Energy balance part 4: Mass and Energy balance of cooling tower

Do energy balance of a counter flow open cooling tower operating with

following conditions- Airin: DBT/RH - 78F/50RH, Air out: DBT/RH- 81F/100RH,
Water temperature in: 85F, L/G ratio = 1

Cooling tower: It is a closed heat rejection system. It works on the principle of

evaporative cooling. Hot water enters at the top of cooling tower which then falls
over packing materials to increase surface area of contact for water to cool. While
water descends it gets exposed to air flowing upward through the tower. The
packing materials in the tower impede the falling of water through the tower and
increase contact time between air and water. During air-water interface contact
in the tower water evaporates into air stream. Water vapor carries the latent heat
of evaporation into the bulk of air. This cools the water. In theory, cooling tower is
a typical application of 1st law of thermodynamics. Sum total enthalpy of cooling
tower as a system remains constant between air and water, H = U + PV. It’s an
adiabatic process, delta Q=0, water derives energy for phase change from its
internal energy and makes water to cool. Evaporated water vapor from water
carries the enthalpy of evaporation into air and adds to the enthalpy of air and
thereby increases internal energy of air.

Psychrometric chart

In order to make Psychrometric chart reading easy the relevant lines have been
colored and made bold.

Basis: 1lb water enters cooling tower and mixes with 1lb air at L/G ratio=1

Heat transfer

1lb air is entering at the bottom of cooling tower at DBT (F) /RH (%) - 78/50 and
leaving cooling tower at top at DBT (F) /RH (%)-81/100. Air during its transit
through cooling tower is mixing with counter current flow of 1lb water entering at
top of cooling tower at 85 degF [hot water]. Water exits at the bottom of cooling
tower [cold water]

Please refer to bold blue lines on the psychrometric chart.

Enthalpy of in-air at 78F DBT/50% RH from psychrometric chart = 30 Btu/lb dry air
Enthalpy of out-air at 81F DBT/100% RH from psychrometric chart = 45 Btu/lb dry
air

Enthalpy gain by 1 lb air from psychrometric chart = [45-30] Btu

[Please see blue bold lines in psychrometric chart and read enthalpy of air-in
78DBT/50RH and air-out 81DBT/100RH]

Thus while 1 lb air is transiting through the cooling tower upward , air gains 15
Btu heat released by 1 lb water at 85 degF. Since specific heat of water is 1
Btu/lb-degF, this amounts to cooling of hot water by 15 degF to 70 degF [cold
water temperature].

Mass transfer

While air travels upward through the counter flow of water in the cooling tower
it picks up evaporated water vapor from water. Please refer to bold green lines
on the psychrometric chart. Moisture gain by air is shown by green lines. While,
in-air at the bottom of cooling tower at 78F DBT/50% RH had moisture content at
0.01 lb/lb dry air it shot up to 0.023 lb/lb dry air with a net rise in moisture
content by 0.013 lb/lb dry air before it exited at top of cooling tower at 81F
DBT/100% RH. 0.013 lb moisture / lb dry air is the evaporation of water in the
cooling tower. This is also total mass transfer of water vapor from water to air.
Assuming latent of evaporation of water at 1045 Btu/lb water, 0.013 lb moisture
evaporation corresponds to 0.013*1045 = 13.6 Btu. This shows out of 15 Btu heat
gained by air from water in the cooling tower 13.6 Btu was contributed by latent
heat of water and balance [15-13.6] = 1.4 Btu heat gained by air came from
sensible heat transfer between water and air.

Thus, following emerges:

Total evaporation of water, 0.013/1*100 = 1.3%

Contribution of latent heat transfer to water evaporation, 13.6/15*100= 91%

Contribution of sensible heat transfer to water evaporation, 9%

Summary
Air side: As 1 lb in-Air at DBT(F)/RH(%) - 78/50 travels upward and mixes with 1 lb
in-water at 85 degF in the cooling tower, before leaving at DBT(F)/RH(%) - 81/100,
air gains enthalpy of 15 Btu and 0.013 lb evaporated water vapor.

Water side: As 1 lb water at 85 degF [hot water] flows downward through cooling
tower, it cools to 70 degF before it leaves the cooling tower. Total evaporation of
water stands at 1.3%. Latent heat transfer by water contributes to 91% of
evaporation and rest 9% evaporation comes from sensible heat transfer by water
and air.

All final data at a glance