Cooling tower: Heat and Mass transfer

A cooling tower is a specialized heat exchanger that brings air and water into direct
contact with each other in order to reduce the temperature of the water. As a result, a
small amount of water evaporates, lowering the temperature of the water circulated
through the tower.
Water heated by an industrial process or in an air-conditioning condenser is pumped
through pipes to the cooling tower. Water sprays from nozzles onto banks of material
known as "fill," which slows the flow of water through the cooling tower while exposing
as much water surface area as possible for maximum air-water contact. Water is exposed
to air as it flows through the cooling tower, which is drawn through the tower by an
electric motor-driven fan.

When water and air collide, a small amount of water evaporates, causing a cooling effect.
The cooled water is then returned to the condenser or process equipment to absorb
heat. It will then be returned to the cooling tower to be cooled once again.
Heat and Mass transfer in a cooling tower
There are two parts in a cooling tower, [1] Water and [Air]. A cooling tower works at
constant pressure. The cooling tower as a whole unit constitute a thermodynamic
system. Outside the boundary of the cooling tower is considered as surroundings. A
cooling tower is an open thermodynamic system. An open system is a type of
thermodynamic system where the energy and matter are often exchanged with its
surrounding.
Detail
Water
When hot water is sprayed inside the cooling tower in the presence of air there is
enthalpy transfer between water and air. Water and unsaturated air, constitute an
unstable thermodynamic system. Both want to reach a stable state of energy.
Evaporative cooling is based on the thermodynamics of evaporation of water, i.e., the
change of the liquid phase of water into water vapor. This phase change requires energy.
This energy comes from the internal energy of water, which is the latent heat of the
evaporation of water.
Water cools adiabatically. The question is how does this happen? The water takes the call
because water has much higher energy than air [ discussed later]. Water loses energy
adiabatically by using its own energy. Water does not have any other option with air
being at a lower energy level. Air is at the receiving end of energy. It does not have
energy to transfer to water.
Water evaporates adiabatically and it transfers its vapor [ mass] which carries the latent
heat [heat]to the air. This is the enthalpy transfer from water to air. This process
continues until water and air have reached an equilibrium. A thermodynamic equilibrium
between two substances means that all thermodynamic potentials between two
substances have reached zero. At thermodynamic equilibrium a system has no energy to
do more work. There are four thermodynamic potentials [1] Internal energy [2] Enthalpy
[3] Gibbs free energy and [4] Helmholtz free energy. All must be zero at thermodynamic
equilibrium. The temperature of air when it reaches thermodynamic equilibrium is the
WET BULB temperature. There is no more Gibbs free energy available for the system to
change, dG =0
What happens inside the cooling tower
In a cooling tower, both Heat transfer and Mass transfer proceed together. When air with
certain humidity [ not saturated with water or with humidity 100] comes in contact with
water, there is a mass transfer of water vapor from water to air and this process goes on
until air is fully saturated with water vapor. The relative humidity of the incoming air tells
how much the water vapor, air can accept from water depending on the space in the air
to become saturated or its RH reaching 100%.
At RH=100%, the air has no more capacity to take any water. The relative humidity is the
amount of moisture in the air compared to what the air can "hold" at that temperature.
When the air can't "hold" all the moisture, then it condenses as dew. RH depends on the
ambient temperature or the dry bulb temperature of the air. Therefore, in short, the key
to understanding relative humidity is to understand that it is a measure of the ‘actual
humidity’, relative to the maximum possible humidity at a given temperature. As water
transfers its heat adiabatically, H = Q + W [ H is enthalpy, Q is heat and W is work], In
an adiabatic process, dQ =0. Therefore, the enthalpy transfer from water to air arising
out of water its cooling is essentially a work transfer to air. There are two parts here to
note, cooling is an adiabatic process but the energy transfer from water to air is
essentially work transfer.
Air
The air receives the heat at constant pressure. The air part of a cooling tower is an
isobaric process. A cooling tower cannot function if the pressure varies inside a cooling
tower. This is perhaps a single most important requirement for the functioning of any
evaporative cooling system.

How? and why?

The reason is that water is at higher energy than air. Energy always flows from high to
lower level.
Explanation

Enthalpy of water is - 242 KJ/mol [exothermic]

Enthalpy of air is only its KE. Gases have no potential energy (explained later)

Why? (It is very interesting)

Enthalpy = Internal energy + Work energy

Work done by incompressible water is zero. [ mind that this is pure water and no vapor in
it]
Work done by air at constant T and constant P is zero since there is no volume change.
Therefore, for both, pure water and pure dry air, Enthalpy = Internal energy
Internal energy = KE + PE
At a constant or near constant T both air and water have near same KE, KE is proportional
to temperature T, KE = 5/2 Kb x T. [ Diatomic air]

That leaves the potential energy

Since water has more enthalpy, at same temperature compared to air, the water has
more potential energy than air with the kinetic energy being equal.
Air has zero potential energy

Air has zero potential energy. For gases the potential energy is the gravitational forces
acting between molecules = G x (Mass of O2 x Mass of N2) / Distance ^2
Since in gases the distance between molecules is infinite the gravitational potential
energy of uncompressed air is zero.
That explains why air has practically zero enthalpy compared to water at constant T
and P. This explains why air is at the receiver end of energy and water is at the donor
end to supply energy to air.