Heat Transfer Operations

Introduction
Cooling towers are heat rejection devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to reject process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the drybulb air temperature. Common applications include cooling the circulating water used in oil refineries, chemical plants, power plants and building cooling. The towers vary in size from small roof-top units to very large hyperboloid structures.

Cooling Tower
Asst.Prof.Dr.Sirirat Wacharawichanant
Department of Chemical Engineering Silpakorn University

Introduction

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Introduction

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In a typical water-cooling tower, warm water flows countercurrent to an air stream. Typically, the warm water enters the top of a packed tower and cascades down through the packing, leaving at the bottom. Air enters at the bottom of the tower and flows upward through the descending water. The tower packing often consists of slats of plastic or a packed bed. The water is distributed by troughs and overflows to cascade over slat gratings or packing that provides large interfacial areas of contact between the water and air in the form of droplets and films of water.

The flow of air upward through the tower can be induced by the buoyancy of the warm air in the tower or by the action of a fan. The water cannot be cooled below the wet bulb temperature. The driving force for the evaporation of the water is approximately the vapor pressure of the water less the vapor pressure it would have at the wet bulb temperature . The water can be cooled only to the wet bulb temperature, and in practice it is cooled to about 3 K or more above this.

Introduction

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Categorization by air-to-water flow

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.
Figure 1 Crossflow.

Only amount of water is lost by evaporation in cooling water. Since the latent heat of vaporization of water is about 2300 kJ/kg, typical change of about 8 K in water temperature corresponds to an evaporation loss of about 1.5%. Hence, the total flow of water is usually assumed to be constant in calculations of tower size.

Categorization by air-to-water flow

Crossflow

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Categorization by air-to-water flow

Counterflow

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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.

Figure 2 Counterflow.

In a counterflow design the air flow is directly opposite of the water flow. 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.

Theory and Calculations for Water-Cooling Towers

Temperature and concentration profiles at interface
In Fig. (10.5-1) the temperature profile and concentration profile in terms of humidity are shown at the water-gas interface. Water vapor diffuses from the interface to the bulk gas phase with a driving force in the gas phase of (Hi-HG) kg H2O/kg dry air. There is no driving force for mass transfer in the liquid phase, since water is a pure liquid. The temperature driving force is TL-Ti in the liquid phase and Ti-TG K or C in the gas phase.

Theory and Calculations for Water-Cooling Towers

Temperature and concentration profiles at interface

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Figure 10.5-1 Temperature and conversion profiles in vapor part of cooling tower.

Theory and Calculations for Water-Cooling Towers

Temperature and concentration profiles at interface

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Theory and Calculations for Water-Cooling Towers

Temperature and concentration profiles at interface

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Sensible heat flows from the bulk liquid to the interface in the liquid. Sensible heat also flows from the interface to the gas phase. Latter heat also leaves the interface in the water vapor, diffusing to the gas phase. The sensible heat flow from the liquid to the interface equals the sensible heat flow in the gas plus the latent heat flow in the gas.

The conditions in Fig. 10.5-1 occur at the upper part of the cooling tower. In the lower part of the cooling tower, the temperature of the bulk water is higher than the wet bulb temperature of the air but may be below the dry bulb temperature. Then the direction of the sensible heat flow in Fig. (10.5-1) is reversed.

Theory and Calculations for Water-Cooling Towers

Rate equations for heat and mass transfer

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Theory and Calculations for Water-Cooling Towers

Rate equations for heat and mass transfer

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We shall consider a packed water-cooling tower with air flowing upward and water countercurrently downward in the tower. The total interfacial area between the air and water phases is unknown, since the surface area of the packing is not equal to the interfacial area between the water droplets and the air. Hence, we define a quantity a, defined as m2 of interfacial area per m3 volume of packed section or m2/m3.

This is combined with the gas-phase mass-transfer coefficient kG in kg mol/sm2Pa or kg mol/sm2atm to give a volumetric coefficient kGa in kg mol/sm3 volumePa or kg mol/sm3 atm. This process is carried out adiabatically; the various streams and conditions are shown in Fig. (10.5-2).

Theory and Calculations for Water-Cooling Towers

Rate equations for heat and mass transfer

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L = water flow, kg water/sm2 TL = temperature of water, C or K G = dry air flow, kg/sm2 TG = temperature of air, C or K H = humidity of air, kg water/kg dry air Hy = enthalpy of air-water vapor mixture, J/kg dry air
Figure 10.5-2 Continuous countercurrent adiabatic water cooling.