Evaporative Cooling and Humidification

University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Engineering Chemical Engineering Department
Chemical Engineering Laboratories 2 Evaporative Cooling and Humidification
EVAPORATIVE COOLING AND HUMIDIFICATION
Flow diagram of a generic heat exchanger cooling tower system.
Summary: The basic principle of the cooling tower operation is that of evaporative condensation and exchange of sensible heat. The air and water mixture releases latent heat of vaporization which has a cooling effect on water by turning a certain amount of liquid into its gaseous state thereby releasing the latent heat of vaporization. In this experiment, certain parameters were measured to determine the height and number of transfer units.
Aquino, Magtrayo, Samson, San Jose Unit Operation Lab II | 5ChEA
August 24, 2013 1
POST LAB REPORT Chemical Engineering Laboratory 2
EVAPORATIVE COOLING AND HUMIDIFICATION

August 23, 2013
JOHN KEVIN G. SAN JOSE Kazandra M. Aquino JERICKO L. SAMSON Charlette Ritz O. Magtrayo 5ChEA
August 24, 2013 2
CONTENTS Summary Results Discussion of Results Answers to Questions Conclusion References Appendix 4 5 8 9 11 11 12
August 24, 2013 3
1. Summary The objectives of this experiment are to know the principle behind humidification and evaporative cooling tower, know its parts, and to estimate the height and number of transfer units of the tower.
To achieve this purpose, 6 trials were conducted before attaining steady state condition. Wherein at least 3 data points remain constant, or have at least 0.5 difference between any three consecutive data.
August 24, 2013 4
Certain parameters were recorded to attain these goals such as air conditions, water conditions and the flow rates of water and air. In determining the entering and exit air conditions, a digital thermometer was used to determine the dry bulb temperature of air and a thermometer with wet cotton on its bulb was used to get the wet bulb temperature. For its relative humidity, ____ was used. As for the water conditions, the entering temperature of water was provided by the thermometer on the exit water outlet of the shell and tube heat exchanger. Whereas a digital thermometer was used to determine the exit temperature of water to the tank reservoir. Water and air flow rates was also recorded. The entering volumetric flow rate can be read through the tube in the entering water outlet at the shell and tube heat exchanger. And to measure the waters exit mass low rate, a manual operation was done by letting a 1L beaker be filled by the water from the cooling tower and recording the time it reached the 1L mark. As for the entering and exit air velocity, readings on two different points were recorded so as to account for the difference in reading across the cooling tower.
2. Results
In this lab, the cooling tower performance was measured by computing for certain parameters such as its range, approach and its cooling factor. Also, the height and number of transfer units was also obtained using the gathered data.
August 24, 2013 5
Steam from the boiler heated the water in the heat exchanger that served as the feed to the cooling tower. The hot water entered on the top of the tower and was cooled by the air counter flow to the direction of the water. The cooled water left at the bottom of the tower and was delivered in a reservoir that supplies the water to the heat exchanger.
Certain air conditions were measured like the wet and dry bulb temperature, the relative humidity, and the velocity of the entering and leaving air stream. The entering flow rate of water was also obtained from the reading on the flow meter on the heat exchanger while the exit flow rate of water was measured on the inlet pipe to the reservoir where the water from the tower enters the tank. Inlet and outlet temperature of water was also measured for computations.
The procedure was repeated until steady state was obtained or when three consecutive data points for all conditions has a difference of 0.5. Based on the data gathered, not all the conditions of air as well as of the water reached steady state due to instrumental and personal errors. Steady state condition was observed on Relative Humidity, 64.1%, and the exit wet bulb temperature, 28oC of air stream, the entering volumetric flow rate, 60.0 L/min, and exit mass flow rate, 1.7 s/L, of water.
Other observed parameters were the wet and dry bulb temperature of entering air which was 26.8oC and 31.2oC respectively. The wet and dry bulb temperature and the relative humidity of exiting air which were 28.0oC, 32.7oC and 68.0% respectively. The entering and exiting velocity of airstream were 1.6m/s and 6.1m/s respectively. Entering and exiting water
Aquino, Magtrayo, Samson, San Jose Unit Operation Lab II | 5ChEA August 24, 2013 6
temperature were recorded as 42.5oC and 36.9oC respectively. Table 1.0 shows the tabulated data of this experiment. Table 1.0 Data from the Evaporative Cooling and Humidification experiment AIR CONDITIONS Entering Wet Bulb Temperature Dry Bulb Temperature Relative Humidity Velocity Exit Wet Bulb Temperature Dry Bulb Temperature Relative Humidity Velocity 26.8oC 31.2oC 64.1 1.6 m/s 28 oC 32.7 oC 68.0 6.1 m/s
WATER CONDITIONS 42.5 oC Entering Temperature 36.9 oC Exit Temperature FLOW RATE Entering Volume Flow Rate Exit Mass Flow Rate
60 L/min 1.7 s/L
Using the gathered data from Table 1.0, the performance of the cooling tower was evaluated by calculating the range, approach and effectiveness. The summary of performance evaluation is shown on Table 2.0
Table 2.0 Cooling Tower Performance Evaluation

