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The CTI Journal

(ISSN: 0273-3250) PUBLISHED SEMI-ANNUALLY Copyright 2010 by The Cooling Technology Institute, PO Box 73383, Houston, TX 77273. Periodicals postage paid at Houston, Texas. MISSION STATEMENT It is CTIs objective to: 1) Maintain and expand a broad base membership of individuals and organizations interested in Evaporative Heat Transfer Systems (EHTS), 2) Identify and address emerging and evolving issues concerning EHTS, 3) Encourage and support educational programs in various formats to enhance the capabilities and competence of the industry to realize the maximum benefit of EHTS, 4) Encourge and support cooperative research to improve EHTS Technology and efficiency for the long-term benefit of the environment, 5) Assure acceptable minimum quality levels and performance of EHTS and their components by establishing standard specifications, guidelines, and certification programs, 6) Establish standard testing and performance analysis systems and prcedures for EHTS, 7) Communicate with and influence governmental entities regarding the environmentally responsible technologies, benefits, and issues associated with EHTS, and 8) Encourage and support forums and methods for exchanging technical information on EHTS. LETTERS/MANUSCRIPTS Letters to the editor and manuscripts for publication should be sent to: The Cooling Technology Institute, PO Box 73383, Houston, TX 77273. SUBSCRIPTIONS The CTI Journal is published in January and June. Complimentary subscriptions mailed to individuals in the USA. Library subscriptions $20/yr. Subscriptions mailed to individuals outside the USA are $30/yr. CHANGE OF ADDRESS Request must be received at subscription office eight weeks before effective date. Send both old and new addresses for the change. You may fax your change to 281.537.1721 or email: vmanser@cti.org. PUBLICATION DISCLAIMER CTI has compiled this publication with care, but CTI has not Investigated, and CTI expressly disclaims any duty to investigate, any product, service process, procedure, design, or the like that may be described herein. The appearance of any technical data, editorial material, or advertisement in this publication does not constitute endorsement, warranty, or guarantee by CTI of any product, service process, procedure, design, or the like. CTI does not warranty that the information in this publication is free of errors, and CTI does not necessarily agree with any statement or opinion in this publication. The entire risk of the use of any information in this publication is assumed by the user. Copyright 2010 by Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2 CTI the CTI Journal. All rights reserved.

Contents
Feature Articles
8 26 Plume Abatement The Next Generation Paul Lindahl and Ken Mortensen An Investigation of Pin Bearing Strength on Composite Materials Dustin L. Troutman and Jeremy D. Mostoller Your Cooling Tower Project - On-Time, On-Budget David M. Suptic Simultaneous Removal Of Waterborne Bacteria And Total Suspended Solids Using An Antimicrobial Media In A Crossflow Filter System James W. Stephens and Mark B. Miller Computer Modeling Of Blended Streams For Water Reuse And Discharge Robert J. Ferguson and Baron R. Ferguson 32 48

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Special Sections
80 85 86 CTI Certified Towers CTI Licensed Testing Agencies CTI ToolKit

Departments
02 02 04 06 09 Multi Agency Press Release Meeting Calendar View From the Tower Editors Corner 2011 CTI Table Top Information
see page 16

see page 78 see page 54

CTI Journal
The Official Publication of The Cooling Technology Institute

FUTURE MEETING DATES


Committee Workshop
July 11-15, 2010 Marriott Albuquerque Pyramid N Albuquerque, NM July 17-20, 2011 Amelia Island Plantation Amelia Island, FL

Vol. 31 No. 2

Summer 2010

Journal Committee Paul Lindahl, Editor-in-Chief Art Brunn, Sr. Editor Virginia Manser, Managing Editor/Adv. Manager Donna Jones, Administrative Assistant Graphics by Sarita Graphics Board of Directors Jess Seawell, President Chris Lazenby, Vice President Helen Cerra, Secretary Tim Facius, Treasurer Jon Bickford, Director Frank Foster, Director Gary Geiger, Director Ken Mortensen, Director Dennis Shea, Director Don Zelek, Director Address all communications to: Virginia A. Manser, CTI Administrator Cooling Technology Institute PO Box 73383 Houston, Texas 77273 281.583.4087 281.537.1721 (Fax) Internet Address: http://www.cti.org E-mail: vmanser@cti.org

Annual Conference
February 6-10, 2011 Westin Riverwalk San Antonio, TX February 5-9, 2012 Hilton Hotel Houston, TX

For Immediate Release


Contact: Chairman, CTI Multi-Agency Testing Committee Houston, Texas, 3-May-2010 ....................... The Cooling Technology Institute announces its annual invitation for interested drift testing agencies to apply for potential Licensing as CTI Drift Testing Agencies. CTI provides an independent third party drift testing program to service the industry. Interested agencies are required to declare their interest by March 1, 2011, at the CTI address listed.

Cooling Towers, Drift, and Legionellosis, By Tom Bugler, was Originally presented at the 2008 International Water Conference, October 26-30, 2008 in San Antonio, TX

CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

View From The Tower


HAPPY BIRTHDAY CTI! It is hard to believe that the Cooling Technology Institute is now 60 years old this year. You would think after 60 years that a technical organization dedicated only to Evaporative Heat Transfer Systems (EHTS) would become somewhat static in its Search of Excellence for the organization. Not CTI, it keeps seeking ways to improve its technical expertise and the service it provides to the industry worldwide. A quick recap of what CTI provides to its membership and the Industry in general: On the technical side in Performance and Technology, ATC 105 test code for field erected towers is up for its 5 year review and there are key issues that will be discussed in detail. The Drift Standard is nearing final completion. There will be discussion and development of a R & D project to further understand the accuracy of measuring flow with pitot tubes. Also consideration is being given to adapting magnetic flow meters as the official flow measuring instrument.

In Engineering Standards and Maintenance and Water Treatment, there are long lists of standards under reviJess Seawell sion, standards coming up for their 5 year review, many Developed and maintains (mandatory 5 year review) ap- going through their final Ad Hoc review and CTI Board approval proximately 50 CTI Code standards and 13 Chapters in the and numerous new standards are being developed that will be of CTI Manual for cooling tower operation, inspection and interest to the industry. testing. But what is really exciting is the committee work that is being per Thermal Certification Program for manufacturers worldwide formed on the commercial side of the organization that will further that guarantees the thermal performance of their factory focus what CTI provides to our members and the industry and assembled cooling towers. make member benefits even more attractive. I will not try to mention CTI Licensed Test Agencies so that customers know that all the added programs and benefits but listed below are a few that they will be getting high quality tests performed that meet will receive much attention this summer: CTIs defined Test and Performance Procedures. Our Thermal Certification Program has been extremely successful and the growth and interest has spread worldwide. Provides Educational Seminars and Papers Much work is being done to insure this program will have Publishes two Journals a years and two Newsletters and a long term continuity in future years and continue to provide yearly Membership Directory the highest quality of testing and the impeccable integrity of The CTI Blue Book Computer Program to calculate demand the program, as it has done in the past. The final plan is due curves and psychrometric calculations and cooling tower for submittal to the CTI Board at the Winter Meeting in 2011. performance evaluations Due to the great success of the Thermal Certification, there Presents approximately 26 papers a year at the winter meetis considerable interest in expanding CTI Certification or ing and publishes approximately 12 to 14 of those papers in Conformance for products and materials that are addressed the two journals each year by CTI standards. The new Products and Material Certifica Maintains an ever expanding library of over 700 papers tion Committee will be developing a business plan to expand divided into 50 categories pertaining to EHTS subjects. CTI certification in other key areas of interest. Just as dynamic corporations continue to reinvent themselves, Website Expansion There have many great ideas offered CTI continues to strive to improve the technical information availto expand our website program and capabilities, develop a able to their members and expand member services at every opmembers only section, offer more member benefits electroniportunity. cally, reorganize the vast library of technical articles and The Summer Committee Work Shop is fast approaching and the papers that have been presented so that any subject can be members will be meeting in Albuquerque, NM on July 11 through quickly located and applicable articles quickly presented the 14th to write new standards and update of older standards and formatted for selection and purchase. reflecting newer technology. But that is not all the membership On the membership and marketing side, suggestions have will be addressing this summer. There are numerous issues and been made that CTI expand our membership categories to opportunities that our members have identified that are of great include Students and Educators, write and offer applicainterest and can further expand the vast CTI technology pool but tions for I Phones, CTI Blog site, CTI sponsored Power also offer more member benefit focus. We have a very exciting Point presentations, an awards committee to recognize memmeeting coming up so please plan to attend and provide your bers for special service to our industry and many other great valued input. Also it is an ideal time to network, to share and to ideas to improve and expand CTI. learn from colleagues who perhaps experience the same issues at To further expand our technical expertise in CTI and to the their facility as you and meeting with industry experts that adindustry and to support both the thermal and product certidress all aspects of Evaporative Heat Transfer Systems. 4 CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

fication business plans that are under development, consideration will be given to hiring a part time and later full time technical director to support the very capable CTI administrative staff on the technical side. On issues that will have a profound effect on our industry, California and New York have led the nation in passing legislation and legal opinions that dramatically limit the use of sea water for plant cooling and restricting water use that may possibly have environmental impact. In addition, draft revision of EPA Rule 316 (b) of the Clean Water Act, includes rules that pertain to aquatic species impingement and entrapment at plant intakes and could have a major impact of power plant operation. To meet these new guidelines, more plants may have to go to closed circuit cooling systems instead of once through cooling and could increase greatly the

interest in cooling technology and CTI, in general. CTI is a great organization, it is now recognized worldwide as the leading source of technology for evaporative heat transfer systems, it has not remained static but is making plans to further expand its usefulness to the industry and its members. It is managed by a wide and dispersed volunteer staff of dedicated committee members from our industry that strive to continually improve the CTI organization. I want to thank all of the CTI members that so graciously give and gave their money, time and effort to make CTI what it is today and what it will be in the future. A special thanks to the many companies that have supported the CTI organization for the past 60 years. I will look forward to seeing you at the summer workshop. We have a lot of work to do, so get involved we need you. As Bill Howard says:

CTI, Join in, get involved, learn, educate others, participate and thrive!
Respectfully submitted, Jess Seawell President 2010/2011

CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

Editors Corner
Dear Reader, The last several letters have dealt mainly with changes in the world around us and in our organization. The economic picture remains in a difficult to predict state, but with hopeful signs. The Cooling Technology Institute has a new two year President, Jess Seawell, and is generally stable in leadership otherwise. A high state of energy has been exhibited by the leadership of CTI in response to the economy, as well as to needs for growth in size and capabilities. This is a very positive thing to see, in my view, from observation over many years as a CTI volunteer. for the future. Many new opportunities to participate are evolving. The Committee Workshop in Albuquerque in July is expected to be a very interesting and challenging meeting. Numerous significant issues for the industry are on the agenda, and will be acted upon. The meeting in February in San Antonio will continue the activities by the committees as well as introduce new technical papers, educational seminars and a table-top exhibit for the benefit of attendees of diverse backgrounds in our industry.

Paul Lindahl Editor-In-Chief

It is a good time for both current and potential members to participate in the activities of CTI. CTI is a volunteer organization, and at its core is the custodian of the codes and standards that foster stability and consistency in our industry. Contributions by the CTI membership are welcomed and needed to properly understand the drivers in the industry and help us to move to position

We look forward to meeting the challenges ahead of us, with the energy and innovation of which the present and future CTI membership is capable. Respectfully, Paul Lindahl CTI Journal Editor

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CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

Plume Abatement The Next Generation


Paul Lindahl Ken Mortensen SPX COOLING TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract
Cooling towers have been modified to reduce the visibility of their effluent water vapor plumes for about 40 years. The evolution, breadth of experience and technologies of plume abatement cooling towers will be described. An evolutionary improvement to existing plume abatement designs using a different heat transfer approach will be described, including some of the develPAUL LINDAHL opment and demonstration achievements to date. Differences from currently used coil-type wet/dry tower designs and benefits of the improved technology for cooling tower applications will be presented.

Introduction
The earliest designs for reduction of visibility due to condensation of water vapor plumes from cooling towers were in the 1960s. The applications were wet/dry or other heat sources in a series path, and were industrial or air-conditioning applications. The applications were considered safety related. In the 1970s, designs evolved which were based on parallel path wet/dry technology. For almost 40 years parallel path wet/dry, or hybrid, technologies have been applied to reduce visible plume from cooling towers. A significant level of operating experience in various configurations and application types, in response to various end user needs, has developed over that period of time. A new technology has emerged which is series path, but does not use dry type exchangers. Instead, the technology uses air to air instead of water to air heat exchange. This technology has been developed, demonstrated and emerges as an attractive option for plume abatement in the new century. The new condensing module technology is based on a natural process with value in terms of energy benefits, piping cost, low maintenance and low complexity.

ent from a cooling tower on a cold day with smoke leaving an industrial process stack. A plant with a cooling tower may be perceived as emitting smoke. Regulatory requirements relate to aesthetics and community relations, but are translated into public policy that requires use of plume-free, or limited plume technology. Safety typically relates to the KEN MORTENSEN potential that a visible plume from a cooling tower might obstruct a roadway, or for an airport application, the view from the control tower. Sometimes, concerns about icing from plumes contacting cold roadway or other surfaces also come into play. This is not directly related to visibility of the plume. Any time there is moisture in the air, whether in clouds or ground fog or a plume (visible or not), there is a potential for this moisture to condense and freeze on cold surfaces.

