In the conventional sense, cooling towers aren’t attractive structures, yet they are undeniably iconic structures of the twentieth century. Every one of them serves as a reminder of our country’s industrial past.
Nevertheless, our understanding of what a cooling tower performs is still restricted despite our familiarity with them. It’s a myth that they pollute the environment. They emit water vapor, comparable to the steam that comes out of your kettle every morning but far less intense. Cooling towers include a lot of interesting facts that you may not be aware of.
A cooling tower’s purpose is unclear
It is the primary purpose of a cooling tower, as the name indicates, to reduce temperatures, especially those of water.
Water is used extensively in the production of energy in power plants. Demineralized water is heated to high pressure in a thermal power plant using fuel. A boiler produces steam, which powers turbines that spin to create electricity. The steam returns to the boiler after it has been cooled by cooling water flowing through two condensers on either side of each steam turbine. Cooling towers are crucial to the efficiency of power generation since they aid this process.
Some power plants cycle the water they use to cut costs. They use cooling towers for this, and many power stations have at least 10-12. The application of cooling towers is to collect warmed water, which is subsequently reused if the chemistry allows it.
A huge volume of plastic packaging is sprayed with sprinklers that spray heated water (approximately 40°C) cooled by the air pulled through the tower. The plastic packaging helps cool the water by providing a vast surface area, and the cooled water then drains into the massive cooling tower pond at the base of the building.
As the water cools, water vapor (around 2%) escapes from the tower’s summit. It’s easy to confuse this water vapor for steam because of its widespread misnomer, but it’s a by-product of the cooling process.
As a result, most of the water used at Power Stations is safely returned to the environment, either as vapor or discharge into the river. About half of the water that is taken out of the river each year is returned to it. It’s a lot of water being recycled, but it’s not a wasteful process in terms of the environment.
What materials do you need to construct a cooling tower?
The first ‘hyperboloid ‘-the shaped cooling tower was built by two Dutch engineers at the turn of the 20th century, and that’s when cooling towers got their modern name. It was easier to build each tower because of the structure’s wide base and curved center and its more sturdy nature and ability to suck in and facilitate the upward movement of air. Soon, it was widely accepted as the standard design for towers everywhere.
The 34-meter cooling tower built by Dutch engineers was a major accomplishment at the time, but as engineering and building capabilities improved, so did the scale of cooling towers worldwide.
Presently, each of the 12 towers is 115 meters high, which is large enough to accommodate any large statue. Compared to the thickness of an eggshell, the concrete in each cooling tower would be paper-thin. If you need cooling tower services in India, get in touch with Towertech.
The future’s most recognizable industrial symbol
The energy mix of today differs significantly from that of the past. Because of our reduced reliance on fossil fuels due to the growing usage of renewable energy sources, cooling towers have to operate more efficiently. Several of the tallest structures have already been destroyed, much like the coal they originally stored. However, this does not imply that cooling towers will be phased out.
The declining coal fleet and some gas plants still use cooling towers, but four boilers have been updated to use sustainably sourced compressed wood pellets instead of coal. The cooling tower will continue to symbolize power generation as long as they are a component of our energy mix. This mantle will be shared by biomass domes, massive offshore wind turbines, and fields upon fields of solar panels — the symbols of today’s varied energy mix. The best cooling tower company in India, Towertech, has specialized in creating these for many years now. They have been a great part of energy generation in India.
