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U.S. Department of Energy
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Causes and control of cooling tower film fill deposits

Conference · · Proceedings of the American Power Conference; (United States)
OSTI ID:7239263
;  [1]
  1. Calgon Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
Plastic film-type cooling tower fill material is used throughout the utility industry because of its excellent cooling capabilities, compact design, and durability. The remarkable heat rejection of these so-called high efficiency fill materials is due to its ability to form a film of water on a tremendous surface area. For example, hot (80-100{degrees} F) recirculating water that is distributed over the cooling tower can be cooled up to 30{degrees} with only a 3-4 feet depth of this fill material. By contrast, conventional splash bar cooling tower fill acts by forming droplets can require a volume many times that of film fill to achieve the same drop in cooling water temperature. This paper reports that over the past several years, the utility industry has learned that these high efficiency cooling tower fill materials are subject to fouling, despite the manufacturer or subtle differences in fill design. With certain types of makeup water quality and tower operating practices, it is sometimes impossible to avoid fouling the fill without chemical treatments to control the progression of deposit formation.
OSTI ID:
7239263
Report Number(s):
CONF-920432--
Conference Information:
Journal Name: Proceedings of the American Power Conference; (United States) Journal Volume: 54:2
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English