Series Path History


It was recognized in the mid-1960s that if the humidity leaving the tower could be reduced, the plume would be less visible or visible for fewer hours per year. The earliest designs involved adding heat sources to the air leaving the cooling tower or wet section, to reduce the relative humidity of the leaving air by heating it up. Two basic approaches were considered. One was to add a finned tube, or more commonly, a bare tube heat exchanger above (or downstream of) the eliminators to heat all of the wet section discharge air. The other was to add heat to the air using burners above the fans (induced draft with propeller-type fans at the tower discharge). The heat exchanger designs either used all or part of the hot water going to the tower, or used an external heat source, such as steam from some other available process, to provide the heating effect. The burner design was applied at an airport in a concrete tower with concrete fan cylinder, and burned a combustible gas, but the plume control was not found to be necessary and the burner system is believed to have been decommissioned in the 1970s. Series path wet/dry (SPWD) towers, with metallic coils above (or downstream) of the eliminators required premium corrosion resistant materials due to the hot moist environment in the tower plenum. Over a period of time close-spaced fins would tend to clog in this environment. Thus the designs typically had what are called low fins that are wide spaced and short fin height, or had no fins at all, bare tube, particularly with higher temperature steam. The drawbacks to these designs were full time pressure drop for the cooling tower fan, and high pump head for hot water coils. The positive was that the entire volume of wet section air was heated in the coils, so the discharge air was well mixed. External heat source designs with steam, in effect, would be trying to control two processes with one fan, and would have some control complexity as CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

About Cooling Tower Plumes


The air leaving a cooling tower is essentially saturated, e.g. 100% relative humidity, and when discharging into cold, humid ambient air some of the moisture condenses. This condensate becomes visible if enough is present and looks like clouds or ground fog. The tendency for visibility is well correlated to whether human breath would be visible when exhaled. When it is warm and dry, your breath is not visible. The colder and more humid it is, the more visible your breath becomes. Why does the visibility of the plume matter? There are four main reasons; aesthetics, community relations, regulatory requirements and safety. Aesthetics is simply the perception that the effluent from a tower obscures visibility of whatever is on the other side of the plume, and may be undesirable. Community relations involves the association of the cloud-like water vapor and condensate efflu-

Table Top Exhibits Tuesday, February 8, 2011 4:00p - 9:00p Westin Riverwalk, San Antonio, Texas
Layout for Table Top Exhibits
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French Creek Software C.E. Shepherd Company Bedford Reinforced Plastics Rexnord Composite Cooling Solutions EPCON WaterLine Controls Strongwell Cool Water Technologies

Brentwood Landstar Ranger Midwest Towers AirFlow Cofimco Hudson Products Corp Proco Products SPX Cooling Technologies Pullman Energy Services Glocon, Inc

Baltimore Aircoil ProMinent Fluid Controls Dynamic Fabricators SPIG, U.S.A. Cooling Tower Resources G&G Marine Amarillo Gear Co Aggreko EvapTech

Make our meeting complete by adding your companys name to the list of exhibitors. For more information contact Virginia Manser at 281.583.4087 or vmanser@cti.org
CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2 9

well as a need to insulate the piping to and from the tower in cold climates.

Parallel Path Wet/Dry (PPWD) Towers


Most of the history of wet/dry towers evolved after the development of the basic parallel path tower designs and patents around 1970. This concept involved adding dry sections, using finned tube heat exchangers, above the wet sections, but different from the SPWDs just described, the air was drawn by the induced draft fans in parallel through the dry sections and wet sections, mixed in the plenum, and discharged from the fan at a reduced relative humidity. The air leaving the dry sections is heated without adding moisture, so is hot and has low humidity. The air leaving the wet sections is essentially at 100% humidity (saturated) warm air. The mixed air leaving the tower is at a reduced relative humidity. If the humidity is reduced via a proper balance of dry and wet section performance capability, the air that leaves the tower will not become super-saturated (condensed drops, or visible plume) as it mixes with ambient air, see Figure 1.

the visible plume zone for this example case. The fogging frequency for the un-abated tower is about 60%. The fogging frequency curve for a plume abatement tower selected for approximately 10% of the hours per year of visible plume is shown toward the left of the chart. This would allow visible plume at the coldest and most humid hours of the year, typically in early mornings, before dawn. The plume abatement design point would be the point (Wet Bulb & Dry Bulb Temperatures) where the fogging frequency curve crosses the uppermost edge of the weather data band for a location.

Figure 2. Plume Abatement Design Point Determination

Figure 1. Parallel Path Wet/Dry Tower cross section

Parallel path designs had the advantage of being able to add face dampers on the dry sections that would shut off most of the air flow, enabling nearly full wet cooling tower performance in the summer time at near to wet tower fan power. Dampers typically leak some air, and in addition, some dry section performance may be desired for morning and evening conditions even in the summer, so PPWD towers typically are higher fan power than wet only towers. The selection of PPWD towers for plume abatement is generally against a summer thermal design point and a winter plume design point. Figure 2 shows ambient weather points divided by the saturation curve, to the left of which are super-saturated air, or visible fogging conditions. To the right of the saturation curve are subsaturated, or non-visible conditions. If one looks at a visual map of the distribution of ambient points for a given location, the map would look like the gold band across the chart. For a typical wetonly cooling tower, the curve toward the right of the chart is the fogging frequency curve for design flow and cooling range, which divides the weather points into conditions for which the tower would produce visible plume to the left, and those which would not to the right. A substantial percentage of the ambient points are in 10

PPWD towers also generally use hot water passing first through the dry section, then through the wet section to get maximum dry performance. This involves additional pumping head to move water both through the coils and above the wet section. Since a risk of freezing the metal coils exists if water is left standing in the coils or if water distribution is not even enough, substantial design effort has gone into hydraulic design and controls to protect the dry sections. Some manufacturers also utilize vacuum pumps to assure that air does not become trapped in portions of the coil system, potentially also trapping water that could freeze. Note also, that PPWD towers involve mixing of low velocity streams of air that do not generate sufficient turbulence for complete mixing across the plan area of the tower plenum. Mixing devices have commonly been used, particularly for counterflow designs, to gain sufficient mixing of the dry and wet streams to prevent unmixed wet air from discharging from the tower visibly. The first PPWD tower was sold commercially and operated in 1970, in response to a safety issue. A tower, located in a refinery in Pasadena, TX, that was sited close to and just north of a highway produced a visible plume on a cold day with a north wind that was perceived to contribute to a fatal traffic accident on the highway. The insurance company for the plant required that the tower be moved or the plume prevented from reaching the road. The replacement tower, which can be seen in figure 3, was designed to reduce, not eliminate plume, such that the plume did not leave the plant boundary. In figure 4, it can be seen that the PPWD tower produces drastically less visible plume than the tower in the foreground, which is operating at about the same tower duty.

CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

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Figure 6. Example of a large power plant retrofit to PPWD

Figure 3. First commercial PPWD installation in Pasadena, TX

Plume abatement towers also evaporate less water than wet cooling towers. The next example, in Figure 7, is a water conservation installation in New Mexico designed for 70% water savings compared to a wet tower. The towers are over 1000 feet from end to end x 135 feet wide, with 50 fans total. The portion of the heat transfer from the water in the dry sections does not lead to evaporation, so the total evaporation is reduced. The tower below was designed to operate completely dry at 32F.

Figure 4. Significantly reduced plume from first commercial PPWD in 1970

Since 1970, PPWD towers have been applied in many configurations and for many different types of application from small air conditioning to large power plant cooling towers. The total number of PPWD installations by multiple manufacturers is well over 80. An example of another safety related application is the Chicago OHare Airport cooling tower in Figure 5. This tower was designed for no plume, even in transients while the loads are just coming up or going to shutdown. The tower has wet and dry section dampers and variable frequency drives. This enables operation of the tower for lowest cold water temperature when plume is not an issue, or minimum plume when it is. The objective was to prevent the plume from obstructing the view of taxiways from the control tower.

Figure 7. Water conservation tower on a power plant

Over the 40+ year history of wet/dry towers for plume abatement, the technology has adapted to new needs, and has successfully satisfied most of the customers needs. However, additional new technology was required to meet the remainder of the customers needs.

Next Generation Plume Abatement Technology


An alternative technology has been developed in recent years for plume abatement. This condensing module technology combines series path and parallel path configurations, based on patented heat exchangers that transfer heat from wet section discharge air to ambient air, see Figure 8. In the plume abatement mode, moisture is removed from the saturated wet section air by condensing in the heat exchanger, resulting in lower temperature saturated air leaving the heat exchanger. The combination of warm dry air from one side of the heat exchangers and the removal of some moisture content by cooling of the wet section air on the alternate side of the heat exchangers, reduces the relative humidity of the discharge air. The number of hours per year of plume visibility is thus reduced, similarly to PPWD and SPWD tower designs. CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

Figure 5. Example of a zero plume tower at a major airport

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Figure 8. Condensing module heat transfer schematic [note that condensate comes only from the hot moist face, not the cool ambient face]

Figure 9 shows the psychrometric behavior of a PPWD compared with that of the condensing module plume abatement process. In a PPWD, the air condition leaving the wet section is on the saturation curve, having gained heat and moisture in the wet section process. The air leaving the dry section is heated, but has no moisture added, so the line is horizontal on a psychrometric chart. The resulting condition at the fan after mixing the two air streams is a function of the mass flow of air from each of the sections. If the tower is designed properly for a plume point, the mix line back to ambient is below the saturation curve, showing that the plume never goes into the fog region above the saturation curve and no plume is visible. For the condensing module case, the air leaves the wet section similarly, but is now cooled down along the saturation curve to a lower wet bulb temperature, condensing water in the modules as the moisture content goes down. The air from the outside air ducts goes through the other side of the condensing modules, is heated without adding moisture, a horizontal line on the psychrometric chart. The two streams mix to a fan condition that again has a mix line below the saturation curve at the plume design point if designed properly. The fan condition is dependent on the relative mass flows from the two sides of the condensing modules. The processes are similar, but are clearly different. A typical configuration for the condensing module plume abatement tower is illustrated by Figure 10. Ambient air in stream 1A passes through the wet section of this counterflow tower. The warm, saturated air from the wet section, stream 1B, passes up through one side of the crossflow heat exchanger modules which are oriented in a diamond pattern, leaving at a cooler, but still saturated, condition. Ambient air also passes into the tower via ducts, stream 2A, and into the alternate side of the heat exchanger modules, leaving warmer and with lower relative humidity, stream 2B. 14

Figure 9. Comparison of coil type and condensing module psychrometrics

Streams 1B and 2B mix in the plenum above the modules, stream 3, leaving the tower as reduced humidity air, stream 4. Proper proportions and air flow through the wet section and the condensing modules result in the targeted plume abatement design point. The flow of air through the modules can be dampered to maximize the wet section air flow in the summer. In addition, the ducts supplying air to the modules can be vented to enable wet section air to pass through both sides of the modules, increasing wet section air flow still more. Note that the airflow from the condensing modules is well distributed across the plan area, resulting in effective mixing of the two air streams without a need for mixing devices. The condensing modules are based on technology backed, in part, by grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) via the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) The grants from the DOE were part of the Innovation for Existing Power Plants program as an improvement over traditional PPWD technology. In addition to extensive test cell and prototype work at our Research and Development center, and CFD simulation of designs, a full scale demonstration project was installed at a power plant in New Mexico. Note CFD modeling examples in Figure 11, illustrating temperature and velocity distributions in the demonstration tower configuration.

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CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

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Figure 10. Schematic cross section of the tower and condensing module design for plume abatement
Figure 11-B

Figure 11. Illustration of CFD modeling of the demonstration installation, temperature in figure A and velocity in fibure B

The demonstration installation is in a base-loaded coal-fired power plant that operates 24/7. An end-cell of the original tower was demolished, and a new demonstration cell installed. The demonstration installation was completed in 2007 and has operated successfully for more than a year. Figure 12 shows two photographs of the tower, taken on different dates, both operating at 27F dry bulb, with one having 60% humidity and the other 65% humidity, without visible plume, on either date, in comparison to the substantial plume coming from the rest of the tower. Figures 13, 14 and 15 show the factory assembled modules being hoisted up into the tower, and the configuration when all are in place. Figure 16 shows the windows in the side casing where ambient air enters the ducts that feed the dry side of the modules. The configuration shown was designed for high water conservation capability for this high desert location. The condensing module configuration is an evolution for plume abatement purposes, but also accomplishes significant water savings.

Figure 11-A

16

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Figure 13. Hoisting of factory assembled condensing modules [photo by Dennis Parker]

Figure 14. Tower under construction, showing position of modules [photo by Dennis Parker]

Figure 12. Operation of the demonstration cell, side view [Date 1/21/09 Temperature 27F Relative Humidity 65%, photo by Ken Mortensen, end view [Date 3/11/08 Temperature 27F Relative Humidity 60%, photo by Tom Ruisinger]

Figure 15. Condensing modules positioned in demonstration cell [photo by Dennis Parker]

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Figure 16. Windows in casing for air supply ducts to modules [photo by Tom Ruisinger]

This water conservation/plume abatement cooling tower has operated over two winters, without issues during cold weather operation. Since there is no circulating water in the modules, and condensation can only happen with warmed wet effluent air in direct contact with the condensate flowing downward in counter-current flow, the risk of any freezing is very low. Figure 17 shows the demonstration tower operating in winter conditions, 35F dry bulb and 50% relative humidity.

portion of the lower quality tower make-up water quantity by the near condensate quality water recovered from air leaving the wet section. The net make-up water requirement is reduced both by the water quantity returned and by the higher quality returned which enables operation at fixed cycles of concentration with less blowdown and make-up. Figure 18 shows the greatly reduced dissolved solids content in the condensate recovered in the modules. The water produced by the modules can be returned to the tower basin, or can alternatively be substantially extracted for use in other plant applications. The percentage of water saved on an annual basis will vary with the difficulty of the plume point and the weather at a location, but may be expected in the 3-15% range for proportions of condensing module to wet section typical of plume abatement applications. The demonstration project referenced above was designed for greater water savings. The small amount of solids content shown in Figure 18 is a result of drift being captured in the condensing modules. There is direct impingement on the module surfaces, as well as the drift drops being the nucleation sites for condensation to form as the air is cooled below the dew point in the condensing modules. Since the water would otherwise be pure condensate, note that the capture of some drift is validated by the detection of circulating water chemicals at low levels in the recovered condensate stream, as there is no other mechanism for the circulating water chemicals to end up in the condensate. Resulting drift rates leaving the tower are likely to be very difficult to measure, as the rates leaving the eliminators can be less than 0.0005% of circulating water. Measurements are planned. Low drift rate translates to lower calculated PM10 emissions for the plant. US EPA requirements include cooling tower drift as a particulate emission by calculation from the drift rate and water composition. This is an environmentally beneficial resource recovery technology.

Figure 17. Cold operation of the demonstration cell [Date 2/09/09 Temperature 35F Relative Humidity 50%, photo by Jared Hickman]

The demonstration project accomplished measured water savings of about 18% and virtually non-existant plume according to the owners public statements.

Why condensing modules?


