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07-Lecture (September 07)

The main driving force for heat and mass transfer during the cooling tower operation is the temperature difference between the warm water and the air-water interface inside the tower. This temperature difference allows heat to transfer from the warmer water to the cooler air until equilibrium is reached, resulting in cooling of the water. The key steps are: 1. Warm water enters the tower at a higher temperature (45°C in this case) 2. It comes into contact with cooler air inside the tower packing 3. Heat is transferred from the warmer water to the cooler air, lowering the water temperature 4. Mass transfer also occurs as water evaporates at the air-water interface, further lowering the interface temperature 5.

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Goura Sundar Tripathy
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11 views

07-Lecture (September 07)

The main driving force for heat and mass transfer during the cooling tower operation is the temperature difference between the warm water and the air-water interface inside the tower. This temperature difference allows heat to transfer from the warmer water to the cooler air until equilibrium is reached, resulting in cooling of the water. The key steps are: 1. Warm water enters the tower at a higher temperature (45°C in this case) 2. It comes into contact with cooler air inside the tower packing 3. Heat is transferred from the warmer water to the cooler air, lowering the water temperature 4. Mass transfer also occurs as water evaporates at the air-water interface, further lowering the interface temperature 5.

Uploaded by

Goura Sundar Tripathy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MASS TRANSFER OPERATIONS-II

Course code: CH 3113


L-T-P: 3-0-0

Instructor: Dr. Pradip Chowdhury

Lecture 07

September 07
Cooling Tower Calculations

An Air-Water contacting tower may have 3 Major applications:

 Evaporative cooling of warm water

 Cooling of a hot gas by direct contact with cooling water

 Dehumidification of a warm moist gas in contact with cool water


Cooling Tower Design: Sizing
For sizing a cooling tower we primarily need to calculate:
(i) The tower cross-section required to take a given load of warm water
(ii) The height of packing required to achieve the desired cooling of water

 Importantly, simultaneous heat & mass transfer are involved.


 We have to write down Mass & Enthalpy balance equations to derive the design
equation.
Important Assumptions:
(i) Vaporization loss of water is much less than the rate of water input to the tower
(typically about 1% loss of feed water occurs due to vaporization). Thus, water
flow rate within the tower remains essentially constant).
(ii) Adiabatic cooling of water occurs in the tower (there is no heat gain or loss at the
tower wall).
 Writing mass and enthalpy balance equations over a
thin section (highlighted in Red) of the tower and
Integrating these equations to find the height of
packing.
Let, L→ The rate of water flow; (kg/m2.sec)
GS → Air flow rate; (kg dry air/ m2.sec)

The temperature of Water decreases by dTL and


enthalpy of Air increases by dH´ across the differential
thickness dz of the bed.

Change in enthalpy of water=LCWLdTL


Change in enthalpy of gas= GS× dH´
An enthalpy balance over the thin slice,
LCWLdTL =GS× dH´ (i)

The enthalpy balance over the envelope I gives: Equation of Operating Line for Air-Water
LCWL(TL-TL1)= GS× (H´-H1´) (ii) contact
Since,
L, GS, CWL remain unchanged along the tower, it is a
straight line on T-H plot, having a slope=(LCWL/ GS)

H´-H1´ = (LCWL/GS) ×(TL-TL1)

Making an enthalpy balance over the entire tower


(envelope II), we get,

LCWL(TL2-TL1)= GS× (H2´-H1´) (iii)

It appears from Equation (ii) & (iii) that the operating


line may be obtained by joining the terminal points
(TL1, H1´) & (TL2, H2´) in Temperature-Enthalpy plot.

The equilibrium curve for the Air-Water system on


Temperature-Enthalpy plane would be the plot between
Enthalpy of saturated Air versus Liquid
temperature at equilibrium.
 Like other heterogenous contacting, e.g., gas
absorption, distillation, etc., we assume that
equilibrium prevails at Gas-Liquid interface.
 The temperature & enthalpy of air at the Air-Water
interface (TLi, Hi´) lie on the Equilibrium line.

