makeup supplies

The primary use of large, industrial cooling tower systems is to remove the heat absorbed in the circulating cooling water systems used in power plants, petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants, natural gas processing plants and other industrial facilities. The absorbed heat is rejected to the atmosphere by the evaporation of some of the cooling water in mechanical forced-draft or induced draft towers (as seen in the image to the right) or in natural draft hyperbolic shaped cooling towers as seen at most nuclear power plants.

Overall material balance relationships

Here are the governing relationships for the makeup flow rate, the evaporation and windage losses, the draw-off rate, and the concentration cycles in a wet cooling tower system:[1]

In the above sketch, water pumped from the tower basin is the cooling water routed through the process coolers and condensers in an industrial facility. The cool water absorbs heat from the hot process streams which need to be cooled or condensed, and the absorbed heat warms the circulating water (C). The warm water returns to the top of the cooling tower and trickles downward over the fill material inside the tower. As it trickles down, it contacts ambient air rising up through the tower either by natural draft or by forced draft using large fans in the tower. This makeup palette organizer features 12 wells, lip brush and mirror in cover.