What is Cooling Water Treatment?

Treatment of cooling water in industrial plants, both on the production side and in the equipment supporting the production process, is of serious importance. Corrosion, scaling, deposition and bacterial contamination caused by the impurities contained in the cooling water stand out as the main problems encountered in cooling systems. The subject has been simplified as much as possible from chemistry and thermodynamic elements and expressed in plain language that every engineer can understand. Reference sources can be consulted for detailed information.

Mainly cooling water in industrial applications is used;
– In single pass cooling systems
– Closed circuit cooling systems
– Open type cooling circuits.

The fluid required for good heat transfer must be both thermodynamically appropriate and cost effective. From this point of view, water is the most suitable fluid
for cooling. This is because it has a high thermal capacity, is low cost, readily available and generally has a sufficiently lower temperature than the process fluid. The fact that water is the best heat transfer fluid can be explained thermodynamically by the laws of convection, radiation and conduction. There is no other fluid that is both close to the properties of water and at the same economy. Therefore, water is the most important element in the cooling process.

In open type cooling systems, water is open to the external environment under atmospheric conditions. For cooling purposes, it transfers the heat it receives from the process to the atmosphere by evaporating. Thus, the cooled water is pumped back into the system. As seen above, all three types require different amounts of water. These needs are provided from both surface sources (sea, lake, river, etc.) and underground sources (wells). The quality of the water to be used during the cooling process is very important. Its properties vary according to the location, environmental and geographical conditions. Due to its solvent properties, water encounters many impurities from its source to the point of use and transfers them to its body. For this reason, although it seems to be basically the same in every region, water quality (total dissolved solids content) is quite different.

The process of making water suitable for the process in which it will be used according to its properties is called treatment. At this point, it is appropriate to divide the treatment process into two main parts as mechanical and chemical. It is possible to purify water from the impurities it contains by means of some equipment and prepare it for the intended purpose. Today, raw water is prepared for industrial use by methods such as filtration, softening, dealkalinization, demineralization, electrodialysis and membrane technologies. However, under stress in the systems, the components of the water cause some problems, and at these points, chemical treatment is used as a solution to the problems.

For more information on water treatment, be sure to check out Splash Magazine 1st edition.