The PPWD designs have been successful for many years, however, there were unmet needs for which improvements could be made. These improvements have come in the areas of design flexibility, reduced associated non-tower installation costs incurred by the EPC/owner and reduced operating costs and complexity at competitive tower cost with the new condensing module technology. Overall, a significant benefit may result for the end user and the Engineer/Procure/Construct (EPC) contractor. The environmental benefit of this technology parallels the benefits of a PPWD, with the added benefits of having a very low drift rate and of replacing a 20

Figure 18. Condensate quality and drift reduction

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Design flexibility is improved via the potential for back-to-back plume abatement towers for constricted plant sites. The back-toback configuration combines two lines of cooling tower cells into one tower, with a common wall down the centerline of the dual row tower, potentially fitting the tower onto sites where two towers would not fit. This has not been practical for PPWD towers due to the difficulty of getting adequate dry section air to the centerline of the tower. The new technology requires ducting of ambient air to feed the condensing modules which cover the entire tower plan area. Thus, the ducts can be sized to carry air to the centerline of a back-to-back tower as well. As more attention is focused on larger nuclear, coal with carbon capture and integrated gasification combined cycle power plants, the need to compress the tower footprint becomes more important. Flexibility and cost in foundation design is also improved by way of the even distribution of weight in the condensing module tower, rather than having concentrated weight on the perimeter columns to support the metal coils (and often face dampers) of a PPWD. This is likely to be more significant for a retrofit of an existing tower to plume abatement, as the existing

tower foundations would not have been designed for the coil plus damper loads on the side columns. Specialized cold water basin and foundation designs may sometimes be avoided. Foundation loads and costs are highly site specific, influenced by wind loads and soil conditions as well as the dead and operating loads of the tower. Figure 19 visualizes a simple comparison. Associated non-tower installation costs include hot water piping to the tower, wiring, conduits and controls for metal coil PPWD systems. For single row PPWD towers, it is common, but not always the case, for the end user and EPC to provide buried piping down both sides of the tower, and also risers with valves to connect with each tower cell, again on each side of the tower. This is to supply hot water to the metal coil inlets on both sides of the tower. Piping can also be run down one side of a PPWD, with an internal crossover pipe for each cell in the manufacturers scope to provide water to one or more coils on the other side of the tower. This requires careful design, orifice plates or balancing valves to equalize flow to the two sides. Only piping to one side of the tower is necessary for a single row condensing module tower, as water is only piped to the wet sections with conventional water distribution systems. In one recent example comparing piping on one side of the condensing module design vs. two sides of a coil type tower, the difference in price of pipe, excavation and backfill, and risers, control valves and sway bracing was equal to more than 5% of the tower price. The difference in cost of controls and wiring for extra valves, vacuum pumps and damper actuators for coil type vs. the condensing module design is also going to be a significant number, varying with the extent to which end users instrument and automate their towers. Figure 20 shows a comparison in site requirements for two in-line towers compared to one back-to-back tower. Back-to-back is about 17% of the space required for two in-line towers, assuming the 1 tower length spacing recommended for parallel banks of towers1.

Figure 20. Comparison of siting requirements

Coil type towers are subject to higher maintenance and repair costs than is expected with the new technology. Coil towers have, of necessity, a design focus on prevention of freezing damage, as well as plume control and cold water temperature management. The greatest freezing risk for any finned tube exchanger with water in it is from leaving standing water in the exchanger during freezing weather operation. This means that the towers have to be circuited, valved and designed to enable getting water out of the coils quickly and completely when the water is shut off, and getting water distributed evenly and quickly to the coils during start-up. Some amount of valving and controls, and often vacuum pumps, are used to protect the investment in the coils from freeze damage. Continuous operation vacuum pumps require particular maintenance attention, and redundant pumps are sometimes employed to minimize risk if a
Figure 19. Comparison of load distribution

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shutdown is needed. Metal coils may be subject to internal scaling and corrosion if water chemistry is not adequately maintained for the metallurgy selected. The outside of the finned tubes is often exposed to particulate or fibrous material (like cottonwood fluff) that builds up between the fins. This can be made worse by having humid air from the tower or the local climate cause this foreign matter to aggregate. Figure 21 shows particulate fouling from flyash and coal dust in a power plant environment. Fouling reduces the performance of the exchangers, increasing plume and water consumption. If coils have freeze damage, or the fouling is too bad to be cleaned effectively, replacement or repair costs will occur. Cleaning of finned tubes is necessary on many, if not most, tower locations. Cleaning is typically done with water jets, and needs to be done from the inside of the coil to prevent packing the material tighter into the fins. This requires access provisions to the inside of coils, and will also necessitate water containment with plastic sheeting on the outside to keep the water and material cleaned from the tubes from reaching the ground to meet ground water impact regulations for many plant sites. The condensing module technology has none of these characteristics. The outside air or dry channel side of the modules is dry, utilizing mainly flat pvc surfaces (Note Figure 8.) with no small cross-sections in which particulate or fibrous materials would tend to build up as with finned tubes. The other wet channel of the modules also has the mainly flat configuration and receives air which has been scrubbed by the wet section and eliminators. The condensing module tower design has no valves added to the system beyond what is normally required for wet towers and has external face dampers on the ducts but, only

about 60% of the face area of coil dampers. The total number of damper operators and linkages is greatly reduced. A recent comparison showed a difference in maintenance cost on an annualized basis that equals about 1% of the tower price.

Figure 21. Fin fouling by particulate clumping

The largest operating costs for PPWD or condensing module towers are fan and pumping power. The condensing module tower has no pumping head above the level of the wet section, and thus has significantly lower pump head than a coil type tower. Pumps run nearly 24/7 in most cases. Because the condensing module design is a series air path, there is always pressure drop on the air side through the modules that the fans must overcome. Fans, however, dont usually run full time. The comparison will vary on a case by case basis, but typically the lower pumping power of the condensing module tower tends to outweigh the fan power increase, sometimes significantly.

Conclusions
A robust history of PPWD application has resulted in significant application experience in solving plume abatement needs for end users in power and other industries. Customer needs for reduced operating and capital costs for plume abatement and the emerging need for large back-to-back plume abatement towers have driven the development of the condensing module technology. This technology satisfies many of the unmet needs of the end user, while also satisfying the regulatory, safety or neighbor driven plume abatement drivers. Value is added in the areas of design flexibility, reduced non-tower installation costs and reduced operating costs at competitive tower cost. Reduced water consumption is also accomplished, with the added potential for extraction of a cleaner, higher quality water stream than enters the tower as make-up. The combination offers interesting potential for new and existing facilities.

References:
1. Cooling Tower Fundamentals, Second Edition, revised 2009, Ed. John Hensley et al., SPX Cooling Technologies, Overland Park, KS, 2009, pp 26-28.

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An Investigation of Pin Bearing Strength on Composite Materials


Dustin L. Troutman Jeremy D. Mostoller Creative Pultrusions, Inc.

Abstract
This paper aims to demonstrate the influence of various pin hole details and pin types to the ultimate and 4% hole elongation bearing strength values. This paper will demonstrate that the ASTM D 953 bearing strength test can be very misleading and that acDustin L. Troutman tual connection details should be mimicked in order to generate sound design values.

Introduction
The design of connections, within Fiberglass Reinforced Polymer (FRP) structures, is one of the most critical elements when performing structural design.

were pultruded with a standard fire retardant polyester resin with an E-glass reinforcement schedule. None of the samples were exposed to any type of accelerated aging condition and all samples were tested at ambient laboratory conditions. A series of pin bearing strength tests were conducted on the profiles with bolt diameters of , and 5/8". The pin bearing test Jeremy D. Mostoller was conducted utilizing the ASTM D 953 compression test method. The larger bolt tests were conducted utilizing a modified version of the ASTM D 953 compression protocol in order to accept larger diameter pins. The larger pin diameter required the specimen dimension also be adjusted to prevent other failure modes from occurring. Testing was performed using two different compression load fixtures (Figure 1). The first fixture, used with 1/4" pins, required a specimen that was machined to a coupon dimension of 4 1/2' x .938'. This fixture supported the entire face of the specimen. The support plates were brought into contact with the face of the specimen, but no torque was applied to the fixture bolts thus applying minimal initial transverse compression force on the specimen. The second fixture required a specimen size of 5.25" x 2.75" and was used for both the 1/2" and the 5/8" pins. This fixture has a 1" wide recess machined out of the specimen contact face such that no support was provide to the specimen in the area of the pin location. As with the first fixture no torque was applied to the fixture bolts. Five specimens were run for each of the conditions investigated. Both 4% hole elongation and ultimate bearing strengths were recorded for each of the specimens. The following procedure was followed to conduct the tests. 1. Specimen was mounted into the fixture and the fixture bolts were tightened such that the face of the fixture contacted the specimen surface. The specimen and fixture were placed in the test frame. An electronic dowel indicator was positioned under the specimen such that the arm of the indicator contacted the center of the bottom face of the specimen. A 40lb load was applied to the specimen to seat the specimen onto the pin. At this point the dowel indicator reading was set to zero. The load was not reset to zero. Load was applied at a constant rate of displacement. The applied load was recorded when the dial indictor reading was 4% of the hole diameter, not 4% of the pin diameter. This value was used to calculate the bearing stress at 4% hole elongation Load continued to be increased until a drop in load was detected. The peak load before the initial load drop was CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

During the design process numerous failure modes must be scrutinized. Common practice is to design FRP structures such that pin bearing failure governs the connection design. This design methodology reduces the possibility of a catastrophic connection failure occurring instantaneously. Therefore, is it essential that designers be given sound pin bearing properties that account for the various factors affecting pin bearing strength. This paper intends to point out some of the factors that affect pin bearing performance. The factors discussed in this paper include, the influence of pin diameter, clearance hole size, bolt threads in the bearing zone, and effects of failure definition. Designers can adequately force pin bearing failures in FRP connections by following recommended edge distance criteria in the design phase. The minimum edge distance values can be affected by the resin and the fiber volume fraction and type of fibers associated with the FRP components utilized in the connection. For the purposes of this paper the minimum edge distances were chosen in order to fail all of the test specimens in pin bearing mode.

2.

3.

4. 5.

Experimental Test Methods


A set of experiments were conducted on three different pultruded profiles with thicknesses of 0.25", 0.30" and 0.5". All three samples 26 6.

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recorded and used to calculate the ultimate bearing strength. Bearing strengths were calculated using the equation Bearing = P / dt where, Bearing is the bearing strength. P is the applied load at either 4% hole elongation or ultimate bearing load. d is the outer diameter of the pin, not the hole diameter. t is the thickness of the specimen being tested.

and 5/8" pins on the .030" laminate were 30.6% and 38.1% respectively. Tests of the laminate produced a 41.5% and 49.2% decrease in transverse bearing strength between the to and 5/8" pins respectively.

Clearance hole effects


A set of experiments were conducted utilizing 0.30" and laminates in order to investigate the influence of the hole diameter to pin diameter. Specifically, pin bearing strength tests were conducted on , and 5/8" smooth pins with oversized holes, measuring 5% and 1/16"over the diameter of the pins. The 0.30" laminate pin bearing strength results demonstrated that as the clearance hole size increased the bearing strength decreased. Figure 3 depicts this trend. The pin with a 5% oversized hole revealed a 9.3% decrease in pin bearing strength while the 1/16" oversized hole revealed a 25.8% reduction in strength as compared to the pin diameter being the same size as the drilled hole. The pin bearing strength tests followed the same trend resulting in a 5.4% reduction for the 5% oversized hole and a 20.5% reduction in strength for the 1/16" oversized hole test. The 5/8" pin bearing strength test demonstrated the same trend resulting in a 1.5% reduction for the 5% oversized hole and 27.0% for the 1/16" oversized hole. The same investigation was conducted on the thick laminate. Each of the pin sizes produced results which were not characteristic of the previous test. The pin, with a 5% oversized hole, produced a reduction in bearing strength of 6.4% while the 1/16" oversized hole produced an increase in bearing strength of 2.9%. After reviewing the standard deviations of the five specimens for each set up, one can conclude that statistically the oversized hole had little influence on the pin test. The pin test had a decrease in bearing strength of 34.5% comparing zero hole tolerance to the 5% hole tolerance and a decrease of only 25.3% when comparing the zero tolerance test to the 1/16" oversized hole. The 5/8" pin diameter results were very similar to the results, producing a 34.3% and 27% respectively. Therefore, all tests of the laminate produced higher values for the 1/16" clearance hole than for the 5% clearance hole which is the opposite of what was observed for the 0.30" laminate.

Figure 1. Experimental setup utilized for compression testing. Left is the fixture for the 1/4" pin. Right is the fixture for larger diameter pins.

Pin diameter effects


The pin diameter versus ultimate bearing strength tests were conducted utilizing a smooth pin in order to eliminate the affects of the bolt threads in the bearing zone. The hole diameters for this experiment matched the pin diameters. As depicted in Figure 2, as the pin diameter increases the bearing strength decreases. For the thick laminate the average strength decreased 7.0% between the pin and the pin and 9.2% between the pin and the 5/ 8" pin. The 0.30" thick laminate produced the same trend. A reduction of bearing strength of 22.8% was observed between the and the pin and a 28.9% bearing strength decrease was observed between the pin and the 5/8" pin. The thick laminate produced a decrease in bearing strength of 6.7% between the and pin and a 9.9% decrease between the and 5/8" pin. A series of transverse bearing strength tests were conducted on 0.30" and thick laminates utilizing the three pin sizes. The decrease in transverse bearing strength between the pin and the

Figure 3. Chart of the average ultimate pin bearing strengths for various clearance hole sizes.

Figure 2. Chart of the average ultimate pin bearing strengths for various laminates and pin sizes.

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Bolt threads in the bearing zone


This set of experiments used grade 8 UNC bolts and located the threads in bearing area of the laminate. The same three laminates were investigated, however only the and 5/8" diameter bolts were scrutinized. All of these experiments used a tight toleranced hole through the specimen. As depicted in Figure 4, the smooth pin exhibited a greater bearing capacity than the course threaded bolt of equal diameter, when tested in the laminate. The decrease in bearing strength was 36.8%. The 5/8" diameter pin and course thread bolt test conducted on the laminate demonstrated a reduction in bearing strength of 34.1%. The diameter smooth pin to course thread bearing test on the 0.30" laminate resulted in a reduction of 24.1%, while the 5/8" smooth to thread comparison resulted in a 21.3% reduction in bearing strength. The same test conducted on the laminate produced a 28.0% and 33.6% reduction in bearing strength when comparing smooth to course for the and 5/8" fastener diameters.

Figure 5. Chart comparing the ultimate bearing strength to the 4% hole elongation criteria. Note: a value of zero implies the parts achieved ultimate bearing strength prior to the 4% hole elongation.

Conclusion
The pin diameter versus ultimate bearing strength test findings demonstrated a consistent trend regardless of the laminate thickness or fiber architecture. The conclusive trend demonstrated that as the pin diameter increased, the bearing strength decreased regardless if the test was longitudinal or transverse pin bearing. The degree of decrease in pin bearing strength was also dependent upon the profile tested and the fiber architecture utilized in the profile. The hole diameter to pin diameter comparison demonstrated in most of the cases examined that as the hole diameter for a given pin size increased the ultimate bearing strength decreased. The data developed on the 0.30" laminate demonstrated this tread and was very consistent. However, the data developed on the laminate thickness did not follow this same trend. This laminate when tested with the pin demonstrated that the hole diameter had little influence on the results. While the pin and 5/8" pin results for the laminate demonstrated a significant reduction in bearing strength for the 5% clearance hole but somewhat less of a reduction was observed for the 1/16" clearance hole. These set of tests make it apparent that the oversize hole diameter has a large influence on the structural efficiency of the connection. Therefore, further investigation into the laminate construction and test configuration is necessary to determine the root cause of these differing trends. The bolt threads in the bearing zone versus a smooth pin demonstrated an average reduction in pin bearing strength of 29.6% across all three laminates. Several trends were observed in comparing the 4% hole elongation failure criterion to the ultimate bearing strength failure criterion. The first trend observed is with increased bolt diameter the 4% hole elongation strength approaches the ultimate bearing strength. Also observed is that with increased laminate thickness the difference between 4% hole elongation and ultimate bearing strength becomes significantly larger. This can lead to the overdesign of structures. Distinctive trends were observed throughout this series of tests. Further investigation is necessary to determine what influence combinations of the various configurations may have on the bearing strengths. Also of primary importance is how to account for these variants when performing structural design calculations. CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

Figure 4. Chart of the average ultimate pin bearing strengths for the smooth and threaded pins.