Cooling Tower Performance Parameter Range Aquino, Magtrayo, Samson, San Jose Unit Operation Lab II | 5ChEA Equation T2-T1 Result 5.6 August 24, 2013 7
Approach Effectiveness Cooling Factor
T1-tw1 Range/(Range+Approach) L/G
10.1 0.356687898 0.368808534
And for the result for the transfer units which includes the height and number of transfer units, the overall mass transfer coefficient and heat load were summarized on Table 3.0 Table 3.0 Tabulated results for transfer units
Transfer Units Height of Transfer Units Number of Transfer Units Overall Mass Transfer Coefficient Heat Load Result 0.367749251 0.848404175 8.08 kg/(m3s) -23.4303
3. Discussion of Results The basic principle of the cooling tower operation is that of evaporative condensation and exchange of sensible heat. The cooling of the process fluid, water, from 42.5oC to 36.9oC which resulted to a range of 5.6 illustrates the capacity of the tower to lower the temperature of water. The low yield of range may be a result of some errors in reading of certain parameters and also some instrumental errors. On the other hand, the temperature of the air entering and exiting the cooling tower increases due to the heat transfer process involving the latent heat (80%) and the sensible heat (20%). On the other hand, the approach was computed by getting the difference between the leaving temperature of water and the wet bulb temperature of air. The approach indicates the possible heat loss by the water to the air. From the calculation (refer to appendix), a 10.1oC approach was obtained. This value of approach is dependent on the tower design.
August 24, 2013 8
As seen from Table 2.0, the effectiveness of the cooling tower was computed based from the ration of the approach and the sum of the approach and the range, giving a value of 0.3567. For the cooling factor, L/G ratio, it is the minimum required coefficient which can also be computed by another equation (refer to appendix) which give a value of 0.3688. A high value of cooling factor indicates a more water to less air ratio, a low evaporation loss, air is more saturated, a greater residence time of water, etc. Meanwhile, the number of transfer units indicates the measure of difficulty of the separation between the water vapour and the air mixture. It was computed to give a value of 0.8484. While the value of the height of transfer units illustrates the measure of the separation effectiveness of a particular packing which has a value of 0.3677. And finally, the value of the overall mass transfer coefficient was obtained to have a value of 8.08 kg/m3*s. While the heat load gives a value of -23.4303kW. The negative sign signifies a heat loss from the tower due to the heat transfer process. 4. Answers to Questions 1. How does the number of transfer units affect the cooling factor? Number of transfer units (NTU). Also called the tower coefficient, the NTU is a numerical value that results from theoretical calculations based on a set of performance characteristics. The value of NTU is also representative of the degree of difficulty for the cooling process. The NTU corresponding to a set of hypothetical conditions is called the required coefficient and is an evaluation of the problem. The same calculations applied to a set of test conditions is called the available coefficient of the tower involved. The available coefficient is not a constant but varies with operating conditions. The operating characteristic of a cooling tower
is developed from an empirical correlation that shows how the available coefficient varies with operating conditions. Liquid-to-gas ratio (L/G). The L/G ratio of a cooling tower is the ratio of the liquid (water) mass flowrate (L) to gas (air) mass flowrate (G). Cooling towers have certain design values, but seasonal variations require adjustment and tuning of water and air flowrates to get the best cooling tower effectiveness. A high L/G ratio means: More water to less air Air is more saturated driving force is reduced More residence time of water needed Less cooling in given time Increase in required fan power Decrease in height of tower Low evaporation loss (under same water flowrate)
August 24, 2013 10
2. Given that the boiler will be supplying steam to several equipment such as heat exchanger and dryers present in the laboratory a. How would the operation of cooling tower be affected? There will be a lesser supply of steam which will remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or, in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers, rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the dry-bulb air temperature. b. What parameters would be affected? The parameters that will be affected will be mass flow rates, temperature and enthalpy.
5. Conclusion The group learned how to use the heat exchanger and the cooling tower. For the entering air, the relative humidity reached its highest value on Trial 4 and remained constant until Trial 6. For the exiting air, the range of the relative humidity is close to each other but did not become constant averaging to 68%. Its highest relative humidity happened in Trial 4 with 70.2%. 6. References 1. Perry, Robert H. And Don Green (editor), Perrys Chemical Engineering Handbook 6th Ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1984. 2. Goyal, Jonny (2012). Effective Thermal Design of Cooling Towers. Retrieved from www.che.com
3. Appendix
August 24, 2013 12
August 24, 2013 13
August 24, 2013 14
August 24, 2013 15
August 24, 2013 16

Evaporative Cooling and Humidification

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Evaporative Cooling and Humidification

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Engineering Chemical Engineering Department

Chemical Engineering Laboratories 2 Evaporative Cooling and Humidification