 200 metre tall cooling tower of Niederaussem Power
Station.

[edit] Heat transfer methods

Mechanical draft crossflow cooling tower used in an HVAC application

With respect to the heat transfer mechanism employed, the main types are:

 Wet cooling towers or simply cooling towers operate on the principle of evaporation.
The working fluid and the evaporated fluid (usually H2O) are one and the same.
 Dry coolers operate by heat transfer through a surface that separates the working fluid
from ambient air, such as in a heat exchanger, utilizing convective heat transfer. They
do not use evaporation.
 Fluid coolers are hybrids that pass the working fluid through a tube bundle, upon
which clean water is sprayed and a fan-induced draft applied. The resulting heat
transfer performance is much closer to that of a wet cooling tower, with the advantage
provided by a dry cooler of protecting the working fluid from environmental
exposure.

In a wet cooling tower, the warm water can be cooled to a temperature lower than the
ambient air dry-bulb temperature, if the air is relatively dry. (see: dew point and
psychrometrics). As ambient air is drawn past a flow of water, evaporation occurs.
Evaporation results in saturated air conditions, lowering the temperature of the water to the
wet bulb air temperature, which is lower than the ambient dry bulb air temperature, the
difference determined by the humidity of the ambient air.

To achieve better performance (more cooling), a medium called fill is used to increase the
surface area between the air and water flows. Splash fill consists of material placed to
interrupt the water flow causing splashing. Film fill is composed of thin sheets of material
upon which the water flows. Both methods create increased surface area.

[edit] Air flow generation methods

A forced draft cooling tower

With respect to drawing air through the tower, there are three types of cooling towers:

 Natural draft, which utilizes buoyancy via a tall chimney. Warm, moist air naturally
rises due to the density differential to the dry, cooler outside air. Warm moist air is
less dense than drier air at the same pressure. This moist air buoyancy produces a
current of air through the tower.
 Mechanical draft, which uses power driven fan motors to force or draw air through
the tower.
o Induced draft: A mechanical draft tower with a fan at the discharge which
pulls air through tower. The fan induces hot moist air out the discharge. This
produces low entering and high exiting air velocities, reducing the possibility
of recirculation in which discharged air flows back into the air intake. This
fan/fin arrangement is also known as draw-through. (see Image 2, 3)
o Forced draft: A mechanical draft tower with a blower type fan at the intake.
The fan forces air into the tower, creating high entering and low exiting air
velocities. The low exiting velocity is much more susceptible to recirculation.
With the fan on the air intake, the fan is more susceptible to complications due
to freezing conditions. Another disadvantage is that a forced draft design
typically requires more motor horsepower than an equivalent induced draft
design. The forced draft benefit is its ability to work with high static pressure.
They can be installed in more confined spaces and even in some indoor
situations. This fan/fill geometry is also known as blow-through. (see Image 4)
 Fan assisted natural draft. A hybrid type that appears like a natural draft though
airflow is assisted by a fan.

Hyperboloid (a.k.a. hyperbolic) cooling towers (Image 1) have become the design standard
for all natural-draft cooling towers because of their structural strength and minimum usage of
material. The hyperboloid shape also aids in accelerating the upward convective air flow,
improving cooling efficiency. They are popularly associated with nuclear power plants.
However, this association is misleading, as the same kind of cooling towers are often used at
large coal-fired power plants as well. Similarly, not all nuclear power plants have cooling
towers, instead cooling their heat exchangers with lake, river or ocean water.

[edit] Categorization by air-to-water flow

[edit] Crossflow

Crossflow is a design in which the air flow is directed perpendicular to the water flow (see
diagram below). Air flow enters one or more vertical faces of the cooling tower to meet the
fill material. Water flows (perpendicular to the air) through the fill by gravity. The air
continues through the fill and thus past the water flow into an open plenum area. A
distribution or hot water basin consisting of a deep pan with holes or nozzles in the bottom is
utilized in a crossflow tower. Gravity distributes the water through the nozzles uniformly
across the fill material.

[edit] Counterflow

In a counterflow design the air flow is directly opposite to the water flow (see diagram
below). Air flow first enters an open area beneath the fill media and is then drawn up
vertically. The water is sprayed through pressurized nozzles and flows downward through the
fill, opposite to the air flow.
Common to both designs:

 The interaction of the air and water flow allow a partial equalization and evaporation
of water.
 The air, now saturated with water vapor, is discharged from the cooling tower.
 A collection or cold water basin is used to contain the water after its interaction with
the air flow.

