Presented By:

Sawinder Singh
Sr. Manager(Prod.)

Introduction

Types of cooling towers

Essential cooling tower treatment

Scale control

Corrosion control

Microbiological Control

Main Features of Cooling Towers

Drift eliminators: capture droplets in air stream

Air inlet: entry point of air

Louvers: equalize air flow into the fill and retain

water within tower

Nozzles: spray water to wet the fill

Fans: deliver air flow in the tower

Natural Draft Cooling Towers

Hot air moves through tower

Fresh cool air is drawn into the tower from

bottom

No fan required

Concrete tower <200 m

Used for large heat duties

 Air drawn across

falling water
Fill located outside
tower

Cross flow

Air drawn up
through falling
water
Fill located
inside tower

Counter flow

Natural Draft Cooling Towers

Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers

Large fans to force air through
circulated water
Water falls over fill surfaces:
maximum heat transfer
Cooling rates depend on many
parameters
Large range of capacities
Can be grouped, e.g. 8-cell tower
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Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers

Three types
Forced draft
Induced draft cross flow
Induced draft counter flow

Forced Draft Cooling Towers

Air blown through tower

by centrifugal fan at air
inlet

Advantages: suited for

high air resistance &
fans are relatively quiet

Disadvantages:
recirculation due to high
air-entry and low airexit velocities

Induced Draft Cooling Towers

Two types
Cross flow
Counter flow
Advantage: less recirculation than forced
draft towers
Disadvantage: fans and motor drive
mechanism require weather-proof

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Induced Draft Counter Flow CT

Hot water enters at the top

Air enters at bottom and exits at top

Uses forced and induced draft fans

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Induced Draft Cross Flow CT

Water enters top and passes over fill

Air enters on one side or opposite sides

Induced draft fan draws air across fill

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To Control Corrosion
To Prevent Scale
To Control Algae and Bacterial Growth
To extend equipment life and efficiency

Water is an excellent solvent, it carries many impurities.

Natural waters contain significant amounts of minerals
like calcium and magnesium.
Natural waters typically contain significant amounts of
oxygen.
Water, particularly warm water, is a great environment
for living micro-organism

Any material that is or becomes dissolved in water is

referred to as a dissolved solid, or solids.
Common Dissolved
Solids
Calcium and Magnesium
Salts, aka Hardness
Iron
Copper
Sulfates
Phosphates
Silica and Silicates

It is the deposition of sparingly soluble salts present in water.

In the open recirculatory system, the salts in the water get

continuously concentrated due to evaporation in cooling
tower. When water containing high concentration of these
salts come into contact with the metal surface at high skin
temperature in a heat exchanger the salts tend to precipitate
and form adherent deposits.

These scales have very poor thermal conductivity and resist

the heat transfer and lower the efficiency of heat exchanger.

Some of the common scales forming salts are:

Calcium Carbonates.
Calcium Sulphate
Silicates of Scales
Calcium orthophosphate
Magnesium Salts
Iron Salts etc.

Factors that affects Scaling:

Temperature:

The common scalant found in cooling water

are CaCO3 & CaSO4. Their solubility decreases with the increase
in temperature.
pH

or Alkalinity: The Solubility of CaCO3 decreases with

the increase of pH hence increases the scale formation

Fouling

in Cooling water is defined as the deposition of

suspended matter other than sparingly soluble salts. Fouling
includes the deposition of material such as corrosion
product, fly ash, and microbial growth.
Fouling

is normally observed in the low velocity areas of

cooling water.

Some of the common foul ants are:

Dirt & Slit
Sand & Fly ash
Corrosion products & Natural organics
Microbial growth

Scale Control Hinges on a Few Key Issues

Understanding the mineral content of the raw
water
Proper and complete Bleed Off
Maintaining system water alkalinity in Scale
Safe zone
Consistent addition of scale inhibitors
Consistent addition of scale dispersants

Corrosion is the gradual destruction of material (usually metals)

by chemical reaction with its environment.

Corrosion is the deterioration of a metal as a result of chemical

reaction between it and the environment.

Corrosion is an electrochemical process by which a metal

returns to its natural state, for corrosion to occur, a corrosion
cell consisting of an anode; a cathode and an electrolyte must
exist. At the anode, metal ions dissolve in to the electrolyte. As
the metal ions go into solution at the anode, electrons are left
behind, which migrates towards cathode, where the cathodic
reaction takes place i.e. electrons are consumed.

