2100 General Information

Abstract
This section discusses types of cooling water systems, types of cooling towers and
cooling tower components and provides a list of contacts and references for more
information on cooling water systems.
The Cooling Tower Institute (CTI) has developed the industry standards for cooling
towers. The commonly used standards are referenced in Specification EXH-MS-
1317, included in this manual. Copies of the CTI manual or the CTI specifications
can be obtained from:
Cooling Tower Institute
P.O. Box 73383
Houston, TX 77273
(713) 583-4087

Contents Page

2110 Cooling Water vs. Air Coolers 2100-3

2120 Types of Cooling Water Systems 2100-3
2121 Open Recirculating Cooling Water System
2122 Closed Loop Cooling Water System
2123 Tempered Cooling Water System
2130 Types of Cooling Towers 2100-5
2131 Natural Draft Towers
2132 Forced Draft Towers
2133 Induced, Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers
2140 Cooling Tower Components 2100-8
2141 Fills
2142 Drift Eliminators
2143 Cooling Tower Basin
2150 Contacts and References for Cooling Towers 2100-12
2151 Contacts: Cooling Tower Manufacturers and Specialists

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2152 References

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Note Figures 2100-6 through 2100-10 are 11 × 17 foldouts at the end of the
section.

2110 Cooling Water vs. Air Coolers

Typically, Chevron uses an open, recirculating cooling water system in order to
cool fluids in the plant to temperatures lower than can be attained with air coolers.
When environmental concerns and water resource limitations do not control,
cooling water can also be more attractive than air cooling for many other reasons.
Section 100 of this manual contains more detailed information comparing water to
air coolers.

2120 Types of Cooling Water Systems

Like steam, power, and instrument air, cooling water is a critical “utility.” It is
required for all operating conditions, including startups, shutdowns, and upset
conditions. Cooling towers are typically large wooden structures that use circu-
lating ambient air to cool warm water. In a cooling tower, normally referred to as
just the “tower,” the hot water is cooled by exchange of its sensible and latent heat
with relatively cool air.
About 80% of the cooling occurs from evaporation of a small portion of the water
as the air flowing through the tower contacts water cascading from the top to the
bottom of the tower. Most of the Company’s cooling towers use a recirculating
water system to conserve water resources and minimize operating costs.
There are three types of cooling water systems.
1. Open, recirculating cooling water system
2. Closed loop cooling water system
3. Tempered cooling water system

2121 Open Recirculating Cooling Water System

Figure 2100-6 shows a typical open recirculating cooling water system using a
cooling tower.
During normal operation of a cooling tower, all available cells should be used. Each
fan in the cell normally contains two-speed motor drivers. The cooling tower basin
and pump forebay serve as system storage and are sized for a minimum of 15
minutes of water storage at the normal circulating rate. Makeup water is based on
the concentration in the circulating water. The cooling tower blowdown can ideally
be flow controlled by a conductivity analyzer.
The system circulating pumps are usually horizontal, centrifugal, double-suction,
and single-stage. Pump discharge pressure is in the range of 55 to 65 psig. There
are normally three or four pumps, with at least two of them being turbine-driven to

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assure 100% water circulation rate during a power failure. Under normal
circumstances, the electric motor-driven pump and one turbine-driven pump
operate while the other remaining turbine-driven pumps are on automatic standby.
The pumps take suction from the forebay and discharge to a common header. A
common minimum flow recirculation line, directly back to the tower, is provided at
the pump discharges for pump protection and initial prestartup conditioning.
Chemicals are used to control scaling, corrosion, and fouling. The most important
chemical is the corrosion inhibitor. Chemicals and components of the water treating
package are discussed in Section 2400.

