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For the majority of cooling towers installed, of which there are greater than half a million installed in the U.S., tower design uses direct evaporative cooler technology where an ideally enthalpy-neutral process cools the process water stream to a temperature above the ambient wet bulb. This ambient wet bulb temperature is the limiting factor for the process cooling. As such the energy-water connection is clear, these cooling towers are direct consumers of treated water and their cooling performance is intimately tied to the process efficiency.

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A prototype evaporative condenser through the Maisotsenko Cycle (M-Condenser), which can significantly improve the energy efficiency of air conditioning and refrigeration, has been developed and proof-of-concept tested. The design incorporates both a micro-extruded channel aluminum tubing technology for refrigerant flow and a cellulose-based sensible heat exchanger that is plastic coated on one side. The M-Condenser was put in a side-by-side comparison to an aircooled condenser with an energy efficiency ratio (EER) rating of 2.67. Outdoor test temperatures ranged from 26.7 o C through 43.3 o C, which are consistent with summer temperatures found throughout most of the continental United States. Relative humidity levels, however, ranged from 13.9% to 39.9%, which are typical of the Southwest and drier western regions of the continental United States. In proof-of-concept testing the condenser outperformed a 2.67 EER-rated air-cooled condenser exhibiting an average increase in efficiency of 30% and by as much as 58%.

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