Optimization of a Cooling-Condensation Tower

Abstract

Cooling condensation towers are used in many different industrial applications such as in power and incineration plants as well as in the chemical and paper industry in order to recover heat from a flue gas stream and therefore significantly increase the energy efficiency of the plant. One widespread approach to achieve this goal is gas cooling and condensation through direct contact between liquid and gas streams in a packed bed.The dimension of such cooling units, and thereby the investment and operating costs are directly dependent on the selected mass transfer components. Key performance parameters of these are pressure drop, hydraulic capacity as well as heat and mass transfer efficiency.Mass transfer equipment manufacturers have the possibility to optimize the size of these cooling towers through selection of best suitable mass and heat transfer components. In this work, a design case of a cooling-condensing tower equipped with different random and structured packings made out of different materials will be presented. For this purpose, maximum pressure drop and temperatures of the inlet streams in the condensing stage will be specified and the packing type varied. The derived investment costs will be evaluated.