Failure definition
Each of the tests performed for this series of experiments recorded both the ultimate bearing strength and the bearing strength based on the 4% hole elongation criteria. Figure 5 shows a sampling of results for the smooth pins without clearance holes. The data clearly shows that for larger pin diameters the difference between the two failure criteria become significantly less. For example, the laminate has a 4% hole bearing strength that is 27% that of the ultimate bearing strength for a pin. The same laminate has a 4% hole bearing strength that statistically equivalent to the ultimate bearing strength for a 5/8" pin. This same trend is observed for both the 0.30" and laminate thicknesses. The other significant trend of note is that as the laminate increases in thickness, ASTM D953 consistently produces a 4% hole bearing strength that is a smaller percentage of the ultimate bearing strength. The percentage of 4% hole elongation strength to ultimate bearing strength is 27.4%, 20.2%, and 8.1% for the , 0.30", and laminates, respectively. This indicates usage of a 4% hole elongation strength for a thick laminate will cause a structure to be grossly overdesigned as the factor of safety would be greater than 12.0. Typically engineers would use a factor of safety of 3.0 - 5.0 against ultimate bearing strength for typical structural applications.

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Your Cooling Tower Project - On-Time, On-Budget


David M. Suptic David M. Suptic, P.E. LLC

Abstract:

The successful completion of cooling tower construction and repair projects depends on the execution of many activities at the proper time. This paper describes the importance of applying professional project management knowledge to help identify and reduce the risks inherent in all cooling tower Why Do Some Cooling Tower projects. Following the principles contained in the Projects Fail: project management body of knowledge will imSome of the reasons are: prove the results of cooling tower projects to achieve Project management theory and practical apon time-on budget performance. The Project plications are not understood well. David M. Suptic Management Body of Knowledge is the sum total Projects are viewed only as a series of tasks of knowledge contained within the profession of project manage not an interrelated comprehensive solution. ment. The PMBOK Guide Book is produced by the Project Man There is poor communication between related groups of agement Institute. PMI is the worlds leading not-for-profit professtakeholders. sional association in the area of Project Management. The PMBOK Planning takes a back seat to doing. Guide is the recognized standard for project management knowledge and practices in the global marketplace. The project never gets well defined and it continues to grow as the work progresses. Introduction: Coordination and control between multiple work producing Projects to supply, construct, and repair cooling towers are, by groups is mismanaged. definition, similar to any other type of project. Projects all have a Project success depends on the Project Manager understanding all definite beginning and end, have defined objectives, and have measurable quality standards. Thus, your cooling tower project is of the risks inherent in the project and following the proven project a one of a kind event consisting of many interrelated activities. management processes. Conversely, repeated maintenance or operational activities related to a cooling tower or system are not considered projects, because of their repetitive nature. This definition is important in the assignment of resources, and organization necessary to properly manage a cooling tower project.

standard for project management theory is ANSI/ PMI 99-001-2004, titled A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, C. 2004, Project Management Institute, Inc, ISBN 1-930699-45-X.. Project Managers that apply the Project Management Body of Knowledge principals can significantly improve the outcome of large cooling tower construction and repair projects.

The Triple Constraint:


It is always important for the Project Manager to pay close attention to the intimate linkage between the three factors of Time, Cost, and Project Scope. Each of these project factors creates a constraint upon the achievement of the project objectives. Any increase or decrease in one of these key factors always will affect the other two factors in some manner. The diagram below illustrates the triple constraint relationship.

The Nature of Projects:


All projects employ five key processes that must be managed by the Project Manager throughout the project life cycle. These processes which occur in all cooling tower projects whether the project is judged successful or unsuccessful are: Initiating Planning Executing Monitoring and Controlling Closing For a cooling tower project to be completed on time, on budget, and satisfy the expectations of stakeholders, the Project Manager must effectively manage each step of these key processes. The complete development and theory of project management has been established by the Project Management Institute over many years of study and process development. The recognized global 32

Fig. 1.0

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It is also helpful to understand that the additional factors of risk, quality, and customer satisfaction also impact the triple constraint balance and are often included in the definition of triple constraint.

The Initiating Process


Projects are begun by Initiation. Even before a Project Manager is selected, the funding organization and Project Sponsor will have created a general concept and business case for the project. In the case of our cooling tower project, the customer or funding organization may be large or small but the common denominator is a source of funds provided by a customer a Project Sponsor with the authority to establish a Project Charter. The project charter is a short statement from the sponsor that defines the business need for the project and formally authorizes its creation. It is important that the Project Manager be selected by the sponsor early in the initiation process for several reasons: The Project Manager will be directly involved in key initiating activities including, > Determining the project objectives. > Identifying the organizations culture and operating systems. > Identifying existing procedures and historical information. > Identifying all project stakeholders. > Learning about the sponsors assumptions and constraints. > Developing a preliminary statement of scope. The Project Manager will have greater buy in to the project process through early involvement. The Project Manager will be more successful in establishing authority early in the project. The Project Managers accountability will start at the front end of the project. Its not uncommon for the Project Manager assignment to be made after the cooling tower project is awarded and planning is already underway. The later the project manager selection is made, the more difficult it will be for the project to move ahead with success.

One easy technique used to assign value to risks is to calculate the Expected Monetary Value of the risks. By simply listing the risks and assigning a probability and cost impact to each risk, a measure of expected monetary value for all risks can be created. Of course, mitigating the risks with highest monetary value becomes the highest priority. Below is an example of an Expected Monetary Value chart.

Fig 2.0

Early Planning Steps


Project Scope Statement:
Long before the project gets underway there must be a formal statement of scope. It is against this scope statement that all measurements of project success or failure will be determined. Projects for new cooling towers typically reach the Project Manager with fully developed scope statements, technical specifications, terms and conditions, etc. In these cases, the scope statement has been created by the customer, consulting engineer and legal staff to be used with a formal bidding process. The cooling tower sellers formal sales proposal may also become part of the project scope statement. When Project Managers are directly involved in creation of the project scope statement, better project outcomes are insured. The Project Manager must understand all details of the project scope statement to successfully plan the project execution.

Selecting the Project Team:


Hopefully, the Project Manager is able to personally select the members of the project team. The Project Manager is fully accountable for the outcome of the project and must rely on the most talented, hard working team he can muster. Not only should the manager organize and control the efforts of team members, but, also, must attend to the personal and professional development of his team. If team members are assigned part time or temporarily the cooling tower project may suffer.

The Planning Process


For the Project Manager, the planning process is critical to the success of cooling tower projects. It is here that the groundwork is laid upon which the project activities will be completed on time and within the project budget. Without a doubt, the one most important step in project planning is identification and analysis of all possible risks that could affect the project outcome. Good projects turn bad when surprises happen during project execution. The negative impact of surprises will be reduced when the Project Managers can identify project risks early and avoid their occurrences. Some of the techniques used to identify and manage risk include: Brainstorming sessions to identify project risks. Creating a risk register of identified risks. Assigning a value to each risk using probabilistic analysis. Creating risk mitigating action plans for each risk. Monitoring risks throughout the project, and being proactive to prevent them.

The Details of Project Planning


Once the project scope is clearly identified, a detailed schedule must be created. Its common for cooling tower projects to be performed from simple schedules that identify only the major portions of work. Such schedules may include milestone completion dates but no details for work activities are shown. This type of management overview schedule is not an effective tool for a Project Manager.

Create the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)


Creation of an effective schedule starts with breaking down the complete project into more manageable groupings of work. This process is also called decomposition. The breakdown is normally arranged in a hierarchy format. Each WBS group has a code number assigned. Complex projects will often have a WBS dictionary with detailed explanations of each element attached to the WBS.

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Fig 3.0 Example Work Breakdown Structure

Work packages are groupings of activities of a manageable size. On large projects, each work package may be of several weeks duration and include many activities which employ a variety of resources. The WBS provides a structure for the project and is the basis of scheduling and measuring the successful progression of the project. Project management software systems recognize the importance of WBS creation within the software logic.

tion date for one activity may affect the outcome of the activities connected. Estimating Resources, Time, and Cost Each activity should be loaded with information regarding manpower resources and equipment resources needed to complete the activity. Often the cost per man-hour depends on the job skill and classification of worker which should be added to the activity resource record. Cost of each activity is built up from all of the resource data and cost per unit time or unit of resource. Determine the Critical Path The Critical Path in the project network is defined as the longest duration path through the project network. The Critical Path also creates the earliest date the project can be completed, assuming all activities actually consume the predicted time durations. The project completion date is controlled by activities on the critical path. Non-critical activities contain Float, or slack time, that do not affect the critical path duration. For the Project Manager to improve the completion date of the project, only adjustments to critical path activities will be effective. A simple example of a project network is shown in Fig 4.0.

Create the Activity List


A fully functional project schedule requires that work packages are broken down in the smaller logical groupings of work called Activities. Activities on cooling tower projects may have names like Install nozzles in Cell A, or Install Drift Eliminators in Cell B. Typical durations for activities are no longer than two to three days. As the schedule is developed, all data regarding resources will be attached to each activity. Data such as labor type, equipment, duration, and cost are all required to create a complete schedule. Each work package contains a list of several activities required to complete the WP.

Create the Project Network


Each activity must be arranged in logical order of completion to create a project network. Each activity has a predecessor activity(s) and successor activity(s), (except of course the starting and ending activities). The activities are all connected by using one of several logical relationships. Finish to Start logic means the predecessor activity must be completed before the current activity starts. Start to Start means the predecessor and successor activities must start at the same time. Finish to Finish means the predecessor and successor activities must finish at the same time. Start to Finish logic is rarely used as it means the predecessor activity will start only upon completion of the successor activity. The project network creates a hard logic for how the project activities are ordered and work will progress. Thus, any change in comple36

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Fig 4.0 Simple Network with Critical Path

Numbers in the top corners are early start date (right) and early finish date (left). Numbers on the bottom corners are late start date (right) and late finish date (left). In the critical path, S-3-5-6-2-F, activities do not have float. All must be completed on time or the project will be finished late.

Additional Planning Steps for the Project Manager


Although not discussed further in this paper, several additional planning steps must be considered by the Project Manager to insure a successful project. Determine quality standards, processes, and metrics. Determine team roles and responsibilities. Determine communication requirements. Identify project risks, perform analysis and develop response plans. Determine items and equipment to purchase and support procurement efforts. Create a final Project Management Plan which identifies how to execute and control all aspects of the project. Gain formal approval for the Project Plan and hold a Kickoff meeting with project team.

Schedule and Budget Creation


Creating an effective project schedule is a detailed and often tedious task. And, the schedule is only as good as activity time duration estimates. If the scheduling software calculates numerous activities with negative float, the project will not be completed on schedule. Adjustments to the network must be made including duration adjustments (increased resources), or including lead and lag times before or after activities with float. Early versions of the project schedule may have activities with negative float when the finish date of the project is constrained. It is not appropriate to just change the completion dates of activities to make the schedule come out OK. If the network logic is not hard connected, there will be no way for the project manager to analyze schedule problems and demonstrate recovery plans when the inevitable problems arise. Today, sophisticated scheduling software programs, with networks using critical path logic, have gained strong acceptance with project managers because of their robust design and extensive reporting capabilities. The cost budgets for cooling tower projects are typically built up from several sources. Material cost, and shipping cost may be developed by an estimating team and updated with actual data as purchased material cost is known. The cost of labor and equipment may be estimated by construction managers who are experienced with these cost types at the projects location. It is becoming more common for all costs to be attached to activities within the schedule. Although time consuming to load initially, this cost information is very valuable to the Project Manager when analyzing the performance of the project compared to budget.

Executing the Cooling Tower Project Successfully


The successful cooling tower construction project depends heavily on the quality and thoroughness of project planning. But, additionally, the Project Manager must have the best possible team and personal leadership ability to set the wheels in motion and keep all activities on track. The Project Manager will utilize field construction managers to select and authorize the positioning and full deployment of workers, equipment, and material as it delivers to the jobsite. Thousands of material items are delivered early to the construction site and inventory control must be maintained from the very beginning. The construction project will proceed more smoothly if the field construction manager creates a logical staging of all components which relates to the planned construction process, and the construction team always knows where all component items and current quantities are located. During execution, it is also important that the Project Manager controls what is known as scope creep. There is a normal tendency for add-ons or embellishments to be requested as the project

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progresses. Whatever the reason, the Project Manager must always work to minimize the growth of project scope unless the scope change has been fully authorized through a formal change process. A formal change process will always: Recognize that changes in project scope always impact the triple constraint. Money, Time, Scope and Quality changes must be evaluated together or the budget may be exceeded. There must be a formal change order process managed by the Project Manager. Price and Time changes to the project scope must be approved by the Sponsor. Change Documents that are signed, dated, and have legal authority must always be executed. A Corrective Action and Information Request Process also insures that key stakeholders are notified when any specification deviation is reported or a technical question is presented to the Project Manager. The communication of all RFIs and Corrective Action Requests must be resolved in a timely manner by all parties involved with the problem or the project schedule will be impacted. A Corrective Action and RFI register system help the Project Manager track all information requests and corrective actions to completion. Progress Meetings are needed to keep key stakeholders aware of the current project status. Typically, the meetings are held weekly unless serious schedule delays have occurred. Although status reports are normally given by each field leader at these meetings and the overall schedule is discussed, the actual value to the project can be minimal. The most valuable progress meetings will focus on project risks that have been identified in the risk register and how the identified risks are to be mitigated by the project team. Project schedule and status reports can be handled more efficiently by electronic communication. Managing risk is probably the most important task for the Project Manager during project execution. Motivating the Team is often difficult for, and too often overlooked by Project Managers. Cooling tower construction work is physically and mentally demanding. Long hours, and harsh weather conditions create stressful conditions for the jobsite project team. Always find ways to reward good performance by the team and by individual performers. Every person on the team wants to know they are doing a good job. The success of the project depends on everyone doing their job and doing it well.