Both crossflow and counterflow designs can be used in natural draft and mechanical draft
cooling towers.

[edit] Cooling tower as a flue gas stack

At some modern power stations, equipped with flue gas purification like the Power Station
Staudinger Grosskrotzenburg and the Power Station Rostock, the cooling tower is also used
as a flue gas stack (industrial chimney). At plants without flue gas purification, problems with
corrosion may occur.

Base of a cooling tower with falling water

[edit] Wet cooling tower material balance
Quantitatively, the material balance around a wet, evaporative cooling tower system is
governed by the operational variables of makeup flow rate, evaporation and windage losses,
draw-off rate, and the concentration cycles:[5]

M = Make-up water in m³/h

C = Circulating water in m³/h
D = Draw-off water in m³/h
E = Evaporated water in m³/h
W = Windage loss of water in m³/h
X = Concentration in ppmw (of any completely soluble salts … usually chlorides)
XM = Concentration of chlorides in make-up water (M), in ppmw
XC = Concentration of chlorides in circulating water (C), in ppmw
Cycles = Cycles of concentration = XC / XM (dimensionless)
ppmw = parts per million by weight

In the above sketch, water pumped from the tower basin is the cooling water routed through
the process coolers and condensers in an industrial facility. The cool water absorbs heat from
the hot process streams which need to be cooled or condensed, and the absorbed heat warms
the circulating water (C). The warm water returns to the top of the cooling tower and trickles
downward over the fill material inside the tower. As it trickles down, it contacts ambient air
rising up through the tower either by natural draft or by forced draft using large fans in the
tower. That contact causes a small amount of the water to be lost as windage (W) and some
of the water (E) to evaporate. The heat required to evaporate the water is derived from the
water itself, which cools the water back to the original basin water temperature and the water
is then ready to recirculate. The evaporated water leaves its dissolved salts behind in the bulk
of the water which has not been evaporated, thus raising the salt concentration in the
circulating cooling water. To prevent the salt concentration of the water from becoming too
high, a portion of the water is drawn off (D) for disposal. Fresh water makeup (M) is supplied
to the tower basin to compensate for the loss of evaporated water, the windage loss water and
the draw-off water.

A water balance around the entire system is:

M=E+D+W

Since the evaporated water (E) has no salts, a chloride balance around the system is:

M (XM) = D (XC) + W (XC) = XC (D + W)

and, therefore:

XC / XM = Cycles of concentration = M ÷ (D + W) = M ÷ (M – E) = 1 + [E ÷ (D +
W)]

From a simplified heat balance around the cooling tower:

E = C · ΔT · cp ÷ HV
where:  
HV = latent heat of vaporization of water = ca. 2260 kJ / kg
ΔT = water temperature difference from tower top to tower bottom, in °C
cp = specific heat of water = ca. 4.184 kJ / (kg °C)

Windage (or drift) losses (W) from large-scale industrial cooling towers, in the absence of
manufacturer's data, may be assumed to be:

W = 0.3 to 1.0 percent of C for a natural draft cooling tower without windage drift
eliminators
W = 0.1 to 0.3 percent of C for an induced draft cooling tower without windage drift
eliminators
W = about 0.005 percent of C (or less) if the cooling tower has windage drift
eliminators

Cycles of concentration represents the accumulation of dissolved minerals in the recirculating

cooling water. Draw-off (or blowdown) is used principally to control the buildup of these
minerals.

The chemistry of the makeup water including the amount of dissolved minerals can vary
widely. Makeup waters low in dissolved minerals such as those from surface water supplies
(lakes, rivers etc.) tend to be aggressive to metals (corrosive). Makeup waters from ground
water supplies (wells) are usually higher in minerals and tend to be scaling (deposit
minerals). Increasing the amount of minerals present in the water by cycling can make water
less aggressive to piping however excessive levels of minerals can cause scaling problems.
As the cycles of concentration increase the water may not be able to hold the minerals in
solution. When the solubility of these minerals have been exceeded they can precipitate out
as mineral solids and cause fouling and heat exchange problems in the cooling tower or the
heat exchangers. The temperatures of the recirculating water, piping and heat exchange
surfaces determine if and where minerals will precipitate from the recirculating water. Often
a professional water treatment consultant will evaluate the makeup water and the operating
conditions of the cooling tower and recommend an appropriate range for the cycles of
concentration. The use of water treatment chemicals, pretreatment such as water softening,
pH adjustment, and other techniques can affect the acceptable range of cycles of
concentration.

