Background
Cooling towers work by evaporating some of the circulating cooling water so it can be recycled. However, this process concentrates minerals, and requires a portion of the concentrated water to be discharged in order to prevent excessive scale build-up. This combination of evaporation and discharge depletes the volume of recirculating water, and requires freshwater (or make-up water) to be replenished. The flow of this make-up water is controlled by a valve in the make-up water line.
Insight
Innovation
Impact
After the incident, the team estimated that the cooling tower was overflowing at a rate of 55 gallons per minute (gpm). The plant was not scheduled to conduct a system review for at least 12 hours after they were notified. As a result, the EGIC was able to help the plant avoid losing nearly 40,000 gallons (151 cubic meters) of treated water and avoid approximately $12,000 US in replenishment costs.
