What is Cooling Tower Drift?
Cooling tower drift are small water droplets that are emitted from cooling towers. As air moves up the tower, it entrains a fraction of the sprayed water droplets outside of tower and into the ambient. Drift droplets vary in size but typically range between 50 and 200µm in diameter (around the thickness of a human hair). Drift water has the same chemical composition as the circulating water in the tower and therefore typically has high salt concentrations, particulate matter and bacteria, making it harmful and potentially toxic. Drift occurs in all cooling towers in various applications such as power generation, data centers, commercial buildings, chemicals manufacturing and oil and gas. Efficient drift eliminators can reduce drift but never eliminate it completely. Infinite Cooling has developed proprietary, patented WaterPanel™ systems that use electric fields to capture emissions from cooling towers and mitigate cooling tower plumes and drift.
Issues Caused by Cooling Tower Drift
Cooling tower drift can result in significant issues when inhaled or when deposited on nearby surfaces.
Legionella
Biological growth in cooling tower is a known problem and one of the most common bacteria is Legionella, which, when inhaled, causes Legionnaires’ disease, a serious and sometimes fatal disease. Studies have shown that 40 to 60% of cooling towers contain Legionella. Therefore, the most effective way to prevent infections is to mitigate drift.
Salt and Chemical Deposits
Drift droplets typically have high salt and chemical concentrations. They can pollute nearby water sources. They can also result in high cleaning costs for nearby windows and cars.
Equipment failure
Drift droplets can erode fans and other cooling tower equipment. When they deposit on nearby equipment, they can cause corrosion or alter functionality. For example, deposition on nearby insulators for high-voltage lines can cause these insulators to fail.
Advanced Cooling Tower Technology
Our patented technology developed at MIT significantly enhances cooling towers with real time monitoring of tower performance, advanced controls, and the WaterPanel™, our cooling tower plume capture system.
Plume Abatement
Retrofittable plume elimination system captures clean water for re-use
Energy Savings
Efficient utilization of cooling tower fans for reduced power consumption
Water Savings
Minimizing evaporation & re-using clean water from tower plumes
Reliability
Maximizing plant output & avoiding unscheduled outages with real time tower monitoring
Get Started with Advanced Plume Abatement Technology
Reach out to our knowledgeable staff today to learn more about enhancing safety and decreasing your plant’s annual operating costs with our innovative cooling tower water capture and plume elimination WaterPanel™. Connect with us via email or give us a call today. Additionally, you can complete our online contact form to learn more about the full range of exceptional benefits offered by our water capture and plume abatement technology.