Group 4 INTRODUCTION When a relatively warm liquid is directly contacted with a gas that is unsaturated, some of the liquid is vaporized. The liquid temperature will tend to drop mainly due to latent heat of evaporation. This direct contact of a gas with a pure liquid occurs most often in contacting air with water. This may be done for various purposes, such as humidification of air for control of the moisture content of solids in drying; dehumidification of air, where cold water condenses some water vapor from warm air, thereby cooling the mixture; or water cooling, where evaporation of water to the air cools warm water. The last of the listed purposes was dealt with in this experiment, which was demonstrated by using a cooling tower model. In a typical water-cooling tower, warm water flows counter-currently to an air stream. Normally, the warm water enters at the top of a cooling water and travels down through the packing, exiting at the bottom as aided by gravity. Air enters in the opposite way, as it flows upward through the descending water. The flow of air upward from the bottom of the tower may be induced by the buoyancy of the warm air (since hot air floats and cold air sinks), or can be aided by the action of fans. A typical cooling tower set-up is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Typical Cooling Tower Set-Up
Water cooling towers operate by transfer of both latent and sensible heat. As aforementioned, when warm water is contacted with air, some of the water evaporate and is absorbed by air. The latent heat due to the evaporation of the water is then absorbed by the air mixture as sensible heat, thereby inducing an increase in temperature. The liquid water, on the other hand, after losing small amounts of water vapor, which have brought heat upon them, will decrease in energy, and thus, its temperature is expected to be lowered. The whole operation may be categorized as humidification, since in the point of view of the contacting air, the operation resulted in the increase of the moisture content of the air. Aside from the demonstration of how to operate simple water cooling tower systems, the experiment also aims to provide basic knowledge on the parameters used in the design of cooling towers. Cooling towers are designed in such a way that it effectively cools the liquid water to a temperature near the adiabatic saturation temperature (wet-bulb temperature) of the air mixture. At this point, no more heat and mass transfer will occur. The ability of the cooling tower to cool the water towards this temperature is quantified in terms of a parameter called effectiveness. The effectiveness of water cooling tower systems takes into account the approach and range of the operation. Figure 2: Equilibrium and Operating Curve Figure 2 exhibits a common equilibrium and operating curve for water-cooling tower systems. The curves, as shown, have the temperature as the abscissa and the enthalpy of saturation as the ordinate. The operating curve is plotted by connecting the points corresponding to the top and bottom temperature and enthalpy of the warm water in the system. The equilibrium curve meanwhile is plotted by readily available data for saturated air-water vapor mixtures at a certain datum temperature. Important parameters in the design of cooling towers shown in the figure are the temperature of the cold water leaving the tower, temperature of the hot water entering the system, and the wet-bulb temperature (which is practically the same as the adiabatic saturation temperature) of the air mixture. The term range refers to the difference between the entering and leaving temperature of the liquid water in the cooling tower system. Meanwhile, the approach is the difference between the exiting temperature of the water and the adiabatic saturation temperature of the air. Recall that the aim of a water cooling tower is to cool the water towards a temperature near the wet bulb temperature of the air. Therefore, the effectiveness can be quantified by the following equation. 𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 Equation 1 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 = × 100% 𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 + 𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ If there is no approach, then the effectiveness of the tower is 100%, indicating that the system was able to cool the water towards the limit, which is the wet bulb temperature of the air, at given conditions. The experiment aims to demonstrate these concepts by the use of a simulated cooling tower system, and in the process, to apply knowledge in material and energy balance in the determination of important parameters that describe the used water cooling tower system. METHODOLOGY In this experiment, a physical model of a cooling tower and UOP6-MKII software were used in analyzing how a cooling tower and the effects of varying several factors (such as the temperature and the flow rates) to the overall performance of the water-cooling tower system. To begin with the experiment, the cooling tower was set up by filling in the sump tank with enough amount of distilled water needed in order to execute the experiment properly. Next, the set up was adjusted on the software, UOP6-MKII, by noting the type of packing used, the ambient temperature and pressure, as well as the humidity. Figure 3: Water-Cooling Tower System The experiment is subdivided into three parts, wherein the water inlet temperature is varied in the first part while the air flow rates and the water flow rates were altered in the middle and last part, respectively. In the first part of the experiment, using the software, the water flow rate was set at constant to 1 liter per minute and the air flow rate at 40 liters per second. The PIF controller was set to T1 equal to 30°C and the system was allowed to stabilize. The data obtained at this temperature were recorded –the outlet water temperature, inlet air temperature, outlet air temperature, relative humidity of inlet and outlet air. Using the psychrometric chart, the corresponding wet bulb temperature and the enthalpies of air entering and leaving the tower were determined. Lastly, to complete the data, the effectiveness of the cooling tower was solved using Equation 1. The same procedure was repeated while varying the temperature of the inlet water. For the determination of the effectiveness of the cooling