Design and Performance Evaluation of an Existing Cooling Tower in Port Harcourt Refinery

Abstract

The need for efficient and effective waste heat removal systems forms the basis of this research which is the Design and Performance Evaluation of an Existing Cooling Tower in Port Harcourt Refinery. The design performance equation models were developed by the application of the principle of conservation of mass and energy and also from standard correlations from literatures. The input parameters for the solution of the design performance equations were obtained from the Port Harcourt Refinery and relevant literatures. The thermal parameters used for this research are: inlet temperature of water 42⁰C, outlet temperature of water 32⁰C, outlet temperature of air 40⁰C and wet-bulb temperature 28⁰C. the developed design performance models were solved using a mathematical software (MATLAB 2015a) and the results obtained for the functional and dimensional parameters are: Tower Range 10⁰C, Tower Approach 4⁰C, Tower Characteristics 0.25, Tower Area 250m²,  Tower Height 14m, Tower Effectiveness 0.67 and Efficiency 0.71. Simulation of various parameters were carried out to study the effect on the system and to determine the best thermal parameters to be used. From the analysis, it was observed that the thermal parameters are critical parameters that affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the cooling tower.

Key word: Design, Performance Evaluation, Cooling Tower, Port Harcourt Refinery