Typical Process Cooling Water System

Cooling water circulation is controlled by starting and stopping the standby cooling
water circulation pumps based on pressure in the discharge header. There is no flow
or temperature control on the circulating stream. A bypass recycles water to the
cooling tower basin for low flow pump protection. Makeup to the cooling tower is
on level control. Temperature, flow, and pressure of the cooling water to the plants
and other users is monitored, frequently, in the control room. Return cooling water
at the cooling tower inlet is sampled and analyzed for conductivity, chlorine, pH,
and corrosion inhibitor. Output from the conductivity analyzer resets a flow
controller on the cooling tower blowdown line. Blowdown flow is also used to regu-
late the addition of dispersant and corrosion inhibitor to the system. Output from
the other analyzers regulates the addition of chlorine, acid or caustic, and corrosion
inhibitor.

2122 Closed Loop Cooling Water System

Figure 2100-7 is a process flow diagram for a typical closed loop cooling water
system.
“Open” systems, as described in the previous section, typically cool 100°F to 125°F
hot returning water to about 5°F to 10°F above the ambient wet bulb temperature at
the site. A “closed” system supplies a flow of high purity, inhibited cooling water at
around 100°F. Its function is to cool bearings, jackets, etc., of rotating equipment in
the plant, where the quality of the “open” cooling water is unacceptable for the
service. The heat from a closed system is removed by heat exchangers using the
open cooling water system. This system typically uses demineralized water for
initial fill and subsequent makeup. It has its own pumping, minimum flow recircula-
tion line, surge tanks, and chemical feed systems. Pump discharge pressure is
normally about the same as in an open cooling water circulating system, 55 to 65
psig. Corrosion inhibitor is added to the system upstream of the circulating water
pumps.
Closed loop systems should include two surge tanks, each sized for 5 minutes of
water storage at total system design flow. They should be nitrogen blanketed to
minimize the oxygen content in the water. Changes in fluid volume, temperature,
and chemical balance should be monitored at the tanks. Under normal conditions,
both tanks should be online, but either tank can be isolated for maintenance.

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2123 Tempered Cooling Water System

Figure 2100-8 is a process flow diagram for a typical tempered cooling water
system.
A tempered cooling water system is another closed loop system circulating high
purity inhibited cooling water, normally at a minimum of 140°F to process heat
exchangers that cool streams with high pour points. Pump discharge pressures are
about 100 to 115 psig for these systems. This system also includes two surge tanks,
circulating pumps, and a common minimum flow recirculating line. The system
should use demineralized or high quality water for initial fill and subsequent
makeup. Corrosion inhibitor is added intermittently to the system upstream of the
circulating pumps. Since the water is only cooled to 140°F, induced draft air cooled
heat exchangers remove process heat from the system. The temperature is main-
tained by bypassing hot return water around the air coolers.

2130 Types of Cooling Towers

The oldest means of cooling and storing circulating water was to discharge the hot
water into a pond of sufficient area so that the water was cooled by the air passing
over the surface of the pond. Spraying the heated water into the air over the pond
increased the rate of cooling and reduced the area to around 5% of that required
without sprays. Because of this large space requirement and the windage losses
with spray ponds, the cooling tower was developed. A modern mechanical draft
cooling tower requires about 2% of the area of a spray pond, and less than 0.01% of
the area for a cooling pond or reservoir. Cooling towers come in all sizes. Some are
small enough to be portable. Others take up more plot space than one of the plants
they serve, with capacities of 100,000 GPM and duties of up to 1 billion Btu/hr.
For industry, cooling towers are normally rectangular, wood, or metal structures.
The hot water is delivered to the top and falls through baffling-type fill into the
basin below. Air enters at the bottom or side of the tower, cooling the water by
convection and partial evaporation. The circulation of the air through the tower may
be either by natural draft, or by a forced or induced draft fan.

2131 Natural Draft Towers

Chevron still has a few natural draft towers in our producing and pipeline centers.
The air circulates through a natural draft cooling tower because of the temperature
difference between the air inside and outside of the tower. Natural draft towers have
been very popular with utilities, who can allow much longer payouts and frequently
use the natural draft principle in their large hyperbolic towers. Hyperbolic towers
are not used by the oil industry and therefore are not discussed in this manual.

