What’s the first step in evaluating your cooling towers for possible inefficiencies?
There are two things that need to be understood in order to identify opportunities for improving cooling tower efficiency. Those two things are the quality of the makeup water and the current cycles of concentration (COC).
The primary indicator of cooling tower efficiency, with regard to water conservation, is cycles of concentration. The COC number indicates how many times water can be cycled through the cooling tower before it needs to be discarded. The optimum limit for maximum cycles under conventional chemical treatment programs is largely determined by local water quality. If the makeup is provided by a municipal water treatment plant, they will be able to provide the chemical analysis of the water supply. Otherwise, your water treatment vendor can provide a typical water analysis. Using this information, the recommended maximum COC can be determined from the scale-forming impurities in the makeup.
The water treatment vendor can perform this calculation for you, but we developed the Cycles of Concentration Calculator so you can do it yourself. Overall, the tool is intended to provide a starting point for determining the maximum cycles of concentration based on the local water quality. If you are operating your cooling tower at less than 10 COC, it is important to understand why. If the current cycles are below the recommended maximum cycles, there is an opportunity for improvement using conventional water treatment. If the cycles are at or near the recommend maximum, then using alternative water treatment technology such as water softeners or filtration systems may enable you to raise the cycles even higher. Working with your water treatment vendor and letting them know that water efficiency is a priority will be key in selecting the most efficient program for the site.
Article by: Bill Harfst from the AT&T-EDF project team.
Want to learn more about maximizing your cooling tower efficiency and/or your system performance? Let’s connect! Info@temp.setpointsystems.com