Cooling Tower Design

Tutorial 02

Question 02

A counter current water-cooling tower is used to cool water from 45 C to 25 C using ambient air at 32 C with a
wet bulb temperature of 20 C. A liquid rate of 16 kg/hr per unit cross section is used.

hL a / ky a = 33.3 kJ/ kg C and

ky a = 3.2 kg/hr m3

specific heat of water = 4.2 kJ/kgK

1. Determine the minimum air flow rate required.

2. Draw the operating line for half the minimum gas flow rate.

3. Calculate HTU and NTU for the design and hence the necessary tower height if an air flow rate of twice
the minimum is used.

4. Calculate the NTU for the same system considering overall heat and mass transfer operations and hence
find the overall mass transfer coefficient for the same system.

5. Draw the temperature and humidity profiles from bulk liquid to bulk air, for top, bottom and the point at
which liquid temperature is 25 C in the middle of the tower.
1
6. Use 6th degree polynomial curve fitting for function and complete the following table. Then plot
𝐻𝑖 −𝐻𝑔
the graphs for 𝑡𝐿 𝑣𝑠 𝑧 and 𝑡𝑔 𝑣𝑠 𝑧. Discuss the shapes of the two graphs and derive the possible
inferences.

𝟏
𝒕𝑳 𝑯𝒈 𝒕𝑳 𝑯𝒊 𝒛
𝑯𝒊 − 𝑯𝒈

7. Assume that when packing was changed from wood to ceramic with same kya value, the resistance to
heat transfer in the liquid phase is negligible. Redo the design calculation and compare with your
answers in 3. above.
Question 02

You have been assigned the task of cooling water stream coming at 20 kg/hr from 50C to 25C. As the cheapest
option, you are considering the feasibility of using a counter current cooling tower for this application. When you
researched, you found out that the atmospheric temperature in the area could fluctuate with between 30C to
35C, while the Relative Humidity in the area could fluctuate from 25% to 30%.

hL a / ky a = 5 kJ/ kg C
ky a = 0.5 kg/hr m3
specific heat of water = 4.2 kJ/kgK
i. Considering the variation of atmospheric conditions, which combination of values atmospheric
temperature and relative humidity you should select for your design and why?
ii. The air coming out of the tower is to be integrated into the moisture regulation system of the factory
storage. For this requirement, the air should be at a temperature of 40C and a Relative Humidity of
70%.
a. What is the flow rate of dry air needed?
b. Calculate the HTU for the tower if the tower cross sectional area is 1 m2.
c. Calculate the NTU for the tower.
d. Calculate the height of the wooden packing in the tower if the tower cross sectional area is 1 m2.
iii. However, the best blower available in the factor can only boost still air up to a moisture free flow rate of
10 kg/hr.
a. Complete the necessary constructions and prove that a cooling tower design is infeasible at this
dry flow rate of air.
b. Find the minimum air-dry flow rate needed for a feasible cooling tower design.
iv. The sum of initial tower design cost and operating cost calculated for 20 years, showed the minimum
value at dry gas flow rate of 20 kg/hr.
a. Calculate the HTU for the tower.
b. Calculate the NTU for the tower.
c. Calculate the height of the wooden packing in the tower.
v. Use MATLAB to plot the variation of height of the packing with increasing moisture free air flow rate.
(Hi = 0.0000000093292*ti6 - 0.0000010989* ti5+ 0.000065084 ti4- 0.00098417 ti3+ 0.038296 ti2+ 1.6517 t + 9.4163
for 0C to 60C)