Anodic Reaction
Fe = Fe++ + 2e-

Cathodic reaction
O2 + 2H2O + 4e = 4OH- (Natural aerated water)
The hydroxide formed at the cathode combine with ferrous
cations.
Fe++ + 2OH- = Fe (OH) 2 (Ferrous hydroxide)
Fe (OH) 2 = FeO + H2O
=Fe2O3 + 2H2O
(rust)

Ferrous hydroxide has very low solubility and precipitates

as a white flock at the metal water interface, where it is
rapidly oxidized to ferric hydroxide. Ferric hydroxide
under cooling water condition losses water & produces
ferric oxide as the corrosion product. The net result of this
activity is the loss of metal and then formation of deposit.

Characteristics influence the rate of corrosion:

1.)pH: The Corrosion potential increases as pH decreases.

2.)Oxygen & other dissolved gases :

Presence of Oxygen and other dissolved gases such as CO2,
NH3, H2S and Cl2 etc. increase the corrosion potential.

3.) Dissolved & Suspended Solids:

Normally, higher solid content would mean increased
corrosion potential due to higher conductivity .However; it
is just the reverse because the hardness of the solids present
in the water forms a passive film on the surface of the metal
which acts as an inhibitor to corrosion. This is the reason,
why soft water is more corrosive to hard water. Suspended
salts influence corrosion by erosive or abrasive action. They
can also settle on metal surface producing localized
corrosive cell.

4.) Microbial Growth:

Microbial growth promotes the formation of corrosive cells
and also the by products of some organisms are corrosive.

5.) Velocity:
In high velocity and turbulent water oxygen is rapidly
distributed and passivation layer of corrosion inhibitors
ore often removed resulting in increased corrosion High
velocity can also lead to erosive of metals surface
protective film & oxide. At the same time, low velocity can
lead to deposition and give rise to localized corrosion cells
causing under deposit corrosion.

6) Temperature:
Increase in temperature increase the diffusion of O2 &
increases the Corrosion. Above the temperature loss of
dissolved O2 exceeds and corrosion decreases.

Uniform Corrosion (General Corrosion):The metal loss is uniform from the surface; often occurs
with the high velocity of the fluid causing erosion.

Pitting Corrosion:The metal loss is randomly located on the metal surface.

Often occurs with stagnant fluid or in area with low
velocity or under deposit corrosion.

Galvanic Corrosion:
When two metals with different electrode potential are
connected in a corrosive electrolytic environment. The
anodic metal develops deep pits and groves on the surface.

Crevice Corrosion: It occurs at places with gaskets, bolts and lap joints. Crevice
corrosion creates pits similar to pitting corrosion.

Under deposit Corrosion:

It occurs below the deposit layer due to scaling or fouling on
metal surface. Initially when the deposit layer forms on the
metal surface, Oxygen under deposit is consumed by the
normal corrosion reaction. The O2 concentration beneath
the deposit goes on continuously decreasing as the fresh
oxygen from the water is hindered by the deposit and hence
the area area under deposit becomes anodic compared to
the surrounding metal. Corrosion thus produced is the
pitting type corrosion anaerobic bacteria which grow under
the deposit lead to severe corrosion

Cooling towers are an excellent example of water systems

that provide optimum conditions for microbial growth.
Temperature & pH are usually within the ideal ranges and
generally there is an abundance of nutrients required for
their growth such as organic matter, inorganic salts and
sun light. Under these conditions, it is conceivable that
bacterial concentration may increase by six million times
while during the same time , inorganic salts may
concentrate only six times.
Micro organism enter the cooling tower through the
sources. They may be present in the makeup water or in
the dust and air which enter the cooling tower.
The major problems of the microbes are:Algae.
Fungi
Bacteria

Algae:- Air ,water and sunlight are the basic requirements for
algae growth. The distribution cells and side walls of a cooling
tower full fill all these requirements and therefore represent an
excellent growth environment for algae. Excess growth of algae
can lead to choked pipe lines, nozzles etc hampering efficient
distribution of water in the cooling tower.
All algae produce Oxygen which depolarize the corrosion
reaction and accelerate the system destruction.
Algae also produce slime which acts as nutrients for other microorganism.
Fungi:- Fungi lack chlorophyll and are therefore nonphotosynthetic, resulting in dependence on nutrients provided
by organic matter. In CW system, fungi can use wood as a source
of nutrients and can destroy wood.
Fungi reproduce by forming spore (single cell). Spores can
remain dormant(inactive) for a long time and proliferate 9To
produce cells rapidly) when conditions become favorable In the
dormant state they harmless. Spores are generally resistance to
micro biocides and can prevent difficult situation.

