Cooling towers for the chemical-pharmaceutical industry [Case History]

Beginning in the second half of 2019, Decsa was engaged by its own leading oleochemical customer to design and supply new cooling towers to serve their plants.

To be precise:

• 1 1,750 kW tower serving the fractionation plant
• 2 towers of 3,000 kW each serving the distiller

Place of installation
Cremona

Project
New plant: Cooling towers

Application
Chemical and pharmaceutical industry

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The following is the case study via the article that appeared in the April 2021 issue of the industry magazine ZerosUnderZero.

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Decsa installs new cooling towers

Important order for Decsa. For a major oleochemicals company in Cremona, Italy, the Italian company specializing in the manufacture and sale of cooling towers, evaporative coolers, and evaporative condensers was actively involved in the design and supply of new cooling towers to serve their plants: one of 1,750 kW to serve the fractionation plant; two of 3,000 kW each to serve the distiller.

The client, in addition to requiring a guarantee on the thermal performance of the cooling towers, requested that the design should stipulate that the towers, in addition to proper sizing, should first and foremost meet quietness criteria. Since the installation is in the city center, it was necessary to keep the noise level as low as possible in order to comply with the noise limits (60 dB(A) at the plant boundaries.

In addition, the system and towers had to be designed to ensure a service life of at least 20 years and to minimize and facilitate routine maintenance. Of course, performance was also at the top of the wish list in terms of energy savings: the proposed solution had to reduce electrical self-consumption due to the cooling towers' motors.

An additional requirement was to provide for remote management/control. The choice fell on three cooling towers at open circuit TMA-EU 29- 436GX series, while to minimize noise, Axilent fans with very low noise emissions were installed on the towers. Energy conservation was addressed, first and foremost, by choosing towers with axial fans, which are much more efficient than centrifugal fans.

In addition, all motors were connected under inverters and managed by PLCs with the logic of "temperature tracking" operation in order to commit the minimum possible power to reach the required target. Finally, the power and control panels were equipped with communication modules to ensure the possibility of command and management from the control room.

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