the actual completed work, it is very difficult to determine the reasons why, and what must be done to accelerate progress. A Complete Schedule must be broken down into an accurate WBS which is further broken down into work activities which include estimated time, cost, and resources. Activities should have duration of no more than a few days. The best schedules will be set up in software systems that provide automatic calculation of the critical path and the interconnection relationships between all activities. All activities must be connected in a network with predecessors and successor activities from start to finish. The software should calculate the project schedule using Critical Path Method mathematics both in the forward and reverse direction. Calculating the updated projected completion date in the forward direction means the critical path logic is applied to the project network from the starting date to the ending date. Then the late start and finish date for each activity is calculated in the reverse direction from the finish date to the start date. Why have such a detailed schedule? Wouldnt a less detailed schedule give the construction team more flexibility in their construction process? Even if a construction site manager only uses a milestone level schedule for progress reporting, he must have a complete mental picture of all project activities involved to actually build the cooling tower. It becomes very difficult to keep all activities flowing in a coordinated manner when unforeseen changes occur. Analysis of the schedule to determine a new course of action can become a guessing game because a detailed schedule was never prepared and the true impact on process changes cant be properly appreciated. Measurement against the Baseline Plan requires a baseline schedule including a starting date, completion date, resource loading and all activities linked together in a network. During the project execution phase, the progress status of each activity must be reported in the scheduling software by recording percent completion and the actual completion date for the activity. Large projects may have thousands of activities, which require robust software systems to recalculate the schedule at least on a weekly basis. If the project begins falling behind schedule, the scheduling software will immediately identify when critical path items have, Negative Float. This term means the critical path items are late by the number of days of negative float and will cause the complete project to be late by the negative float of the project completion date. The Project Manager must act upon the critical path activities to get the project back on track. What can the Project Manager Do when a cooling tower project is falling behind schedule? Basically there are only three choices available to the Project Manager. Crash the Project Fast Track the Project Extend the Completion Date Crashing the Project means, adding resources to certain activities to compress the project schedule. Generally, crashing results in higher project cost and may reduce quality of the finished cooling tower. Additional workers may be added to critical activities, or additional work hours, work shifts, or adding equipment to current project activities all are methods of crashing a project to compress the schedule. Sometimes, it is possible to move resources from non-critical activities to crash critical activities without adding cost. CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

Monitoring and Controlling Cooling Tower Projects


Measuring progress of a project should be a simple, logical process. So why do so many projects seem to finish late or run over budget? Here are a few reasons why and how to improve performance through better measurement processes. Construction schedules that only include only the major milestones with approximate completion dates for each section of the project are a weakness. Maybe the whole cooling tower is broken into sections for structure, fill, drift eliminators, louvers, mechanical equipment, etc. Or maybe the schedule includes completion dates for each tower cell with a final date for the tower completion. Obtaining meaningful measurements with such a minimal schedule is impossible. Once the project starts running behind, according to

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CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

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Fast Tracking the Project means running critical activities in parallel instead of in linear sequence. Fast Tracking to compress the project schedule may create rework, increased risk, and requires greater communication. Often, fast tracking will be attempted before crashing to improve a project schedule without adding cost to the project. Extending the completion date is never a good outcome on cooling tower projects. Typically, the project sponsor, or owner has included liquidated damages for late completion. The LDs are a strong negative incentive for the Project Manager to keep the project on schedule. However, when all other alternatives for schedule compression have been exhausted, a revised construction completion date will be necessary. It is always important for the Project Manager to keep an account of any work delays that occur during the Project Execution phase and always report the delays to the customer as they occur. Even if the delays are disapproved by the customer, there will be a record of the claim for delay which may be used later during completion date extension negotiations. Change Management is also a critical function for the Project Manager. Changes will always occur on tower construction projects. However, surprise changes must be minimized or the project can easily become out of control. Owner requested changes that modify the project scope must be acted upon immediately, with the cost and time impact presented for approval. There will always be some horse trading of small favors on construction projects, but significant scope changes must be managed by the Project Manager or the project budget will be exceeded well before project completion. The Project Manager must always use the formal change procedure and obtain written approval requested scope changes from the designated customer authority. Verbal agreements of scope changes with the value to be negotiated later are to be avoided. Everyone involved with the project forgets the details soon after the change is completed and painful arguments often develop. Auditing Risks should be an ongoing process managed by the Project Manager. Risk Registers are always created during project planning. Risk is greatest at the start of the project because the unknowns are the greatest and the cost is the highest if significant problems arise. As the project is executed, potential risks are faced and mitigated or avoided. The level of risk reduces as the project nears completion, however, evaluation of remaining project risks should be continued. Formal review of project risks are best accomplished at regular weekly meetings of the key project management team. Performance Reporting during project execution insures the project sponsor and customer representatives have a clear understanding of performance toward the expected outcome of the project. Budget management performance is one of the key measures used in cooling tower construction projects. Several relationships and measurements of project costs are useful in measuring budget performance. EAC (Estimated at Completion) is the estimated total cost of the project at its completion. The estimate, of course, changes continuously depending of the many factors of production including manpower usage, material consumption, utilities, and equipment rental. Additional cost measurements are also helpful to the Project Manager. PV (Planned Value) is the estimated value of work that was planned to be done at a point in time. EV (Earned Value) is the 42

estimated value of work actually completed to a point in time. AC (Actual Cost) is the actual cost of work actually completed to a point in time. These costs are used to calculate performance measurements that are more valuable than a simple percent complete!
Cost Variance (CV) = EV-AC Schedule Variance (SV) = EV-PV CV negative, project is over budget. CV positive, project is under budget SV negative, project is behind schedule SV positive, project is ahead of schedule

Cost Performance Index (CPI) = EV/AC CPI >1, project is under budget CPI <1, project is over budget Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = EV/PV SPI > 1, project is ahead of schedule SPI < 1, project is behind schedule

One can see that the project schedule must have costs associated with each activity in the project to make use of these progress measurements. With reasonably accurate cost estimates assigned to all activities, the Project Manager has valuable tools for reporting the financial and schedule condition of the project each step along the way. Public accounting practices demand this level of accuracy in project cost reporting today!

Completing and Closing Cooling Tower Projects


Why is it so difficult to finish cooling tower construction projects on time. And, why does it take so long to close out a large cooling tower project? First, it is important to clearly define the meaning of construction completion. The project customer is normally a plant owner that must have the new cooling tower operational on a certain date. Delivering the cooling tower capable of operation is often called substantial completion. Work activities to be completed for substantial completion are always subject to negotiation between project stakeholders. Substantial Completion milestones must be agreed to in writing, preferably in the original scope statement. During plant outage projects, the cooling tower must be ready to operate by a date certain. There is always a crush of work to make final mechanical and electrical connections, and test operation of each system before startup. Punch list inspections are performed as the final construction activities are completed. These inspections are essentially quality reports prepared by the customer, of all work required to bring the cooling tower construction project to completion. Often, the cooling tower construction contract includes substantial liquidated damages, if substantial completion is not achieved by a certain date. The Project Manager must understand that contract language rarely describes the actual final owner acceptance criteria for substantial completion. Only through continuous communication with all key stakeholders as substantial completion approaches will satisfactory acceptance be achieved. After the cooling tower is substantially completed, a significantly reduced construction team will be allowed to finish all remaining punchlist items. The time allowed for completing punchlist work is typically subject to negotiation between the Project Manager and customer stakeholders. There is always a risk that punchlist work will drag on for many weeks as focus is moved to other projects and plant activities. In fact, the punchlist work can grow and become a separate project unless formal signoff is achieved by the Project CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

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Manager within a few weeks of substantial completion. To avoid this risk, a detailed punchlist schedule with firm completion dates should be used to keep this work on track. Closing the cooling tower contract and gaining final acceptance of the project may occur many months or even years after the cooling tower is substantially completed. Cooling tower performance acceptance tests may be delayed for several months until the plant achieves full heat load and warm summer temperatures allow for satisfactory test parameters. If the initial performance test is not successful, additional tests will add more time to the project. All of these long term activities must be planned and budgeted early in the project or the Project Manager will be faced with using contingency funds to meet owner completion requirements long after the cooling tower construction is completed. Final acceptance of the cooling tower and payment of retention funds to the cooling tower contractor must be pursued by the Project Manager when all specified work under the project contract has been completed. The value of profit for the cooling tower contractor is not fully achieved until the final payment milestone is accomplished. To be successful, the Project Manager must communicate progress and status of the final acceptance on a regular basis to all project stakeholders. The initial Project Management Plan must include an accurate accounting for the fact that final acceptance and payment may occur years after substantial completion of the construction project

Warranty obligations and repair work are normally specified in the cooling tower contract. Extended warranties for up to five years for material and workmanship are common today. Even though final acceptance of the cooling tower project and payment of retention funds has occurred, warranty repair cost should not surprise the Project Manager. Warranty repair is ultimately a cost of quality, or more appropriately, the cost of poor quality. The cooling tower project is not fully closed until warranty obligations are completed.

Concluding Comments
Your cooling tower project, like any project, is a unique endeavor with a defined starting point and ending point. The success of your cooling tower project depends on the level of the customer satisfaction when the project is completed. The Project Manager is ultimately responsible for insuring that a high level of satisfaction is achieved for the customer. Completing large cooling tower projects on-time and on-budget is possible and should be expected when the Project Management Body of Knowledge is used to Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control, and Close the cooling tower project. Project management tools are available today that increase the odds that project stakeholders will have a high level of satisfaction with their cooling tower project outcome. Project Managers that understand and fully apply the Project Management Body of Knowledge in all aspects of their cooling tower projects will increase the satisfaction level of project stakeholders and achieve on-time, on-budget performance on a more consistent basis.

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Simultaneous Removal Of Waterborne Bacteria And Total Suspended Solids Using An Antimicrobial Media In A Crossflow Filter System
crobial filter media. The technology includes an EPA-registered antimicrobial agent which permanently bonds to a silica-based substrate to create an antimicrobial integrated system. The filter media ABSTRACT instantaneously destroys both gram positive and This paper describes the results of laboratory chalnegative bacteria on contact without relying on lenges supported by a series of field demonstrations physical trapping, thereby allowing the destroyed where an innovative filtration technology is applied microorganisms to easily pass through the filter for the simultaneous removal and suppression of media without clogging (Figure 1). Treatment does waterborne bacteria and total suspended solids not rely on chemical reactions or the addition of (TSS). The media includes an EPA-registered antimichemical disinfectants. The media is neither concrobial agent which permanently bonds to a silicasumed nor dispersed in the treatment stream, leaves based substrate. The filter media instantaneously no in-situ or downstream residue, and is safe to destroys both gram positive and negative bacteria handle. No external energy source is directly needed James W. Stephens on contact without relying on physical trapping, for operation and there are no moving parts. Since chemical reaction, or the addition of chemical disinfectants. The the media effectively inhibits further growth of microorganisms on media is neither consumed nor dispersed in the treatment stream, the substrate itself, the treatment process does not allow for the leaves no in-situ or downstream residue, and is safe to handle. mutation of microorganisms to occur over time. A leaching mode of Independent acute 48-hour toxicity tests, combined with NSF/ANSI action is not used, and there is no use of heavy metals. Long term 61 certification, supports that the filter media does not leach or performance is achieved by the media since it is neither consumed produce toxic metabolites in the effluent water. Laboratory efficacy nor dissipates over time. tests conducted against E. coli, Legionella pneumophila, sulfate reducing bacteria (SRBs), iron fixing bacteria (IFBs), and total aerobic bacteria achieved removal efficiencies ranging from 92 to >99.9%. Two successful cooling tower case studies using a crossflow sand filter containing the antimicrobial media are described. Effective bacteria suppression was maintained and simultaneous TSS reduction rates of 90 to 95% were achieved while filtering particles down to 0.25 microns. A third field application was evaluated using the crossflow sand filter containing the antimicrobial media, where treated effluent groundwater from extraction wells that achieved removal efficiencies in excess of 99% against high influent concentrations of SRBs and IFBs. Results from the laboratory challenges and field demonstrations support that the antimicrobial filter media is effective for the removal of harmful waterborne bacteria. Furthermore, the use of the antimicrobial filter media in a crossflow filter device can be used for a variety of applications where both bacteria and TSS reduction are simultaneously required. The use of this integrated treatment approach can provide for improved operating efficiency while reducing operating costs.
James W. Stephens Sonitec, Inc. Mark B. Miller A.S. Filtration, LLC

Figure 1. Waterborne microorganism is instantaneously destroyed on contact with the filter media.

1.1 LABORATORY CHALLENGES


Independent laboratory challenges have been performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the antimicrobial filter media for the removal of E. coli, Legionella, sulfate reducing bacteria (SRBs), iron fixing bacteria (IFBs), and total aerobic bacteria. A summary of the laboratory testing programs is provided below.

1.0 ANTIMICROBIAL FILTRATION TECHNOLOGY


In response to an ever increasing environmental concern associated with harmful bacteria, an innovative technology has been designed to remove waterborne microorganisms by use of an antimi48

1.1.1 Objectives
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be effectively destroyed under controlled and repeatable conditions when passed through a filtration cartridge containing the antimicrobial filter media. E. coli was selected as a bacterium for challenge tests since it is a widely recognized health risk indicator. Legionella pneumophila was selected as a test bacterium since it is a known pathogen associated with cooling towers. SRBs and IFBs (inclusive of iron reducing bacteria (IRBs) and iron oxidizing bacteria (IOBs)) were selected for challenges due to their known detrimental effects in cooling tower systems. Laboratory efficacy testing was performed at facilities accredited with the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program and/or the American Industrial Hygiene Association Environmental Microbiology Proficiency Analytical Testing program. Control parameters were established according to the following criteria: Filtration cartridge configuration, Water flow direction through filtration cartridge, Filtration cartridge dimension, Area of filtration cartridge at openings, Volume of filtration cartridge, Influent water flow rate, Water volume passing through filter media, and Influent bacteria concentration in the stock solution. Efficacy for each challenge is calculated as follows: Efficacy (%) = (Influent Concentration Effluent Concentration) x 100 Influent Concentration

discharge tubing. Both downflow and upflow configurations were used. Effluent (filtered and treated) water samples were collected in new, one gallon sterile polypropylene containers to eliminate cross contamination between sample containers. The basic testing operation process relied on gravity draining the E. coli stock solution holding tank through the discharge nozzle, whereby the influent water reached the test filtration cartridge via plastic tubing. Water passed through the test filtration cartridge at an assigned flow, or loading rate. Typically, one gallon samples were collected in plastic containers at the terminus of the test filtration cartridge. Each effluent (filtered) water sample was promptly analyzed for E. coli concentrations within the holding time limit. Each test consisted of a pre-test filter wash, and at least one gallon of water was passed through the test cartridge as a blank and tested for E. coli. Table 1 summarizes the analytical results for eight E. coli efficacy challenges, sorted by increasing influent concentrations from 150 to 36,000 col/100ml. Loading rates ranged from 9 to 30 gpm/ft2. The calculated efficacies were >99.9% for these challenges.
Table 1. Summary of Laboratory E. coli Efficacy Challenges

1.1.2 E. coli Efficacy


E. coli was subjected to a larger number of challenges since it is a leading indicator of health risks in a wide variety of environmental settings and treatment applications. It is considered that bacteria having similar characteristics as E. coli would likewise be destroyed on contact with the antimicrobial filter media. A summary of the E. coli testing approach and analytical results are provided below. E. coli stock (standard) solutions were prepared from KWIK-STIK pellets, traceable to authentic reference collections such as the American Type Culture Collection. Pellets were dissolved in sterile laboratory grade water and stock solutions were contained in plastic holding tanks. Stock solution concentrations were determined by Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 18th Edition, 1992, test method number 9260F, m-ColiBlue24. Blank control samples were obtained as warranted either prior to and/or following testing as part of a standard quality control program. The E. coli stock was gravity fed from a 45 gallon sterile polypropylene holding tank. The container was gently stirred with an electric motor turning a paddle at an appropriate rate depending on the simulation design. The container was fitted at the base with a manually operated PVC flow discharge nozzle. Each filtration cartridge was constructed of open ended PVC pipe, with both ends covered with a thin flexible nylon screen having at most one millimeter (0.0394 inch) square openings to retain the filter medium. Filter cartridge dimensions were either 1.5-inches diameter by 12-inches long, or 4inches diameter by 2 inches in length. Cartridges were held in place by use of standard laboratory clamp devices such that at least a three inch (7.62 cm) head space was maintained between the discharge nozzle and the top of the filtration cartridge. Cartridges were connected to the stock holding tank via flexible polypropylene 50

The derivation of simulated test parameters from the laboratory test parameters allows the results to be extrapolated to a larger scale application of filtration cartridge. The efficacy tests can be uniformly compared on a simulated basis with respect to flow rate over a 24 hour period passing through a 2 foot x 2 foot x 1 foot thick cartridge (e.g., 4 ft2 and 4 ft3). For the tests cited in Table 1, the simulated flow rates range from 57,600 to 172,800 gallons/day.