Bacteria: - Many different species of Bacteria are found in

cooling water system. Control, therefore, becomes difficult as
agents toxic to one species may have little or no effect on the
other species.

Types of Bacteria found in water:

Pseudomonas: These bacteria are notorious for the slime that they generate.
The slime acts as a binding agent for dirt and the suspended
matter, thereby causing voluminous deposit material which,
normally, would not have get deposited due to the binding
action of the slime.
Sulphate Reducing Bacteria (SRB):These are anaerobic and generate the energy required for their
growth by reducing sulphate to sulphide and in the process
corrode Iron.
4FeSO4 +4H2O = FeS+3Fe(OH)3 + 2OH
It corrodes Iron by the formation of FeS which attacks the
metal

Fe+ H2S = FeS + H2

during chlorination in the presence of SRB the pH
drops due to the formation of HCl
H2S+ Cl2 = 2HCl + S
This is in the attack on the concrete basin.

Iron Bacteria:- These utilize Iron for their growth and

create iron deposits as a by product.

Nitrifying Bacteria:- They are the nitrosomonas and

nitrobacter which generate nitric acid by utilizing
ammonia present as a contaminant in cooling water
system. They also oxidize nitrate ions. This reduces
the pH locally and initiate corrosion.

Microbial control can be done by dosing biocides.

Biocdes : Chemicals that kill micro-organisms are called biocides. It
is difficult to kill the entire organism in CW system. What is best
achieved is the maximum killing and control of their growth. Two
types of Biocides:
Oxidising Biocides:
Chlorine,
Chlorine dioxide,
Bromine
Non Oxidising Biocides:Quaternary ammonium compounds,
Isothiazolinone
Carbamate
Methylene-bis-thiocynate
The selection of biocides depends on
1.
Type of bacteria in makeup water
2.
Type of inhibitor used
3.
Condition of CW system
4.
Local site condition.

Corrosion Inhibitors:Corrosion Inhibitors is a chemical or compound when added to liquid

or gas; decreases the corrosion rate. The mechanism of inhibiting the
corrosion involves formation of coating often a passivation layer
which prevents the access of the corrosive substance to the metal.

Anodic inhibitor
Anodic inhibitors build a thin protective film along the anode,
increasing the potential at anode and slowing corrosion reaction. The
film is initialed at the anode, generally not visible; reduce the
available anodic areas by forming a protective oxide film on the metal
surface. They do not reduce corrosion rate. They simply reduce the
area over which corrosion is spread. If the entire anodic surface is
covered, corrosion protection is excellent. But even if a small amount
is exposed, the entire corrosion current will be concentrated on that
exposed area. This often leads to aggravate pitting. Anodic inhibitors
are also called passivation inhibitors. Examples of well known anodic
inhibitors are Chromate, nitrite, molybdate and orthophosphate.

Cathodic inhibitor
Cathodic inhibitors form a thin protective film on the cathode. It
restricts the access of dissolved oxygen to the metal surface. Low
concentration of these inhibitors lead to general attack and not
pitting. Cathodic inhibitors are also called precipitating
inhibitors. They form insoluble precipitate that can coat and
protect the metal surface. Cathodic inhibitors reduce corrosion
rate. Zinc is an example of cathodic inhibitors.

The major corrosion inhibitors are:

1.
Chromate
2. Orthophosphate
3. Molybdate
4. Zinc
5. Polyphosphate
6. Silicates
7.
Phosphonates
8. Tolytriazoles

Good Tower Treatment

Starts with :

Good Tower Treatment

Ends with :

Good Conductivity Control

Clean condenser tubes

Proper selection of treatment

chemicals based on makeup
water and operating conditions

Good heat transfer

Consistent Chemical Levels for

Maximum Protection
Consistent and timely
monitoring of the water
chemistry

Minimized corrosion of piping

and surfaces
Extended equipment life
Annual PM, and Cleaning