Concentration cycles in the majority of cooling towers usually range from 3 to 7. In the
United States the majority of water supplies are well waters and have significant levels of
dissolved solids. On the other hand one of the largest water supplies, New York City, has a
surface supply quite low in minerals and cooling towers in that city are often allowed to
concentrate to 7 or more cycles of concentration.

Besides treating the circulating cooling water in large industrial cooling tower systems to
minimize scaling and fouling, the water should be filtered and also be dosed with biocides
and algaecides to prevent growths that could interfere with the continuous flow of the water.
[5]
For closed loop evaporative towers, corrosion inhibitors may be used, but caution should
be taken to meet local environmental regulations as some inhibitors use chromates.

Ambient conditions dictate the efficiency of any given tower due to the amount of water
vapor the air is able to absorb and hold, as can be determined on a psychrometric chart.

[edit] Cooling towers and Legionnaires' disease

Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant

Further information: Legionellosis and Legionella

Another very important reason for using biocides in cooling towers is to prevent the growth
of Legionella, including species that cause legionellosis or Legionnaires' disease, most
notably L. pneumophila.[6] The various Legionella species are the cause of Legionnaires'
disease in humans and transmission is via exposure to aerosols—the inhalation of mist
droplets containing the bacteria. Common sources of Legionella include cooling towers used
in open recirculating evaporative cooling water systems, domestic hot water systems,
fountains, and similar disseminators that tap into a public water supply. Natural sources
include freshwater ponds and creeks.
French researchers found that Legionella spread through the air up to 6 kilometres from a
large contaminated cooling tower at a petrochemical plant in Pas-de-Calais, France. That
outbreak killed 21 of the 86 people that had a laboratory-confirmed infection.[7]

Drift (or windage) is the term for water droplets of the process flow allowed to escape in the
cooling tower discharge. Drift eliminators are used in order to hold drift rates typically to
0.001%-0.005% of the circulating flow rate. A typical drift eliminator provides multiple
directional changes of airflow while preventing the escape of water droplets. A well-designed
and well-fitted drift eliminator can greatly reduce water loss and potential for Legionella or
other chemical exposure.

Many governmental agencies, cooling tower manufacturers and industrial trade organizations
have developed design and maintenance guidelines for preventing or controlling (by using
Neosens FS sensor for example, the growth of Legionella in cooling towers. Below is a list of
sources for such guidelines:

 Centers for Disease Control and PreventionPDF (1.35 MB) - Procedure for Cleaning

Cooling Towers and Related Equipment (pages 239 and 240 of 249)
 Cooling Technology InstitutePDF (240 KB) - Best Practices for Control of Legionella,
July, 2006
 Association of Water TechnologiesPDF (964 KB) - Legionella 2003
 California Energy CommissionPDF (194 KB) - Cooling Water Management Program
Guidelines For Wet and Hybrid Cooling Towers at Power Plants
 SPX Cooling TechnologiesPDF (119 KB) - Cooling Towers Maintenance Procedures
 SPX Cooling TechnologiesPDF (789 KB) - ASHRAE Guideline 12-2000 - Minimizing
the Risk of Legionellosis
 SPX Cooling TechnologiesPDF (83.1 KB) - Cooling Tower Inspection Tips {especially
page 3 of 7}
 Tower Tech Modular Cooling TowersPDF (109 KB) - Legionella Control
 GE Infrastructure Water & Process Technologies Betz DearbornPDF (195 KB) -
Chemical Water Treatment Recommendations For Reduction of Risks Associated
with Legionella in Open Recirculating Cooling Water Systems

[edit] Cooling tower fog

Under certain ambient conditions, plumes of water vapor (fog) can be seen rising out of the
discharge from a cooling tower (see Image 1), and can be mistaken as smoke from a fire. If
the outdoor air is at or near saturation, and the tower adds more water to the air, saturated air
with liquid water droplets can be discharged—what is seen as fog. This phenomenon
typically occurs on cool, humid days, but is rare in many climates.

