Integrated Material Flow Analysis and Process Modeling to Increase Energy and Water Efficiency of Industrial Cooling Water Systems

Abstract

Summary Cooling water systems (CWS) are one of the main energy and water using operations in industry. Existing CWS in operation provide high improvement potentials in environmental and economic performance through optimized operation and system control. Industry often fails to realize these potentials, given that the efficiency measures as well as their technical, economic, and ecological impact are mostly unknown because of the lack of appropriate approaches. This article presents a holistic approach to the systematic identification and assessment of efficiency measures that support industry in improving the operation and system control of large‐scale CWS consisting of one or multiple cooling towers, heat exchangers, and pumps. Based on material flow analysis coupled with process modeling, a material and energy flow model of CWS is developed. The model enables the investigation of different adjustments in operation of CWS in order to identify and assess specific efficiency measures. The approach is applied to a CWS of a real manufacturing facility. The results show, first, high validity of the approach as compared to a real system. Second, the effectiveness of the approach, given that the model allows fast and simple identification and assessment of efficiency measures that save up to 16% energy and 24% water in the presented case study.

Advancing Water Conservation in Cooling Towers through Energy-Water Nexus

“…In wet recirculating cooling tower systems, the warm water from a plant process condenser is pumped to a cooling tower where heat is dissipated to the ambient environment by evaporating water [20]. Surrounding ambient air is forced into the cooling tower by one or more fans [9] to accelerate heat dissipation the cooling tower which results in increasing the temperature of the incoming air. Once the water has been cooled, it can then be returned to the plant process for use.…”

“…Within cooling towers, water is lost through three main modes. These modes are drift, blowdown, and evaporation [9]. Drift is the water losses associated with wind, evaporation loss occurs due to the heat transfer taking place, and blowdown is utilized to avoid the buildup of minerals and sediments within the cooling water that may damage other components within the system [9].…”

“…These modes are drift, blowdown, and evaporation [9]. Drift is the water losses associated with wind, evaporation loss occurs due to the heat transfer taking place, and blowdown is utilized to avoid the buildup of minerals and sediments within the cooling water that may damage other components within the system [9]. Blowdown is also a byproduct of the evaporation processes increasing the concentration of the minerals [9].…”

Advancing Water Conservation in Cooling Towers through Energy-Water Nexus

“…Within cooling towers, water is lost through three main modes. These modes are drift, blowdown, and evaporation (Schlei-Peters et al, 2018). Drift is the water losses associated with wind, evaporation loss occurs due to the heat transfer taking place, and blowdown is utilized to avoid the buildup of minerals and sediments within the cooling water that may damage other components within the system, and.…”

“…Drift is the water losses associated with wind, evaporation loss occurs due to the heat transfer taking place, and blowdown is utilized to avoid the buildup of minerals and sediments within the cooling water that may damage other components within the system, and. blowdown is also a byproduct of the evaporation processes increasing the concentration of the minerals (Schlei-Peters et al, 2018).…”