1.1.3 Legionella Efficacy


Independent laboratory Legionella efficacy challenges were performed. Two one-gallon stock solutions of Legionella pneumophila (Centers for Disease Control strain #BC1636) were passed via gravity flow through a PVC filtration cartridge measuring 1.5-inches diameter and 12-inches in length containing the antimicrobial sand media. Both ends of the cartridge were covered with a thin flexible nylon screen to retain the filter media. The filtration cartridge was held in place by use of standard laboratory clamp devices such that at least a three inch (7.62 cm) head space was maintained between the stock solution container and the top of the filtration cartridge. The solutions passed through the cartridge at a loading rate up to CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

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10 gpm/ft2. Legionella analysis was performed using established methods developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 1983. Influent Legionella concentrations were 570 and 650 col/ml, while effluent concentration were <10 and 30 col/ml, respectively. Efficacies of 95.4 to 99.1% were achieved for these tests. Table 2 summarizes the Legionella efficacy tests. According to OSHA recommendations for cooling towers, these influent concentrations equate to Action Level 4 (100 to 999 col/ml). The influent Legionella concentrations used represent a level of moderately high concern such that disease outbreaks may occur, and cleaning and/or biocide treatment is likely indicated. The effluent concentrations represent levels of low to little concern (refer to OSHA Legionella guidelines).
Table 2. Summary of Laboratory Legionella Efficacy Challenges

control and test stock solutions were prepared from commercially available RID-X, a septic system treatment product. Corrections to influent concentrations were made based on natural drops in concentrations of the control stock over 24 and 48 hour periods. Natural concentration reductions were determined to be 13% over 24 hours and 16% over 48 hours. Using these corrected concentrations after 24 hours, the influent concentration was 1,192 col/ml and the effluent concentration was 100 col/ml, representing a 92% reduction in total aerobic bacteria. After 48 hours, the corrected influent concentration was 1,151 col/ml and the final concentration was 57 col/ml, resulting in a 95% reduction. Figure 2 illustrates the total aerobic bacteria influent and effluent concentrations over 24 hours and 48 hours for the side stream simulation.

Note: One-half of the method detection limit was used for the value listed as <10 col/ml (e.g., 5 col/ml).

1.1.4 Sulfate Reducing Bacteria (SRBs) and Iron Fixing Bacteria (IFBs) Efficacy
In order to measure the efficacy of the antimicrobial filter media against SRBs and IFBs, an independent laboratory investigation was performed using a raw water sample collected from a groundwater extraction well known to be impacted by these bacteria. A filter cartridge measuring 4-inches in diameter and 2-inches in length was filled with the antimicrobial filter media. As before, a nylon mesh was used to hold the media in place. From the raw water sample, two one-gallon solutions were prepared. Each gallon was separately passed via downflow gravity feed through the cartridge at a loading rate of 10 gpm/ft2. Effluent samples from both passes were collected and bacteria were plated on a specialized growth media. Proper controls were used during the testing procedure to avoid cross contamination and ensure accuracy. Both chemical reactions and direct microscopic examinations were performed to confirm the efficacy results. Table 3 summarizes the influent concentrations, effluent (post-filtration) concentrations, and the associated efficacies achieved by the filter media. The results of the efficacy tests demonstrate removal efficiencies of 98.7 and 92% for SRBs and IFBs, respectively.
Table 3. Summary of Laboratory SRBs and IFBs Efficacy Challenges

Figure 2. Total aerobic bacteria reduction was maintained over a 48 hour test simulating 1,250 gallons of treated water in a closed loop (side stream) system.

2.0 TOXICITY TESTING


Subsequent to the laboratory testing and prior to implementing any field demonstrations of the antimicrobial media, a series of independent 48-hour acute toxicity tests were performed. These tests were conducted to document that the effluent water is nontoxic. All acute toxicity tests were performed in accordance with Methods for Measuring the Acute Toxicity of Effluents to Freshwater and Marine Organisms, EPA/821/R/02/013, October 2002. Test organisms included fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) and water fleas (Ceriodaphnia dubia). All test concentrations were evaluated at 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100 percent. Zero mortality of the test organisms was recorded for the duration of the toxicity test periods. Hence, the treated effluent water is considered to be nontoxic. The antimicrobial filter media was also subjected to long term toxicity testing in association with the NSF/ANSI 61 certification process for Community Use. No chemical leachate was identified in the effluent water and the cited certification was subsequently issued.

3.0 TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION FOR CROSSFLOW (VORTEX) SAND FILTER 1.1.5 Total Aerobic Bacteria Testing
Another laboratory test against total aerobic bacteria was performed using a closed loop configuration designed to reflect treatment in a side stream filter. This challenge was performed over a 48 hour period which simulated 1,250 gallons of treated water passing through a 3.2 ft2 filter cartridge at a loading rate of 20 gpm/ft2. Both 52 Another component of the treatment technology includes the use of a crossflow sand filter. A description of the technology is provided below. A conventional depth sand filter, as opposed to a crossflow (vortex, or centrifugal force) sand filter, uses a vertical downflow approach through a media bed which serves to concentrate the conCTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

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taminants throughout the media bed. An alternative approach is a filter technology that uses a centrifugal force to provide crossflow filtration of the untreated water which instead concentrates contaminants above the media bed. The centrifugal force filter offers the advantage of sustained cleaning action by forcing the suspended solids to concentrate above the media and not relying on a filter cake to improve filtration efficiency. As a result, fine-grained sand can be utilized without clogging the device. Contaminants (solids) trapped above the sand are removed using an automatic backwash cycle that uses less water over a shorter span of time than that associated with traditional sand filters. Figure 3 illustrates a comparison between the downflow and crossflow media filter technologies.

Allows filtration up to 20 gpm/ft2 (two to four times greater than conventional filters), 4. Reduces nutrient food source for biological formation, typically related to particle sizes <10 m, 5. Reduces energy consumption through lower backwash flow rates and water usage, and 6. Provides smaller installation footprints. While the crossflow sand filter will not only remove the particles filtered by the conventional approach, it will also remove solid particles down to less than one m in size. Typically, 85 to 90% of the particles within re-circulating cooling tower waters are finer than 5 m by count. Small bacteria that excrete a polysacharide product (binding agent) accumulate on condenser tubes creating slimy conditions that attract and hold the small suspended particles.

3.

3.2 Testing of Centrifugal Force Filter for Particle Size Removal


Comprehensive independent laboratory tests have been performed to support the performance of the crossflow sand filter in association with an industrial cooling tower. Water samples were collected at startup (pre-filtration operation) and 90 days after the filter had been in full operation. Samples were analyzed for particle size and counts. The results indicate that 95% of all particles were below one m in size, 97% of the particles were in the 1 to 2 m range, 97% of the particles were in the 3 to 8 m range, and 99% of particles 8 to 16 m were removed (Figure 4).

Figure 3. Comparison of downflow and crossflow filters.

The crossflow filter works similarly to a membrane system with crossflow filtration, thereby permitting water to create a cleaning action at the top of the ultra-fine sand media-working layer. A centrifugal force filter requires a fine-grained top layer of media. If this same fine-grained sand were to be used in a conventional down flow design, the filter media would blind over and quickly develop a channeling effect throughout the media. A centrifugal force filter provides for the removal of suspended solids down to a particle size of 0.25 microns (m). By comparison, a conventional downflow depth filter technology typically removes particles down to 10 to 15 m. After backwash, a downflow filter can reduce solid particles down to about 15 m until a filter cake develops again where filtration may decrease particles to 10 m. Once the filter cake creates a higher than designed pressure differential, the solids captured in the top layer of the conventional filter bed can channel downward through the bed and out the bottom distribution piping, resulting in a surge of total suspended solids (TSS) back into the filtered water. Another significant difference between the two technologies is that the depth filter will require higher water flow volumes during backwash cycles, requiring larger pipes on both the backwash water and backwash wastewater lines. Typically, a downflow filter will use approximately 50% more backwash water over the same period of time which can result in higher utility and wastewater treatment costs.

Figure 4. Results of crossflow filter test at an industrial cooling tower site.

4.0 FIELD DEMONSTRATIONS USING ANTIMICROBIAL FILTER MEDIA IN A CROSSFLOW FILTER


The results of three field demonstrations using the antimicrobial filter media contained within a crossflow filter are discussed below.

3.1

Crossflow Filter Benefits

Benefits that can be realized from use of a crossflow filter are as follows: 1. 2. Provides for nominal 0.25 sub-micron filtration, Reduces TSS levels in circulating water loops by more than 90%,

4.1 Case Study #1 Industrial Cooling Tower


Two phases of a full scale crossflow filtration test were performed for an open 6,500 gallon cooling tower at a Midwestern industrial production facility. The cooling tower is used in association with a chiller, two air compressors, and a welding water system. The first CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

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testing phase was performed from March to November, 2008 in order to evaluate TSS removal efficiency by the crossflow filter. The second phase was performed from May to August 2009 to demonstrate the duel reduction and suppression of bacteria and TSS for using an undersized crossflow filter containing the antimicrobial filter media. The first phase of testing used a crossflow sand filter sized at 100 gpm. The cooling tower has a recirculation rate of 1,250 gpm and it was determined that at least a 100 gpm filter could be used. Process water was sampled at the startup and conclusion of the of the five month testing program. From the March 2008 startup sample, the TSS concentration was 28.21 mg/L and the total particulate count was 62,014. At the end of the testing period, the process water exhibited a TSS concentration of 0.46 mg/L and the average TSS was >2 m. A TSS reduction rate of 98.4% is calculated for the first phase test. The second phase of testing used the above-cited cooling tower but with a crossflow sand filter sized at 20 gpm and 4.4 turnovers per day (1.6% of the recirculation rate). Typical guidelines for the crossflow filter cite 8 to 10 turnovers per day and 3 to 5% of the recirculation rate. Intentions were to operate the deliberately undersized sand filter in stressed conditions to evaluate performance accordingly. Process water samples were collected periodically during the three month testing period to assess TSS and bacteria reduction and suppression capabilities for the filtration system. Table 4 summarizes the testing parameters for this facility.
Table 4. Performance Summary, Case Study #1

amount of ATP within a cell is proportional to cell size and cell activity. ATP readings are taken to represent the presence or absence of microbial growth. Following installation of the antimicrobial media and discontinuation of chemical disinfection, the ATP values were maintained at <1 for the duration of the testing program. Dip slides indicated biological growth in the 101 to 102 cfu/ml range, well below the maximum operational limit of 105 cfu/ml. Bromine was fed manually on a monthly basis to control sessile biofilm and algae on the tower deck. During the pilot period oxidizing biocide use was reduced by 90% and non-oxidizing biocides were reduced by 100%. From this case study, it is indicated that the crossflow sand filter containing the antimicrobial filter media provided effective reduction for TSS and bacteria from initial levels; and, provided continued treatment even under stressed operating conditions. It is also reported by the facility operator that the heat exchange efficiency was at the highest levels ever recorded for the tested process system. Likewise, production costs were reduced since it was no longer necessary to operate both air compressors when one proved adequate to maintain desired production levels. The plant also realized a reduction in cooling tower water makeup rates.

4.2 Case Study #2 Commercial Cooling Tower


A full scale field test was performed at a commercial building in Montreal, Canada for an 800 ton HVAC chiller for the purpose of demonstrating bacteria suppression using a crossflow filter containing the antimicrobial filter media. The device was sized for 3% of the system recirculation rate and >10 turnovers per day. No biocides were used during the 10 week warm weather testing period. From 25 dip slide measurements, the microbiological population averaged 103 cfu/ml, with one sample exhibiting a value of 102 cfu/ml and one sample exhibiting 104 cfu/ml (Figure 5). All observed bacteria levels were well below the operating limit of 105 cfu/ml.

Initial influent TSS concentrations were on the order of 20 mg/L. The TSS concentrations continued to exhibit decreasing levels over time. A 50% reduction of TSS levels was achieved in two weeks from startup, and a 67% reduction had been reached one month from startup by June 27, 2009. The bleed valve became inoperative on that day and there was a noticeable buildup of the TSS level to 24 mg/L by the July 2 sample date. Following repairs, the TSS concentration again fell to 5 and then <1 mg/L to achieve a maximum of 99% TSS reduction. Laboratory testing also determined that 90% of the solid particle sizes were 5 m or less. Water clarity, or the measurement of turbidity of the water, was measured in Formazin Attenuation Units (FAU). Water clarity was reduced and maintained during the testing period. Chemical automatic biocide treatment that included both non-oxidizers and oxidizers was discontinued on May 28, and an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) value of 1 was recorded that day. The 56

Figure 5. Average bacteria level of 103 cfu/ml, below the operating limit of 105 cfu/ml.

An average aerobic bacteria concentration of 417 cfu/ml was recorded for the testing period (Figure 6). A noticeable decrease in the aerobic bacteria level occurred shortly after startup and effective bacteria suppression was maintained during the test.

Figure 6. Aerobic bacteria levels were suppressed during the testing period.

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Anaerobic bacteria levels are shown below in Figure 7. It is indicated that a sharp decline in the anaerobic bacteria level occurred soon after startup and suppression was maintained over the course of the test.

