66 COOLING TOWERS Cooling of the process streams and the condensation of the vapours are important operations in the process industries; water is the commonly used coolant in majority of such operations. Huge quantities472 @ Mass Transfer: Theory and Applications of water are to be circulated through the plant cooling systems. For example, a tyPical large 3 processing 40,000 metric tonnes of crude oil per day requires cooling water sirelaion a a rage about 80,000 cubic metre per hour. Using such large quantities of water as i Fe pret cool uneconomical. Also, discarding such large amounts of warm water rie ee Units «5 e ocean, lake or river may create thermal pollution and is harmful 8, fis! = Auton or ism, Therefore, the recovery and reuse of water after cooling are also ipa ie ae . large reg, industries, power plants and air conditioning units. Cooling of water - Saf a as e 4 Ha lsh in cooling towers. The cooling towers are large diameter columns with sp. 8 of Packing desen to give good gas-liquid contact. The towers vary in size fro structures about 180 m tall and 100 m in diameter, Water reaches the cooling towers from different units in the oe noise he oe the cooling duty. The warm water is taken to the top of the tower, ds ti tie aie : Hd bY spray nozzles or a grid of notched troughs or pipes. The water trickles down o} he Fe = ngs and the air made to flow up or across the tower in direct contact with water. aoa ee a Contact with unsaturated air, part of the liquid evaporates and the liquid temperature ead . i 'er gets cooley and the air gets humidified and heated. The cooled water is collected in a cold water basin below the packed section from which it is pumped back to the process for performing cooling duties, Cooting towers offer the following advantages over ordinary tubular heat exchangers for water cooling 1, Heat exchangers are made of costly materials of construction; the cooling towers are built of inexpensive materials such as wood, brick, concrete, asbestos-board, etc. 2. Use of inexpensive coolant such as atmospheric air necessitates very large heat transfer area and consequently very expensive heat exchangers, because of the poor heat transfer coefficient of air. In cooling towers, the air is brought into direct contact with the water, which results in the evaporative cooling of the water, 3. Water can be cooled to temperatures as low as the wet-bulb temperature of the air admitted to the cooling tower. Even when the air is warmer than the water, water can be cooled by evaporation, provided the wet-bulb temperature is below the temperature of water. In contrast, the temperature ofthe water leaving a heat exchanger can never be brought down below the dry-bulb temperate of the incoming air. Based on the method of are classified into two broa absorbing heat while pero, generating and maintaining the air flow through the column, cooling toves je Power-driven fans to draw or force the air through the tower. In natural drt °y the buoyancy effect resulting from the difference ia side the tower and the cold denser ambient air outside alt cooling towers er ‘ a cet points fn ie hei tne counterion cont on ram Water is sprayed atthe top of the column ani frees eerie ¢ counterfiow cooling towers the air flow and the water flow are in the opposite directions; ait tave pbward through the packing also called fil, opposite tothe downward ee eects Tow Pe, the air flow isin the direction perpendicular to the ow cre oe ne WOE through the fills the water moves downward, The countertnes o ot S flow tower, but is ler fora given caput. Te pincial avon oe pressure drop in relations to its capacity and the lower fan power: aan = Afatural Draft Cooling Towers For large applications as in power plants, the natur is provided by the displacement of the warm air i nn if al draft cooling towers are often used. Natural inside the tower by the cooler outside ait: The ™ m small units to very large ype id types: natural draft and mechanical dra} cooling towers. Mechanical draft n heats ; . i ly ater; the air moves horizotilll |ese ee eee ses dense han he eae cyan cold outside ara the same pressure. This moa buoyancy nis ca current of ait through the tower. Because the pressure difference created by the density ef eo He pra imately proportional (0 the height ofthe (ower, tall chimneys are needed to facilitate the flow of ait. appM¥ 1 draft cooling towers consist of an emply shell constructed of ferro-conerete. The lower a ounting toapproximatcly 10 t0 12% of the total height is occupicd by the packings. Commonly, De grid packings are employed, on to which the water is sprayed by means of distributor sod Te empty upper portion scrves merely to increase the chat "The atmospheric conditions, the spe andl the quantity of the Water will influence the quantity, the velocity and the flow pattern ihe air trough the tower and hence affect the transfer coetficients between the gas and the liquid. ofthe prime considerations in the design, therefore, is to construct a tower such that the resistance spike air low is 1OW. Hence the packings and distributors are arranged in open formation. © jnihe counterflow