tower while changing the flow rate of air and water, the temperature was maintained at 40°C. In the part where the flow rate of air was varied, the water flow rate was set to 1 liter per second. The fan setting is constantly adjusted to the corresponding flow rate of air. Meanwhile, the air flow rate is adjusted to give a constant speed of 40 liters per second for the part where water flow rate varied. In this part, the pump setting is changed to the required flow rates of water. The same procedure was repeated and the corresponding calculations were done. Finally, a certain condition was chosen (in the case of this group, the condition chosen was T1 = 40°C, inlet air flow rate equal to 30 liters per second, inlet water flow rate set to 1 liter per minute) and an overall mass balance was performed to determine the rate of water evaporation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS As aforementioned, the performance of the water-cooling operation was quantified by solving for the effectiveness of the operation for each condition given. In the first part of the experiment, the temperature of the inlet water was varied, and the effectiveness was calculated after the simulations have been done. The data obtained may be seen in the attached data sheet. From Table A, it can be seen that as the inlet water temperature was increased, the effectiveness decreases. Recall that the effectiveness of a water-cooling tower system is measured by its ability to cool water to the adiabatic saturation temperature (practically the wet-bulb temperature) of the air-water vapor mixture: higher effectiveness means higher range and lower approach. It is only rational that when the inlet water temperature is relatively low, the effectiveness of the cooling operation is greater, since only a small amount of energy is needed to be transferred to cool the water towards the wet-bulb temperature of the air-water vapor mixture. However, it must be clarified that the effectiveness of the operation does not directly measure the efficiency of the cooling tower, since the effectiveness depends solely on the difference between the hot and cold water temperatures, and the term specifically describes how close did the operation cool the warm water to the wet-bulb temperature of the air-vapor mixture. Meanwhile, when the term efficiency is used, it most likely refers to the overall performance of the cooling tower equipment. Furthermore, the second part of the experiment dealt with varying the inlet air flow rate, while keeping the temperature and flow rate of the inlet water constant at 40°C and 1 liter per second, respectively. From Table B, it is seen that as the flow rate of the inlet air increases, the effectiveness of the water cooling operation increases as well. It must be noted that although the inlet air flow rate was varied, the temperature and relative humidity of the inlet air remained constant, implying that the molal humidity of the air is also constant. This means that for varying flow rate, the only parameter that varies is the amount of contacting air with the warm liquid water. As one may already know, increasing the amount of contacting air will also increase the extent of the heat transfer operation, since the energy of a system is directly proportional to its mass. Therefore, it is reasonable that the extent of heat transfer between the liquid water and air is higher at the condition where the flow rate of air is highest. Lastly, for the third part of the experiment, the flow rate of the liquid water was varied, while all other parameters are constant. From Table C, it is seen that the effectiveness decreases with increasing amount of inlet water. This may be simply explained by common sense: the lower the amount of water, the easier it is to cool. When water is supplied at a higher rate, the rate of evaporation required to cool it down increases as well. This causes the water to cool down to a slightly higher temperature relative to that of when water is supplied at a lower flow rate. In addition to varying the parameters, an overall material balance was also done around the cooling tower to determine the rate of evaporation from the liquid water to the air mixture. The condition chosen by the group was from Table B, which calls for a setting of T1 = 40°C, inlet air flow rate equal to 30 liters per second, and inlet water flow rate set to 1 liter per second. The calculation can be seen in the attached computation sheet. Humidity values were obtained from a suitable psychrometric chart. It must be noted that several assumptions were made in the calculation of the evaporation rate of water, meaning the value shown (0.29 grams per second) is a rough approximation of the true value. One assumption made is that the air-water vapor mixture behaves ideally, and this was used to compute for the density of the mixture. This may have been done by solving for the humid volume of the air using the given conditions and a suitable psychrometric chart; however, the same assumption that air is an ideal gas would be made, so overall, it will just be the same. Another assumption is that none of the water from the original air-water vapor mixture condenses to the liquid phase upon contact. In the calculation shown, it is assumed that only water from the liquid phase is transferred to the gaseous phase. Following these assumptions, an evaporation rate of 0.29 grams per second will be obtained. CONCLUSIONS The experiment was successful in demonstrating the basic procedures of operating water-cooling tower systems, which are of importance in the industry, since high-temperature water cannot be discarded to the environment as it is: it must first be cooled before it can be released. In addition, the effectiveness of water- cooling operations was evaluated, and several parameters were varied and kept constant, to determine which condition will yield the highest effectiveness. It was witnessed that effectiveness is at optimum when the inlet water temperature is low, the inlet air flow rate is high, and the inlet water flow rate is low. Finally, a material balance was performed to determine the rate of evaporation of water. Although several assumptions were considered, a rough approximate of 0.29 grams per second was obtained for the condition where T1 = 40°C, inlet air flow rate equal to 30 liters per second, and inlet water flow rate set to 1 liter per second.