Figure 8. Effective removal and suppression of Legionella by the antimicrobial filter media contained in a crossflow sand filter.

Figure 7. Anaerobic Bacteria levels decreased following startup and were suppressed during the testing period.

Figure 8 illustrates the concentration of Legionella pneumophila during the testing program. Note that the concentration scale is expressed in colony forming units per liter; thus, 1,000 cfu/L equals 1 cfu/ml. Although the identified Legionella concentrations are low, the antimicrobial filter media was effective in removal and suppression.

remove those bacteria from the process water prior to utilization. A full scale pilot test demonstrated that the antimicrobial media contained in a crossflow sand filter provides effective removal of these bacteria. Table 5 summarizes the results of laboratory analysis of a field sample collected in November 2009. From this data, it is indicated that removal efficiencies against SRBs and IFBs exceeded 99% in the presence of high influent concentrations of 520,000 and over 7 million col/ml, respectively.

4.3 Case Study #3 Groundwater Extraction Treatment


For this case, groundwater recovered from extraction wells is currently being used for industrial process water; however, the water is impacted by high levels of SRBs and IFBs. It is necessary to

Table 5 Removal of SRBs and IFBs from Groundwater Extraction Wells

5.0 CONCLUSIONS
The antimicrobial filter media has demonstrated superior performance for the elimination of a wide variety of bacteria in both laboratory challenges and field demonstrations. Field verification tests performed in cooling tower water support effective removal and suppression of harmful microorganisms. The integrated antimicrobial technology provides treatment over an extended period of time. The use of the antimicrobial filter media, when applied in a centrifugal force sand filter, simultaneously provides exceptional bacteria and TSS removal efficiency. The use of this integrated treatment approach can provide for improved operating efficiency while reducing operating costs.

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Computer Modeling Of Blended Streams For Water Reuse And Discharge


Robert J. Ferguson and Baron R. Ferguson French Creek Software, Inc.

Most waters treatment chemists work with will be under pH control of a carbonic acid buffering system. The easiest way to predict the pH of a final mixture is by using a pH-alkalinity-acidity diagram.(1,2) Iterative solutions to the equations inMixing volved can also be setup using the computer power Robert J. Ferguson Predicting the properties of blended waters comavailable today. The pH of the mixture can be debines straightforward chemistry, common sense, and linear algebra rived in the following manner for as many waters as are mixed. with sophisticated physical chemistry. Mixing calculations include: Simple mixing Mixing with pH controlled by a weak acid Mixing with pH controlled by weak acids Mixing several waters Mixing calculations differ for closed and open systems. Calculations for mixing must account for CO2 exchange with the atmosphere if mixed in a system open to the atmosphere, or in a closed environment where CO2 builds up in the system and does not flash to the atmosphere. The prediction of scale in cooling systems must also be done at different cycles of concentration, so that the impact of different blends can be modeled. As systems are cycled to new heights and lower quality water sources are used for make-up, scales such as Barite (BaSO4) and celestite (SrSO4) should be included in evaluations.

Optimizing water usage within a facility is a formidable task. Mixing of available water sources within a plant can help to minimize discharge and maximize water reuse. Computer modeling of blended streams and their impact upon maximum cycles and treatment options is discussed. Operating cooling systems at higher cycles can also lead to the formation of scales previously not common in cooling systems. A visual chemistry approach is used for data presentation to clearly define options and safe ranges.

cases, a specific gravity of 1.0 can be used for practical water treatment problems. The simple case is limited to waters where no reaction occurs, where precipitation does not occur, and where a buffer system is not present. Mixture calculations become more interesting when a weak acid, such as carbonic acid is present.

Mixing with a weak acid present

Alkalinity and acidity are the analytical values for the titrations to the H2CO3 equivalence point with a standardized strong acid for alkalinity to the Na2CO3 equivalence point with a standardized strong base for acidity. Ct is total carbonic acid species.. The pH can be read directly from an alkalinity / acidity / pH conditioning diagram (Figure 1) or from an alkalinity, Ct, pH diagram. If two of the parameters are known, the third can be readily calculated.(1,2,3) A detailed discussion on the derivation of the conditioning diagrams is available in reference 1, (Loewenthal and Marais). Calculation of the distribution of H2CO3, HCO3, and CO3 from alkalinity or Ct is covered elegantly in reference 3, Stumm and Morgan.

Simple Mixing
In the simplest case, mixing of two NaCl solutions provides a straightforward example. Solutions will be described on a weight basis. or including volumes and specific gravity

Closed versus Open Systems


When a water is mixed in an open aerated environment, and CO2 gas is exchanged freely between the water and the atmosphere, the system is termed an Open system. An open recirculating cooling system (cooling tower) provides a frequent example for an Open system. When a water is in a closed environment where CO2 gas cannot exchange freely between the water and the atmosphere, the system is called a Closed system. A gas tight reverse osmosis system is such a closed system.

or using flows and specific gravity

These calculations are as straightforward as a junior high math problem in percentages. It is of note that the calculations can be done for mixing based upon percent, volume, or flows. In many

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In an Open system, alkalinity and acidity are conserved as CO2 is exchanged with the atmosphere to maintain charge balance. Total molar carbon (Ct) is not necessarily conserved. A classic case would be the re-carbonation of cold lime softened water. Hydroxide alkalinity is replaced by carbonate alkalinity as CO2 is introduced into the water. Ct increases. Alkalinity, and acidity, remain constant. This assumes that alkalinity is not precipitated. In a closed system, Ct is conserved. Alkalinity and acidity float to maintain balance. It is, again, assumed that no precipitation occurs. The calculations involved in pH prediction, and acid feed, are different for closed versus open systems. Calculations performed for closed systems assume that CO2 produced by acid addition builds up in the system. Calculations performed for open systems assume that CO2 produced by acid addition is removed from the system. Figure 2 compares acid requirements, and the resultant sulfate contributions, for pH control in a closed versus open system. In this case it can be seen that approximately five times as much acid is required for an open system than for a closed system. The difference is sufficient to create a calcium sulfate scale problem. Modeling software should be capable of treating a system as closed or open to assure that sulfate scale potential is evaluated accurately.

If a water is undersaturated with a compound: IAP< Ksp (It will tend to dissolve the compound). If a water is at equilibrium with a compound: IAP= Ksp (It will not tend to dissolve or precipitate the compound). If a water is supersaturated with a compound: IAP>Ksp (It will tend to precipitate the compound). The index called Saturation Level, Degree of Supersaturation, or Saturation Index, describes the relative degree of saturation as a ratio of the ion activity product (IAP) to the solubility product (Ksp): IAP Saturation Level = _______ Ksp In actual practice, the saturation levels calculated by the various computer programs available differ in the method they use for estimating the activity coefficients used in the IAP; they differ in the choice of solubility products and their variation with temperature; and they differ in the dissociation constants used to estimate the concentration of reactants (e.g. CO3 from analytical values for alkalinity, PO4 from analytical orthophosphate). (6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13) Table 1 defines the saturation level for common scale forming species and provides the basis for their discussion in this paper. Simple indices use analytical values for the ions, e.g. Ca. (4,5,6,7) For example, by definition, the Langelier Saturation Index is the base ten logarithm of saturation level if calculated a) using analytical values rather than free ion concentrations, b) using an alkalinity which is not corrected for non-carbonate alkalinity, and c) using simple activity coefficients. (4)

Scale Prediction and the Concept of Saturation


A majority of the indices used routinely by water treatment chemists are derived from the basic concept of saturation. A water is said to be saturated with a compound (e.g. calcium carbonate) if it will not precipitate the compound and it will not dissolve any of the solid phase of the compound when left undisturbed, under the same conditions, for an infinite period of time. A water which will not precipitate or dissolve a compound is at equilibrium for the particular compound. By definition, the amount of a chemical compound which can be dissolved in a water and remain in solution for this infinite period of time is described by the solubility product (Ksp). In the case of calcium carbonate, solubility is defined by the relationship: (Ca)(CO3) = Ksp where (Ca) is the activity of calcium (CO3) is the carbonate activity Ksp is the solubility product for calcium carbonate at the temperature under study. In a more generalized sense, the term (Ca)(CO3) can be called the Ion Activity Product (IAP) and the equilibrium condition described by the relationship: IAP = Ksp It can be shown that the Langelier Saturation Index is the base ten logarithm of calcite saturation level based upon total calcium in the water, an estimate of carbonate calculated from total alkalinity, and the solubility product for the calcite polymorph of calcium carbonate. (3,4) The degree of saturation of a water is described by the relationship of the ion activity product (IAP) to the solubility product (Ksp) for the compound as follows: 62

Ion Association Reduces Available Ion Concentration


Ions in solution are not all present as the free species. For example, calcium in water is not all present as free Ca.+2 Other species form which are not available as driving forces for scale formation. Examples include the soluble calcium sulfate species, hydroxide species, and bicarbonate - carbonates. Table 2 outlines example species that can be present in a typical water. Speciation of a water is time prohibitive without the use of a computer for the iterative number crunching required. The process is iterative and involves: 1. Checking the water for a electroneutrality via a cationanion balance, and balancing with an appropriate ion (e.g sodium or potassium for cation deficient waters, sulfate, chloride, or nitrate for anion deficient waters). Estimating ionic strength, calculating and correcting activity coefficients and dissociation constants for temperature, correcting alkalinity for non-carbonate alkalinity. Iteratively calculating the distribution of species in the water from dissociation constants (a partial listing is outlined in Table 1). Checking the water for balance and adjusting ion concentrations to agree with analytical values. Repeating the process until corrections are insignificant. Calculating saturation levels based upon the free concentrations of ions estimated using the ion association model (ion pairing). CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

2.

3.

4. 5. 6.

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The use of ion pairing to estimate the free concentrations of reactants overcomes several of the major shortcomings of traditional indices. Indices such as the LSI correct activity coefficients for ionic strength based upon the total dissolved solids. They do not account for common ion effects.(8) Common ion effects increase the apparent solubility of a compound by reducing the concentration of reactants available. A common example is sulfate reducing the available calcium in a water and increasing the apparent solubility of calcium carbonate. The use of indices which do not account for ion pairing can be misleading when comparing waters where the TDS is composed of ions which pair with the reactants versus ions which have less interaction with them. When indices are used to establish operating limits such as maximum cycles or maximum pH, the differences between the use of indices calculated using ion pairing can be of extreme economic significance. In the best case, a system is not operated at as high a concentration ratio as possible, because the use of indices based upon total analytical values resulted in high estimates of the driving force for a scalant. In the worst case, the use of indices based upon total ions present can result in the establishment of operating limits too high. This can occur when experience on a system with high TDS water is translated to a system operating with a lower TDS water. The high indices which were found acceptable in the high TDS water may be unrealistic when translated to a water where ion pairing is less significant in reducing the apparent driving force for scale formation. Figure 3 compares the impact of sulfate and chloride on scale potential. The curves profile the calculation of the Langelier Saturation Index in the presence of high TDS. In one case the TDS is predominantly from a high chloride water. In the other case, a high sulfate water is profiled. Profiles for the index calculated based upon total analytical values are compared with those calculated with ion association model free ion activities. This paper uses ion association model saturation levels to represent scale potential so that the limits described can be translated directly to both high and lower TDS waters, low and high sulfate waters. Each chemistry evaluation accounts for over 120 ion pairs. Table 2 outlines some of the ion pairs used in the model.

Celestite solubility decreases with temperature, like calcium carbonate. Celestiite solubility, like that of barite, is for the most part pH independent as opposed to the high pH dependence of calcium carbonate. Celestite solubility is higher than calcium carbonate. Pure barite or celestite scale is not typically encountered in operating systems. Most barite scales will contain strontium within the crystal lattice.18 Figures 4 and 5 show the impact of low levels of barium and strontium in a make-up water upon BaSO4 and SrSO4 scale potential. It is of interest that 0.007 mg/L of barium in a make-up water will not cause a problem in the a typical surface water analysis in the concentration ratio range of 1 to 5 cycles. Pushing the concentration ratio above ten times can create a previously unencountered scale. It is recommended that barium and strontium be included in the analysis of make-up waters for use in systems to be operated at high cycles, or when new water sources from reuse are to be concentrated. Table 2 compares the solubility of common scales at 25oC and 50 oC, and provides a note on the general solubility trends as temperature increases. Please note that the solubilities are shown as solubility product and as the compound. The compound values are for reference only. Please note that solubility trends are more complicated than two points can demonstrate. Gypsum solubility, for example, increases with temperature to the 20oC to 30oC range and then decreases with further increase in temperature. Different forms may also be expected in different temperature ranges. For example, gypsum is expected at lower temperatures, while anhydrite would form preferentially at higher temperatures. The same scale inhibitors that are effective against calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate are usually also effective in controlling strontium and barium derived scales. Limits are compared in Table 4. Scale inhibitors have not been observed to be effective above the upper limit, regardless of dosage.

BLENDED MAKE-UP
The use of blended water sources is increasing as facilities work towards maximizing water reuse and minimizing discharge . This example describes blending a municipal water to maximize cycles in an open recirculating cooling system. An ion association model system was used to project scale potential of cycled water and to determine the limiting factors maximum cycles. so the water source used, or the mix ratio, also has an economic impact upon nonregulated uses. A further constraint was placed upon this system: the blended water is also used as a potable water source. Federal and state governments mandate that municipal water providers treat their water to provide lead and copper levels below certain limits. The current EPA action levels for Pb and Cu are 15 ppb and 1.3 mg/L respectively. Calculating the maximum lead and copper solubility has been used as a method for optimizing treatment and blending to minimize lead and copper levels. In some cases computer simulation of the maximum soluble levels has been accepted by authorities in lieu of rigorous field testing. (19) A municipality switches between surface water and well water source and mixes in various ratios. This water is also used as cooling CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

MYSTERY SCALES
Mystery scales are not so mysterious in other areas of water treatment. Both BaSO4 and SrSO4 are commonly evaluated in oil field and reverse osmosis applications. But Barium sulfate and strontium sulfate are not scales typically found in, or analyzed for, in cooling water systems. Their formation would not be expected in cooling systems operated in traditional concentration ratio ranges, using fresh water makeup. As concentration ratio increases, and/or less desirable waters are used for make-up, barium and strontium based scales can become troublesome. The chemistry of barite (BaSO4) compares to calcite (CaCO3) as follows: Barite solubility increases with temperature, as opposed to the inverse temperature solubility of calcium carbonate. Barite solubility is for the most part pH independent as opposed to the high pH dependence of calcium carbonate. Barite solubility is lower than calcium carbonate. Celestite (SrSO4) chemistry compares to calcite (CaCO3): 64

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tower make-up. The blended water is summarized in Table 5. As depicted in Table 6. The well water source has a high solubility for lead and copper, above the current EPA action limits. Blending the waters, and avoiding high ratios of well water to surface water, can reduce the maximum solubility of lead and copper below the action limits. An evaluation of the projected recirculating water chemistry using the blended make-up water revealed that: silica solubility would be the limiting factor for maximum cycles higher cycles were obtainable at the highest percentage of well water in the blend The maximum well water percentage recommended for potable water would be 67% well water based upon the limits for lead and copper. A silica saturation level limit was used to determine the maximum cycle for the system. Table 7 depicts the cycles of concentration where silica saturation level hits 1.2 x. A target concentration ratio of 2.8 was established based upon this limit. It was determined that standard treatments for calcium carbonate scale control and the low phosphate scale potential would suffice at the target cycles of concentration.