[edit] Cooling Tower Operation In Freezing Weather

Cooling towers with malfunctions can freeze during very cold weather. Typically, freezing
starts at the corners of a cooling tower with a reduced or absent heat load. Increased freezing
conditions can create growing volumes of ice, resulting in increased structural loads. During
the winter, some sites continuously operate cooling towers with 40 °F (4 °C) water leaving
the tower. Basin heaters, tower draindown, and other freeze protection methods are often
employed in cold climates.
  Do not operate the tower unattended.

 Do not operate the tower without a heat load. This can include basin heaters and heat
trace. Basin heaters maintain the temperature of the water in the tower pan at an
acceptable level. Heat trace is a resistive element that runs along water pipes located
in cold climates to prevent freezing.

 Maintain design water flow rate over the fill.

 Manipulate airflow to maintain water temperature above freezing point.[8]

[edit] Some commonly used terms in the cooling tower

industry
 Drift - Water droplets that are carried out of the cooling tower with the exhaust air.
Drift droplets have the same concentration of impurities as the water entering the
tower. The drift rate is typically reduced by employing baffle-like devices, called drift
eliminators, through which the air must travel after leaving the fill and spray zones of
the tower. Drift can also be reduced by using warmer entering cooling tower
temperatures.

 Blow-out - Water droplets blown out of the cooling tower by wind, generally at the
air inlet openings. Water may also be lost, in the absence of wind, through splashing
or misting. Devices such as wind screens, louvers, splash deflectors and water
diverters are used to limit these losses.

 Plume - The stream of saturated exhaust air leaving the cooling tower. The plume is
visible when water vapor it contains condenses in contact with cooler ambient air, like
the saturated air in one's breath fogs on a cold day. Under certain conditions, a cooling
tower plume may present fogging or icing hazards to its surroundings. Note that the
water evaporated in the cooling process is "pure" water, in contrast to the very small
percentage of drift droplets or water blown out of the air inlets.

 Blow-down - The portion of the circulating water flow that is removed in order to
maintain the amount of dissolved solids and other impurities at an acceptable level. It
may be noted that higher TDS (total dissolved solids) concentration in solution results
in greater potential cooling tower efficiency. However the higher the TDS
concentration, the greater the risk of scale, biological growth and corrosion.

 Leaching - The loss of wood preservative chemicals by the washing action of the
water flowing through a wood structure cooling tower.

 Noise - Sound energy emitted by a cooling tower and heard (recorded) at a given
distance and direction. The sound is generated by the impact of falling water, by the
movement of air by fans, the fan blades moving in the structure, and the motors,
gearboxes or drive belts.

 Approach - The approach is the difference in temperature between the cooled-water

temperature and the entering-air wet bulb temperature (twb). Since the cooling towers
 are based on the principles of evaporative cooling, the maximum cooling tower
efficiency depends on the wet bulb temperature of the air. The wet-bulb temperature
is a type of temperature measurement that reflects the physical properties of a system
with a mixture of a gas and a vapor, usually air and water vapor

 Range - The range is the temperature difference between the water inlet and water
exit.

 Fill - Inside the tower, fills are added to increase contact surface as well as contact
time between air and water. Thus they provide better heat transfer. The efficiency of
the tower also depends on them. There are two types of fills that may be used:
o Film type fill (causes water to spread into a thin film)
o Splash type fill (breaks up water and interrupts its vertical progress)

[edit] Fire hazards

Cooling towers which are constructed in whole or in part of combustible materials can
support propagating internal fires. The resulting damage can be sufficiently severe to require
the replacement of the entire cell or tower structure. For this reason, some codes and
standards[9] recommend combustible cooling towers be provided with an automatic fire
sprinkler system. Fires can propagate internally within the tower structure during
maintenance when the cell is not in operation (such as for maintenance or construction), and
even when the tower is in operation, especially those of the induced-draft type because of the
existence of relatively dry areas within the towers[10].

[edit] Stability

Ferrybridge power station

Being very large structures, they are susceptible to wind damage, and several spectacular
failures have occurred in the past. At Ferrybridge power station on 1 November 1965, the
station was the site of a major structural failure, when three of the cooling towers collapsed
due to vibrations in 85mph winds. Although the structures had been built to withstand higher
wind speeds, the shape of the cooling towers meant that westerly winds were funnelled into
the towers themselves, creating a vortex. Three out of the original eight cooling towers were
destroyed and the remaining five were severely damaged. The towers were rebuilt and all
eight cooling towers were strengthened to tolerate adverse weather conditions. Building
codes were changed to include improved structural support, and wind tunnel tests introduced
to check tower structures and configuration