2132 Forced Draft Towers

Chevron also has a few forced-draft cooling towers. Forced-draft towers are usually
smaller than induced-draft towers and have either centrifugal fans located at the

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base of the tower (which is constructed as a plenum to provide positive pressure

airflow through the fill material) or axial fans on the side of the tower.
For the past 30 years, induced-draft cooling towers have been purchased instead of
forced draft cooling towers (for capacities greater than 2,000 GPM/cell). Forced-
draft cooling towers have the following problems:
1. High air velocities through the fill and difficulty with promoting good air distri-
bution across the tower.
2. Greater difficulty with recirculation.
3. Lower efficiency and more plot plan space.
As a result of these problems, the Company normally purchases induced-draft
cooling towers.

2133 Induced, Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers

Induced-draft towers pull air into the tower. The induced draft is provided by a
propeller-type axial fan located in the stack at the top of the tower.

Counterflow Design
See Figure 2100-1. The induced-draft fan pulls the air into the inlet louvers at the
bottom of the tower and up through the tower. In the counterflow tower, the
returning hot water is piped to a distribution system of headers and lateral piping
connected to pressure flow nozzles, which are located below the top of the tower
just below the mist eliminators. The nozzles spray the water as droplets that then
fall across the fill which acts as baffles to allow surface contact between the drop-
lets and the rising air. The primary advantage of the counterflow tower is its effi-
ciency. The coldest water contacts the driest air, and the warmest water contacts the
moist humid air.

Crossflow Design
See Figure 2100-2. The induced-draft fan pulls the air into the inlet louvers placed
along the tower’s sides, spanning its entire length and height. Air is introduced
perpendicular to the falling water. The crossflow tower uses risers to pipe the
returning hot water to the top of the tower where it is discharged to open gravity
distribution decks adjacent to the shroud protecting the fan. The floor of this deck
contains gravity flow nozzles, and the water level in the deck controls the rate of
water flow onto the fill.
The water falls through orifices in the nozzles, and as it flows it is distributed across
the fill. The fill acts as baffles to allow surface contact between the droplets and the
crossflowing air. Mist eliminators, forming a “V” at the center of the tower, mini-
mize drift and windage losses as the air is pulled up to the fans in the center of the
tower.
Since the early 1970s, counterflow towers have used a lower pressure spray system,
coupled with large plenum areas. In most cases, this feature has made counterflow

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Fig. 2100-1 Counterflow Induced-Draft Tower

Fig. 2100-2 Crossflow Induced-Draft Cooling Tower

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towers preferable to crossflow towers because they are less expensive to install and
operate than crossflow towers. Crossflow towers are often specified when a low
flow rate or potentially contaminated air atmosphere is involved.

2140 Cooling Tower Components

To become familiar with the components of cooling towers, refer to the following
figures for details of the standard components for the two main types of cooling
towers that most petroleum plants use:
1. Figure 2100-9, Counterflow Cooling Tower: Perspective—Typical Parts and
Framing
2. Figure 2100-10, Crossflow Cooling Tower: Transverse Elevation—Typical
Parts and Framing
See Appendix I for a glossary of commonly used terms (CTI Bulletin 109).

2141 Fills
The two most significant decisions when purchasing a new cooling tower are:
1. Should we buy counterflow or crossflow?
2. Should we buy “splash” fill or “film” fill?
Section 2130 above compares the relative merits of counterflow and crossflow
towers. This section discusses splash fill and film fill.
If there is no plugging problem (i.e., good water treating) and no serious hydro-
carbon attack, the counterflow tower with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) film fill usually
will have the lowest overall cost (installed cost + fan power cost + pumping cost.)
Most large crossflow towers use splash fill (normally a PVC material). However,
some companies have small crossflow towers which stack thin sheets of plastic fill
on very close centers and can be considered film fill.
Figures 2100-3 and 2100-4 illustrate the two basic types of cooling tower fill. Fill
material is used to maintain an even distribution of water across the horizontal
plane of the tower and to create as much water surface area as practical to enhance
evaporation and sensible heat exchange. The water/air interface ratio can be
improved by creating either a large number of droplets or many thin vertical sheets
of water. Fill materials are commercially manufactured from wood, PVC, polysty-
rene, cellulose, and before environmental constraints, from asbestos cement board.