Pressure and pCO2 decrease, resulting in a rise in pH. Returning the brine to the formation can create a deposition problem, adversely affect porosity and production. Mixing models are used to predict the impact of mixing the produced water and the formation water in different ratios. Ion associaiton model saturation levels are used to model the mixing of the waters in the formation and their impact of the mix upon scale formation. The same mixing models can be used to predict the safe range for injection water versus formation water when an injection well is used for disposal.

SUMMARY
Mixing waters for reuse and discharge is not as simple a matter as calculated a weighted average. Alkalinity must be mixed with consideration for CO2 exchange with the atmosphere. Closed systems will mix differently than open systems. The resultant blend will also change as it cycles in a cooling tower. As new, less desirable water sources are employed as make-up water, previously rare scales such as barite and celestite can become a problem. They can also become significant as towers are run at higher concentration ratios. Injection wells are also being used for water disposal. The impact of injection waters on any aquifers into which they are discharged should be studied to minimize adverse impacts form scale formation. Computer modeling with ion association model predictions of scale formation can assist in optimizing flows, maximizing cycles, and minimizing the impact upon the environment.

pH PREDICTION OF RECIRCULATING WATER


It should be noted that the pH of the recirculating cooling water at one (1.0) cycle is rarely the same as that of the make-up, particularly in blended waters. Examples of this phenomena include the use of non-recarbonated cold lime softened water as make-up, and the use of deep well water under a high pCO2 (partial pressure of CO2). In the case of the cold lime softened make-up, CO2 is adsorbed from the atmosphere and the pH drops. Alkalinity is maintained as hydroxide alkalinity is replace by carbonate alkalinity. Total molar carbon (Ct) will change. The recirculating water should be treated as an open system with respect to CO2 exchange with the atmosphere. In the case of deep well water, it is not unusual for carbon dioxide to flash to the atmosphere, causing the pH to rise. Alkalinity is again conserved in the open system. Total molar carbon will decrease. pH calculations for models should account for the equilibration (or almost equilibration) of carbonic acid species and other volatile acids with the atmosphere.

REFERENCES
R.E. Loewenthal and G.v.R. Marais, Carbonate Chemistry of Aquatic System, Theory and Application, 1982, Ann Arbor Science, pp 138165. 2 James N. Jensen, A Problem Solving Approach to Aquatic Chemistry, 2003, John Wiley and Sons, pp 283289. 3 Werner Stumm and James J. Morgan, Aquatic Chemistry Chemical Equilibria and Rates in Natural Waters, 1996, John Wiley and Sons, pp . 188-193. 4 Ferguson, R.J. and Baron R Ferguson, Model Makeover for Reverse Osmosis Chemistry Modeling Software, Ultrapure Water 2009, Portland, OR. 5 Langelier, W.F., The Analytical Control Of Anti-Corrosion Water Treatment, JAWWA, Vol. 28, No. 10, p. 1500-1521, 1936. 6 Ryznar, J.W., A New Index For Determining The Amount Of Calcium Carbonate Scale Formed By Water, JAWWA, Vol. 36, p. 472, 1944. 7 Stiff, Jr., H.A., Davis, L.E., A Method For Predicting The Tendency of Oil Field Water to Deposit Calcium Carbonate, Pet. Trans. AIME 195;213 (1952). 8 Oddo,J.E., Tomson, M.B.,Scale Control, Prediction and Treatment Or How Companies Evaluate A Scaling Problem and What They Do Wrong, CORROSION/92, Paper No. 34, (Houston, TX:NACE INTERNATIONAL 1992). 9 Ferguson, R.J., Computerized Ion Association Model Profiles Complete Range of Cooling System Parameters, International Water Conference, 52nd Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, IWC-91-47.
1

INJECTION WELL FOR DISPOSAL


Saturation level profiles of waters mixed in varying proportions can predict precipitation from the blend and assist in optimizing mix ratios. The mixing models have found wide usage in predicting the impact of waters injected into aquifers (or oil fields) upon the formation. Ratios of injection and formation waters are sought where precipitation of scale will not be expected. Precipitation of scale in the formation can restrict water flow by clogging or restricting pore size. Injection wells are used to dispose of water from a process, and in oil production. For every barrel of oil produced up to 100 barrels of brine accompany it to the surface. The oil is separated from the brine and returned to the formation using injection wells. Problems can arise due to changes in the properties of the brines as they come to the surface.

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10 W. Chow, J.T. Aronson, W.C. Micheletti, Calculations Of Cooling Water Systems: Computer Modeling Of Recirculating Cooling Water Chemistry, International Water Conference, 41rst Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, IWC-80-41. 11 Johnson, D.A., Fulks, K.E.,Computerized Water Modeling In The Design And Operation of Industrial Cooling Systems, International Water Conference, 41rst Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, IWC80-42. 12 Truesdell, A.H., Jones, B.F., WATEQ - A Computer Program For Calculating Chemical Equilibria Of Natural Waters, J. Research, U.S. Geological Survey, Volume 2, No. 2, p. 233-248, 1974. 13 Musil, R.R., Nielsen, H.J., Computer Modeling Of Cooling Water Chemistry, International Water Conference, 45th Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, IWC-84-104. 14 Werner Stumm and James J. Morgan, Aquatic Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, Inc,, New York, 1996, pp 138 - 140. 15 Gill, J.S., Anderson, C.D., Varsanik, R.G., Mechanism Of Scale Inhibition By Phosphonates, International Water Conference, 44th Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, IWC-83-4. 16 Amjad, Z., Masler,III, W.F., The Inhibition Of Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate Crystal Growth By Polyacrylates And The Influence Of Molecular Weight, CORROSION/85, Paper No. 357, Houston, TX: NACE INTERNATIONAL, 1985). 17 Ferguson, R.J., Developing Scale Inhibitor Models, WATERTECH, Houston, TX, 1992. 18 Ferguson, R.J.,Water Treatment Rules of Thumb: Fact or Myths Or Useful Tools, Association of Water Technologies Annual Meeting, ,Phoenix, AZ. 2003, AWT ANALYST, Winter 2004. 19 Weintritt, Donald J. and Jack C. Cowan, Water Formed Scale Deposits, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, TX 1976, p133. 20 Ferguson, R.J., Predicting The Properties Of Blended Waters, Association of Water Technologies Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, 2008.

Table 2: Example Ion Pairs Used To Estimate Free Ion Concentrations

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FIGURE 2: pH Control in Closed versus Open Systems

FIGURE 3: ION PAIRING REDUCES LSI (Sulfate Effect Greater Than Chloride)

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FIGURE 4: The Impact of Extremely Low Barium in Make-Up

FIGURE 5: The Impact of Strontium in Make-Up

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Cooling Towers Certified by CTI Under STD-201


As stated in its opening paragraph, CTI Standard 201... sets forth a program whereby the Cooling Technology Institute will certify that all models of a line of water cooling towers offered for sale by a specific Manufacturer will perform thermally in accordance with the Manufacturers published ratings... By the purchase of a certified model, the User has assurance that the tower will perform as specified, provided that its circulating water is no more than acceptably contaminated-and that its air supply is ample and unobstructed. Either that model, or one of its close design family members, will have been thoroughly tested by the single CTI-licensed testing agency for Certification and found to perform as claimed by the Manufacturer. CTI Certification under STD-201 is limited to thermal operating conditions with entering wet bulb temperatures between 12.8C and 32.2C (55F to 90F), a maximum process fluid temperature of 51.7C (125F), a cooling range of 2.2C (4F) or greater, and a cooling approach of 2.8C (5F) or greater. The manufacturer may set more restrictive limits if desired or publish less restrictive limits if the CTI limits are clearly defined and noted in the publication. Following is a list of cooling tower models currently certified under STD-201. They are part of product lines offered by Advance GRP (Advance) Cooling Towers, Pvt, Ltd.; Aggreko Cooling Tower Services; Amcot Cooling Tower Corporation; American CoolingTower, Inc.; AONE E&C Corporation Ltd; Baltimore Aircoil Company, Inc.; Delta Cooling Towers, Inc.; Evapco, Inc.; Fabrica Mexicana De Torres, S.A.; HVAC/R International, Inc.; King Sun Industry Company, Ltd; KIMCO (Kyung In Machinery Company, Ltd.); Liang Chi Industry Company, Ltd.; Mesan Cooling Tower, Ltd; Nihon Spindle Manufacturing Company, Ltd.; Polacel b.v.; Protec Cooling Towers; RSD Cooling Towers; Ryowo (Holding) Company, Ltd; Sinro Air-Conditioning (Fogang) Co. Ltd; SPX Cooling Technologies; Ta Shin F.R.P. Company, Ltd.; The Cooling Tower Company, L.C; The Trane Company; Tower Tech, Inc; Waltco Systems; and Zhejiang Jinling Refrigeration Engineering Company who are committed to the manufacture and installation of full-performance towers. In competition with each other, these manufacturers benefit from knowing that they each achieve their published performance capability. They are; therefore, free to distinguish themselves through design excellence and concern for the Users operational safety and convenience. Those Manufacturers who have not yet chosen to certify their product lines are invited to do so at the earliest opportunity. You can contact Virginia A. Manser, Cooling Technology Institute, PO Box 73383, Houston, TX 77273 for further information.

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Cooling Technology Institute Licensed Testing Agencies


For nearly thirty years, the Cooling Technology Institute has provided a truly independent, third party, thermal performance testing service to the cooling tower industry. In 1995, the CTI also began providing an independent, third party, drift performance testing service as well. Both these services are administered through the CTI Multi-Agency Tower Performance Test Program and provide comparisons of the actual operating performance of a specific tower installation to the design performance. By providing such information on a specific tower installation, the CTI MultiAgency Testing Program stands in contrast to the CTI Cooling Tower Certification Program which certifies all models of a specific manufacturer's line of cooling towers perform in accordance with their published thermal ratings. To be licensed as a CTI Cooling Tower Performance Test Agency, the agency must pass a rigorous screening process and demonstrate a high level of technical expertise. Additionally, it must have a sufficient number of test instruments, all meeting rigid requirements for accuracy and calibration. Once licensed, the Test Agencies for both thermal and drift testing must operate in full compliance with the provisions of the CTI License Agreements and Testing Manuals which were developed by a panel of testing experts specifically for this program. Included in these requirements are strict guidelines regarding conflict of interest to insure CTI Tests are conducted in a fair, unbiased manner. Cooling tower owners and manufacturers are strongly encouraged to utilize the services of the licensed CTI Cooling Tower Performance Test Agencies. The currently licensed agencies are listed below.

Licensed CTI Thermal Testing Agencies


License Type*
A,B

Agency Name Address


Clean Air Engineering 7936 Conner Rd Powell, TN 37849 Cooling Tower Technologies Pty Ltd PO Box N157 Bexley North, NSW 2207 AUSTRALIA Cooling Tower Test Associates, Inc. 15325 Melrose Dr. Stanley, KS 66221-9720 McHale & Associates, Inc 6430 Baum Drive Knoxville, TN 37919

Contact Person Website / Email


Kenneth Hennon www.cleanair.com khennon@cleanair.com Ronald Rayner coolingtwrtech@bigpond.com

Telephone Fax
800.208.6162 865.938.7569 61 2 9789 5900 61 2 9789 5922

A, B

A,B

Thomas E. Weast www.cttai.com cttakc@aol.com Thomas Wheelock www.mchale.org tom.wheelock@mchale.org

913.681.0027 913.681.0039 865.588.2654 425.557.8377

A, B

* Type A license is for the use of mercury in glass thermometers typically used for smaller towers. Type B license is for the use of remote data acquisition devices which can accommodate multiple measurement locations required by larger towers.

Licensed CTI Drift Testing Agencies


Agency Name Address
Clean Air Engineering 7936 Conner Rd Powell, TN 37849 McHale & Associates, Inc. 6430 Baum Drive Knoxville, TN 37919

Contact Person Website / Email


Kenneth Hennon www.cleanair.com khennon@cleanair.com Thomas Wheelock www.mchale.org tom.wheelock@mchale.org

Telephone Fax
800.208.6162 865.938.7569 865.588.2654 425.557.8377

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Index of Advertisers
Aggreko Cooling Tower Services ..... 44-45 AHR Expo .............................................. 75 Amarillo Gear Company ....................... IBC Amcot Cooling Tower ............................ 11 American Cooling Tower, Inc. ............... 23 AMSA, Inc. ........................................... 61 Bailsco Blades & Casting, Inc. .............. 73 Baldor Electric Company ....................... 27 Bedford Reinforced Plastics .................. 33 Brentwood Industries ............................ 37 Chem-Aqua ............................................ 58 ChemTreat, Inc. ...................................... 15 CTI Certified Towers ......................... 80-84 CTI License Testing Agencies .............. 85 CTI ToolKit ....................................... 86-87 Composite Cooling Solutions, LP .......... 43 Cooling Tower Resources ...................... 19 Craftech Industries, Inc. ........................ 39 Dynamic Fabricators .............................. 51 Gaiennie Lumber Company ...................... 6 Gas Turbine Users Symposium (GTUS) 77 GEA Polacel Cooling Towers LLC ......... 29 Glocon ...................................................... 3 Howden Cooling Fans ............................. 7 Hudson Products Corporation .............. 25 IMI Sensors a PCP Piezotronics Div ..... 59 Industrial Cooling Towers ............. IFC, 24 International Chimney ........................... 63 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo ................................. 69 KIMCO .................................................. 17 McHale & Associates ............................ 53 Midwest Towers, Inc. ............................ 67 Moore Fans ........................................... 49 Myron L Company .................................. 5 Paharpur Cooling Towers Ltd ................ 65 Paltech Cooling Towers & Equipments Ltd ....................................... 13 Power Gen .............................................. 71 Rain for Rent .......................................... 55 Research Cottrell Cooling, Inc. ................ 2 Rexnord Industries ................................ 31 C.E. Shepherd Company, LP .................. 41 Simpson Strong-Tie ............................... 46 Spraying Services, Inc. .......................... 57 SPX Cooling Technologies ................ OBC Strongwell .............................................. 35 Tower Performance, Inc. ........................ 88 Walter P Moore ...................................... 47 Zincobre Ingenieria, SLU ....................... 21 88 CTI Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2

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