Recapturing evaporative losses from cooling towers 1

[picsta]

Does anyone have any tips on processes for recapturing evaporative losses from cooling towers for reuse elsewhere? Looking at reducing water use in shopping centres. All suggestions most welcome

 

[SlideRuleEra]

My work with cooling towers has been with electric utility forced draft types. The evaporative losses are tremendous, but for a reason - the water vapor is carrying most of the heat energy out of the tower. To reduce water usage, you would have to dissipate the heat in someother way - defeating the purpose of this type tower.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

 

[dicksewerrat]

If you capture the water vapor from the tower and let it cool down, you could use it for plant watering outside the shopping center. Also might, might be able to use it in toilets and urinals. But never with any fixture that is connected to potable water system.

 

[quark]

I appreciate SlideRuleEra for his excellent understanding of a critical thermodynamic concept. Refer thread124-130143

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Thanks quark, once-upon-a-time I was a Mechanical Engineer. Have forgotten most of the "details" but do remember the gist of the Second Law of Thermodynamics - There is no free lunch. Excellent responses & quotes by you and others in the other thread.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

 

[bimr]

Contact SPX Technologies for information. There is technology available to do what you are interested in although it has higher capital and operating costs.

SPX Technologies is commercializing a new technology called the Air2Air Water Conservation Unit that offers another route to reduced water consumption. “The A2A unit is an additional heat exchanger mounted in the upper portion of a standard cooling tower that recondenses and returns up to 30 percent of the evaporated water to the cooling circuit,” said Ken Mortensen, manager, environmental programs, with SPX Cooling Technologies. “Compared to a standard tower, we have to install a larger structure and a series of patented fill packs. There is also slightly higher fan power usage to draw in the additional air to recondense the water.” Based on field studies conducted by SPX, the average power usage may be in the range of 113-300 MWh per MCF (million cubic feet) of recovered water.

When incorporated in new tower designs, the addition of the A2A unit may add 10 to 50 percent to the installation cost of the tower. “With the added ability to collect the recovered, pure water in a side stream, the A2A unit costing stacks up incredibly well compared to other pure water production units like reverse osmosis,” said Mortensen. “It is also an environmentally responsible solution in that it allows plant operators to utilize waste heat from the plant to generate pure water.” SPX has completed validation testing of the unit at its Kansas City research and development center and is planning the first scale field installation, on a heavily instrumented tower, at an operating power plant later this year.

http://pepei.pennnet.com/Articles/A...ion=ARTCL&ARTICLE_ID=233078&VERSION_NUM=2&p=6