Splash Fill
For years splash fill was the standard fill for cooling towers. Splash fill is
constructed of successive layers of staggered impact surfaces. Small droplets are
formed as the warm water falls through the fill and splashes off each layer.
Typical splash fill consists of redwood battens in thicknesses of 3/8 inch to 1 inch
and 1.5-inch to 2-inches deep, installed vertically on the narrow edge. These battens

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Fig. 2100-3 Splash Fill

are on 0.25-inch to 2.5-inch centerline and form a deck that is usually installed hori-
zontally in the cooling tower on from 12- to 24-inch vertical centers. Each row in
elevation is rotated 90 degrees to the row above it. The battens are 6 feet long. The
decks formed are 3 feet by 6 feet and two of them fill the 6-foot cross-sectional area
between the columns in the tower. Typically, there are about 20 decks in a tower.
Where conditions permit, these splash decks are also made in egg-crate type injec-
tion molded polypropylene and PVC. They have the following advantages over film
fill discussed below:
1. There is no plugging as the spacing is far more open than in a film fill.
2. Inspection of every component of the tower is greatly simplified by moving
sections of the deck out a piece at a time, and by being able to move easily
down the inside of the tower.

Film Fill
Film fill came into use in cooling towers about 15 years ago (see Figure 2100-4). It
has a honeycomb configuration and is usually a PVC material. This fill spreads the
water droplets into thin sections throughout the cells of the fill, thereby cooling a
large surface area for the same energy. If the water is always clean, it behaves as
predicted. As film fill is more efficient than splash fill, it takes up much less volume
in the tower. Two to 3 feet of film will provide the equivalent surface of 20 to 30
feet of wood splash fill, making the return header and the elevation of the tower
much lower. This results in lower head required and lower pumping costs.
Cooling tower support posts are normally on 6-foot centers. Typical film fill is
manufactured in 3-foot by 6-foot cross-sectional areas with layer thicknesses of 6,
12, and 18 inches. Total depth in the tower typically ranges from 1 foot to 6 feet. As
an example, where icing could be a problem, a 6-foot thickness could have a 1-foot
clear elevation at each 2-foot interval to allow for extra heavy supports under each 2

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Fig. 2100-4 Film Fill

feet of fill. Film fill is manufactured with various size flutes (openings) and sheet
thicknesses.
Film fill is most commonly used in counterflow towers and is normally installed
just above the intake louver opening. In a retrofit it is usually installed just below
the existing water distribution system. Good water distribution is very important
with film fill. The use of film fill is not recommended where there is potential for
hydrocarbon leakage into the fill, particularly waxy or heavy hydrocarbon. A tower
has collapsed due to hydrocarbon contaminating the middle 12 inches of a 30-inch
fill. The “mushy” condition in the middle could not be observed from the top or
bottom. Biofouling is another serious consideration for film fill. Bacterial growth is
most rapid at 98.6°F. For many of our towers, this is about half way through the
film fill. Bacteria thrive on hydrocarbon, ammonia, nitrates, sulfates, etc. See
Section 2440 for more information on biological fouling and control.

2142 Drift Eliminators

Drift is water droplets which are entrained in the air stream as it passes through the
tower. These water droplets contain dissolved and suspended solids in proportion to
their concentration in the circulating water. Drift eliminators are baffles that cause
the hot air with entrained water droplets to change direction a number of times.
This process causes the droplets to hit the eliminator surface at every change of
direction and fall back into the tower. The efficiency of a drift eliminator is a func-
tion of its design. Figure 2100-5 shows a sketch of the three major drift eliminator
designs:
1. Herringbone, the least efficient.
2. Waveform, of intermediate efficiency.
3. Cellular, the most efficient.