 The rate of transfer of water vapor to air in the


differential volume:
(GS/MA)dY´=kY´ ā dz (Yi´-Y´) (iv)
Where,
kY´ = mass transfer co-efficient of water vapor
ā = specific interfacial area of the air-water contact
Yi´=humidity of air at the air-water interface

 The decrease in the temperature of the gas because of sensible heat transfer to the water is given by:
-GS CH dTG=hG ā dz (TG-Ti) (v)
Again we know that,

H´= CH(TG-To)+ Y´

Differentiating the above equation and multiplying with


GS on both sides we get,

GS dH´= GS dY´+ GS CH dTG


=GS dY´- hG ā dz (TG-Ti) [using Eq. (v)]
= - hG ā dz (TG-Ti)+ MAkY´ ā dz (Yi´-Y´)
[using Eq. (iv)]
GS dH´= MAkY´ ā dz [(hG/MAkY´)(Ti-TG)+ (Yi´-Y´) ]

(vi)
GS dH´= MAkY´ ā dz ([Yi´+CH(Ti-To)]-[Y´+CH(TG-To)])
Now, hG/kY´=CHMA , CH → humid heat
GS dH´ = MAkY´ ā dz[ Hi´-H´ ] (vii)
Thus,
 Equation (vii) is unique in a way where the mass
transfer co-efficient and enthalpy driving force
are clubbed together.

The height of the packing in the cooling tower can be


obtained by integrating Eq. (vii).

(viii)

Number of a gas-enthalpy transfer


Height of a gas-enthalpy transfer units (NtG)
unit (HtG)
The design equation to find height of the packing in a cooling tower:

(viii)
=

 The volumetric Mass Transfer Co-efficient should be known or has to be estimated from a suitable
correlation.
 Height of the gas-enthalpy transfer unit may be calculated from the given gas-mass flow rate.
 In order to determine the number of transfer units, the integral in Eq. (viii) is to be evaluated.
 There is no direct relation available between the Enthalpy of the bulk-gas () and that at the Interface
(). So, the integral can not be evaluated analytically. It has to be solved numerically OR
graphically.
Temperature-Enthalpy profile

Image source: cheresources.com/content/articles/heat-transfer/cooling-towers-design-and-operation-considerations


Step-by-step procedure to construct operating & equilibrium lines

 Specify the inlet and outlet temperatures and the flowrate of warm water.

 Select the design values of the dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperature of air at the proposed
geographical location of the cooling tower.

 Locate the lower terminal of the operating line on


T-H plane by point (TL1, H´1). This point indicates
the condition at the bottom of the tower
in the case of water cooling.

 The upper terminal of the operating line is located


by the point (TL2, H´2). This point indicates tower top.

 Draw the equilibrium curve, i.e., saturation humidity curve.


Typical values of design variables
Practical values of the important design variables and parameters of cooling tower
are:
Range=8-15oC; Approach=5-6oC; Evaporation loss=1.5-2%
Drift loss=0.02-0.2%;
Packing depth=5-10 m for splash packings and 1.5-2 m for film pack
Spacing of corrugated sheets in a film pack=19-25 mm
L/G=0.75 to 1.5;
Free space above drift eliminator=2-3 m
Height of fan stack=3-5 m
Numerical#6
Ex. 6: Warm water at 45oC is to be cooled to 30oC by counter-current contact with air in a
tower packed with wood slats. The inlet air has a dry-bulb temperature of 31 oC and a wet-bulb
temperature 22oC. Given values of mass flow rate of water and air are 6000 kg/m 2.h and 3270
kg/m2.h (dry basis) respectively. Construct the operating and equilibrium lines in an Enthalpy-
Temperature plane.
Important conceptual point!

What would be the main driving force during cooling operation?

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