type, air enters the tower through open rings around the bottom, flows up through sre packing materials over which the water is distributed, and finally goes up through the tower ney. The cross-flow type natural draft towers have a fill configuration in which, the air flows dicular to the water falling downward, Figure 6.12a shows schematically the crossflow natural tower and Fig. 6.12b the counterflow natural draft cooling tower. tim perpendicuh draft coo | t t i 1 Drift eliminators i i SSssssssssssi Warm water Water basin Rig. 6.12: Water basin Cold water out Schematic diagram of natural draft cooling tower (a) cross-flow type (b) counterflow type tt Plime, the stream of saturated exhaust air leaving the cooling tower sometimes appear as a Palin \when the water vapour present in it condenses as fog when it comes in contact with cooler ‘it The plume is frequently mistaken for smoke from a fire. The shells of the cooling towers Ally ofa shape corresponding to a hyperboloid of revolution conforming to the natural shape os a a lakes when flowing upward. Such a construction ensures good structural strength and Velo’ of material. The increase in the cross section towards the top causes a reduction in the ac With a consequent recovery of kinetic energy into pressure energy. The hyperboloid ms tatual deen accelerating the upward convective air flow, resulting in improved cooling efficiency, "ei pA towers are generally operated at a pressure difference of 50 N/m?, and a mean air rei Pally in the range 1-2 m/s above the packing, The flow of ar through a natural draft cooling ‘smented by means of fan in the hybrid type or fan assisted natural draft towers,Atmospheric cooling towers rn In the atmospheric towers (Fig. 6.13) the tower. air circulation is by the natural wind movement thro, [ Warm water in Ack, § Z—* Air out 8 yi Water basin Louvers —— Cold water out Fig. 6.13: Schematic diagram of atmospheric cooling tower Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers The mechanical draft towers, use the Power driven fan motors to force or draw the air tower. They fall into the following two types: forced draft cooling towers in which fan is mi the bottom of the tower and forces air movement through the tower, and induced draft coolir with the fan mounted at the top of the tower that drives the moist air out at the top. The advantage 4 the mechanical draft cooling towers i the natural draft cooling towers so by the construction entirely NE “F Fan ———! SSSSSSSS5SS 95555555555] Drift eliminators Fill Airin ~ Water Louvers L—» Cold water out — Cold water out Drift eliminators : a Fig. 6.14: (a) Induced draft cooling Fig. 6.14: (b) Induced dratt cooling towel towers cross-flow type counterflow typeHumidification Operations wg 475 tower and Fig. 6.14b the counterflow type induced draft tower. In the former, the air passes | de anally through the inclined beds of packings or fll, while the water flows downward. Slanted | nro event the escape of water drops to the outside. Angled baffles called the drift eliminators __ fee Fst ofthe droplets that are entrained in the exit ar. In the counterflow arrangement, water | cate down through 2 layer of fill and the air enters below the fill and flow up in the direction opposite iat of water. The arith climinators are provided above the packings to capture the physical entrainment of water droplets with air. The counterflow arrangement is found to be more efficient than the cross gow type and provides a closer temperature approach. MSynce the fan is a the air exit, the discharge velocity of the air is high and therefore the danger of | spe ieulation of the hot humid air back into the column through the air intake is eliminated. Also a aniform distribution of the air over the tower cross section is achieved. The fan is often located at the throat of @ yenturi-shaped cylinder that promotes smooth flow of the air to the fan and gives some pesare recovery inthe expanding section, vforced draft cooling towers | forced draft tower is schematically represented in Fig, 6.15. The fan mounted at the base of the tower foes ir through the tower with high entry and low discharge air velocities. The forced draft towers are smaller in size and can be installed in confined spaces and even indoor in some situations. Since the fan and drive are outside the tower, the inspection, maintenance and repair are Drifteliminators Air out convenient. Being away from the hot and humid taoto-t Wartsler ls exitpoint, the fan is not exposed to severe conditions bSSsssssssssssssssssssss| _I ofcomosions. However, due to the low discharge a velocity of the air the forced draft towers are 3 subjected to severe recirculation of the hot humid t a. "ait to the air intake which will result in poor SS g aria yerformance of the tower. Also being on the air intake, the fan is more susceptible to complications “~ Water basin such as icing in freezing weather conditions. 1+ Cold water out Another disadvantage is that a forced draft design Fig, 615: Schematic ofa forced draft cooling tower ‘pically requires more motor horsepower than the induced draft design of equivalent capacity.