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Fig. 2100-5 Different Types of Drift Eliminators

Drift eliminators are constructed of wood, PVC, polystyrene, or cellulose. PVC

now dominates this group for the following reasons:
1. The returning water does not pass through them.
2. There is no sunlight to develop bacteria.
The drift eliminators fit as a series inside 3-foot wide sections with end flanges. For
a counterflow cooling tower, the drift eliminators are located 2 to 4 feet below the
fan deck across the entire cross-section of the tower. For a crossflow tower, the drift
eliminators are located in the middle one-third section of the tower. See
Figures 2100-1 and 2100-2.

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2143 Cooling Tower Basin

The cooling tower basin should, as a minimum, be designed to provide:
1. Sufficient volume to allow 3 to 5 hours of operation if makeup water is lost.
2. A specific volume of fire water in case the regular water system fails.
3. A volume of cold water to allow a short period of operation below a specified
temperature in case of power failure. For example, the basin may allow 10
minutes operation before tower outlet temperature rises above 95°F, assuming
no convection effect.
4. The necessary head for proper operation of the cooling water circulating
pumps.
Cooling tower forebay design is covered in more detail in Section 2240.

2150 Contacts and References for Cooling Towers

2151 Contacts: Cooling Tower Manufacturers and Specialists

Included in this section is a list of cooling tower manufacturers, specialists, and
resources for maintenance and repair.
Cooling Tower Manufacturers
Marley
P. O. Box 2912
Mission, Kansas, 66201
913/362-1818
Custodis-Ecodyne
P. O. Box 1267
Santa Rosa, Ca., 94502
707/544-5833
Hamon
245 US Highway 22 West
Bridgewater, N. J., 08807
201/725-3311
BAC Pritchard
P. O. Box 7322
Baltimore, Maryland, 21227
301/799-6312
Contact the Utility Systems and Energy Management Section, ETD, for informa-
tion and recommended contacts and specialists in these areas: (1) cooling towers,
(2) water treating, (3) upgrades and repairs

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2152 References
Industry Specifications:
Cooling Tower Institute, Inc.
P. O. Box 73383
Houston, Texas 77273
(713) 583-4087
Company Documents:
Johnsen, C. W., “FCC Cooling Tower Electronic Vibration Switches,” 1/31/89. IMI,
Richmond Refinery.
Outside Documents:
1. Hydraulic Institute Standards for Centrifugal, Rotary & Reciprocating Pumps,
14th Edition, Hydraulic Institute, 1983.
2. Nystrom, James B., et al., “Modeling Flow Characteristics of Reactor Sumps,”
Journal of the Energy Division, ASCE, Vol. 108, No. EY3, November 1982.
3. Padmanabhan, M., and G. E. Hecker, “Scale Effects on Pump Sump Models,”
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 110, No. 11, November 1984.
4. Prosser, M. J., The Hydraulic Design of Pump Sumps and Intakes, British
Hydromechanics Research Association/Construction Industry Research and
Information Association, 1980.
5. Sweeney, Charles E., et al., “Pump Sump Design Experience: Summary,”
Journal of the Hydraulics Division, ASCE, Vol. 108, No. HY3, March 1982.

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Fig. 2100-6 Typical Conventional Process Cooling Water System

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Fig. 2100-7 Typical Closed Loop Cooling Water System

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Fig. 2100-8 Typical Tempered Cooling Water System

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Fig. 2100-9 Counterflow Cooling Tower: Perspective—Typical Parts and Framing (Courtesy of Custodis-Ecodyne, Santa Rosa, CA)

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Fig. 2100-10 Crossflow Cooling Tower: Transverse Elevation—Typical Parts and Framing (Courtesy of Custodis-Ecodyne, Santa Rosa, CA)

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