THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

Yang Yu

,

Xiaoni Qi

,

Xiaochen Hou

,

Xiaohang Qu

,

Qianjian Guo

,

Hegang Zhu

HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER PERFORMANCE AND EXERGY PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF SEAWATER COOLING TOWER CONSIDERING DIFFERENT INLET PARAMETERS

ABSTRACT
Cooling towers are important components within re-circulating cooling water systems. Due to a shortage of freshwater resources, seawater cooling towers are widely used both in manufacturing and everyday life. This paper researches the mechanical draft counterflow wet seawater cooling tower, and establishes and verifies a detailed thermal performance calculation model. Referring to the Second law of thermodynamics, the heat and mass transfer performance and exergy performance of the seawater cooling tower were studied. The effects of salinity, inlet air speed, and air wet-bulb temperature on the cooling efficiency, thermal efficiency, and exergy efficiency were analyzed. The results show that compared to the air wet-bulb temperature, changes in air speed have more influence on cooling and thermal efficiency under the study conditions. Moreover, the air wet-bulb temperature is the significant parameter affecting exergy efficiency. With an increase in salinity, the cooling, thermal, and exergy efficiency are about 2.40-8.25%, 1.06-3.09%, and 2.47-7.73% lower than that of freshwater, respectively, within an air speed of 3.1-3.6 m/s. With an increase in salinity, the cooling, thermal, and exergy efficiency are about 2.28-8.47%, 1.03-3.37%, and 2.44-7.99% lower than that of freshwater, respectively, within an air wet-bulb temperature of 25-27℃. Through the exergy analysis of the seawater cooling tower, it is obvious that the heat and mass transfer performance and exergy performance can be improved by selecting the optimum operating conditions and appropriate packing specifications.
KEYWORDS
Seawater cooling tower, heat and mass transfer, exergy analysis, performance evaluation, modeling
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2021-05-23
PAPER REVISED: 2021-09-23
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2021-09-23
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2021-11-06
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI210523312Y
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2022, VOLUME 26, ISSUE Issue 5, PAGES [3715 - 3728]
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Heat and mass transfer performance and exergy performance evaluation of seawater cooling tower considering different inlet parameters

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