Counterflow Cooling Tower Fill and Drift Eliminator Replacement Analyses & Studies

Contacting : John Cooper and Associates, P. A.

A number of relatively new "low-fouling" polyvinylchloride or polypropylene fill designs are now available to utility cooling tower owners, some of which have been tried and proven in operating cooling towers for at least five years. Independent evaluation of the thermal performance efficiencies of these low-fouling fill designs in existing cooling towers may be accomplished through careful thermal analysis, based on empirical thermal and pressure drop correlations for the various fill designs. Because the thermal and pressure drop characteristics developed by the fill suppliers are often times considered proprietary and not available to the general public, the characteristics may be derived from test cell data or from full scale data that has been extracted from third party cooling tower performance tests.

In the past two years, John Cooper & Associates, P.A. has conducted detailed fill and drift eliminator replacement studies for the following utility companies:

•  Public Service Electric & Gas Company (Hope Creek Nuclear Station)
•  Entergy Operations, Inc. (Arkansas Nuclear One)
•  Union Electric Company (Callaway Nuclear Plant)
•  Florida Power Corporation (Crystal River North Plant)
•  Ocean State Power (Burrellville Combined Cycle Plant)

•  Florida Power Corporation (Anclote Plant)

•  EME Homer City Generation LLC (Homer City Units 1 and 2)

•  Baltimore Gas & Electric Company (Brandon Shores Unit 2)

•  Mirant Mid-Atlantic (Chalk Point Units 3 and 4)

•  Exelon Nuclear (Dresden Nuclear Units 2 and 3)

•  Louisville Gas & Electric Company (Mill Creek Unit)

These fill replacement studies typically include: (1) thermal analyses for prediction of performance efficiency of alternate fill and drift eliminator designs, and (2) itemized budgetary estimates of the total cost to replace the existing fill and drift eliminator systems of the cooling tower with new low-fouling fill and high efficiency, low pressure drop drift eliminators.