Cooling Towers: Advantages, Operating Principles and Applications

28 Jul.,2025

 

Cooling Towers: Advantages, Operating Principles and Applications

Cooling towers are readily identified by their ubiquitous presence in large commercial cooling systems. They are an effective means of rejecting heat from a centralized liquid system.

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Cooling towers are vital in maintaining optimal temperatures for machinery and processes. By using the principle of evaporative cooling, they also help save energy and reduce operational costs. The applicability of cooling towers is extensive, making them fundamentally useful for industrial operations in power generation, oil refining, petrochemical plants, commercial or industrial HVAC systems, and process cooling. This post discusses the advantages, operating principles and applications of cooling towers.

What Is a Cooling Tower?

A cooling tower helps remove heat from buildings or industrial processes by transferring it to the atmosphere. It uses water to absorb the heat and then release that heat into the air via evaporation. As the warm water comes into contact with cooler air, some of the water evaporates, taking away the heat and cooling the rest of the water. This cooled water can then be recirculated back into the system to absorb more heat.

Cooling towers are commonly seen as large structures with fans on top of them. They are often found in industrial facilities, power plants and commercial buildings.

How Does a Cooling Tower Work?

An evaporative cooling tower involves the movement of a fluid, usually water with some added chemicals, through a series of parts or sections to eventually result in the reduction of its heat content and temperature.

Here are the operating principles of a cooling tower:

  1. Water circulation: Liquid heated by the process operation is pumped through pipes to reach the cooling tower. 
  2. Heat exchange: The hot liquid gets sprayed through nozzles or other distribution means onto fill material inside the tower, reducing its velocity to increase the fluid dwell time in the fill area. This maximizes the contact surface area between the water and air.
  3. Evaporation: Electric motor-driven fans force air into the tower and across the fill area. As air passes across the liquid surface, a portion of the water evaporates, transferring heat from the water to the air and reducing the water’s temperature.
  4. Cooling effect: The cooled water is then collected and pumped back to the process-related equipment, allowing for the cooling cycle to repeat.
  5. Heat dissipation: The heat absorbed by the water is released into the atmosphere as the evaporated water vapor rises and disperses, effectively removing heat from the system.

Cooling towers come in various types, each with its own design and functionality:

  • Evaporative: Evaporative cooling towers rely on outdoor air conditions being such that evaporation will occur at a rate sufficient to transfer the excess heat contained in the water solution. Analysis of the range of outdoor air conditions at the installation site is necessary to assure proper operation of the cooling tower throughout the year. Evaporative cooling towers are of an open loop design, with the fluid exposed to air.
  • Closed loop: A closed loop cooling tower, sometimes referred to as a fluid cooler, does not directly expose the heat transfer fluid to the air. The heat exchanger can take many forms, but a finned coil is common. A closed loop system will generally be less efficient than an open loop design because only sensible heat is recovered from the fluid in the closed loop system. A closed loop fluid cooler can be advantageous for smaller heat loads, or in facilities without sufficient technical staff to monitor or maintain operation of an evaporative cooling tower.
  • Crossflow: In crossflow cooling towers, air moves horizontally across the downward flow of water.
  • Counterflow: Counterflow towers have air moving vertically upwards against the downward flow of water.
  • Hybrid: Hybrid cooling towers combine features of both crossflow and counterflow designs to optimize performance and energy efficiency, offering a balance between these two traditional types.

What Are the Applications for Cooling Towers?

Some common uses of a cooling tower include:

  • Heat removal
  • Air conditioning
  • Power generation
  • Environmental control

Thanks to their range of applications, cooling towers vary in size, from the monolithic structures used in industrial areas to small rooftop units. Removing the heat from the water used in cooling systems allows for the recycling of the heat transfer fluid back to the process or equipment that is generating heat. This cycle of heat transfer enables heat-generating processes to remain stable and secure. 

The cooling provided by an evaporative tower allows for the amount of supply water to be vastly lower than the amount which would be otherwise needed. 

Some industries that use cooling towers include:

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  • Power plant: Cooling towers help cool circulating water used in condensers in power generation facilities.
  • Industrial: Chemical processing, oil refineries, steel mills and manufacturing plants use cooling towers to maintain optimal temperatures for equipment and processes.
  • HVAC: Commercial buildings, hospitals, schools and hotels use cooling towers for air conditioning systems to regulate indoor temperatures efficiently.
  • Data: Cooling towers help dissipate the heat generated by servers and IT equipment in data centers, preventing overheating and ensuring continuous operation.
  • Food and beverage: Food processing plants use cooling towers to cool equipment, ingredients and products during production processes.
  • Plastics: Injection molding and extrusion processes in the plastics industry often require cooling towers to maintain consistent temperatures for quality control.

Advantages of a Plastic Cooling Tower

Cooling towers help reduce energy consumption compared to other cooling methods. They are cost-effective in the long run due to lower maintenance and operational costs, plus they aid in water conservation and reduce environmental impact by using evaporative cooling.

In particular, plastic cooling towers offer significant advantages:

  • Corrosion proof: Cooling towers made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are resistant to rust, flaking and peeling, eliminating the need for protective coatings. They offer long-term corrosion protection advantages over metal towers.
  • Seamless construction: Some manufacturers provide seamless engineered plastic cooling towers with a one-piece shell for better performance and integrity, eliminating the need for fasteners, panels, rivets and seams.
  • Lighter in weight: Plastic cooling towers tend to be up to 50% lighter than steel towers of similar capacity, thereby reducing installation costs and making them suitable for various placements.
  • Longer warranty: Unlike metallic cooling towers, those made of HDPE typically come with longer warranties — up to 20 years — ensuring durability and reliability.
  • Lower maintenance: HDPE cooling towers require less maintenance due to their corrosion-proof construction material.

Find Corrosion-Free Cooling Towers From MSEC

Selecting a cooling tower is an involved process that requires examination and analysis of many facets. Whether customers need small or large cooling towers, the components must function as an integrated system to ensure both adequate performance and longevity. It’s best for customers to share their heat transfer requirements and challenges with cooling tower specialists to find an effective solution.

MSEC is a leading cooling tower product distributor and service provider committed to serving customers with lasting solutions that resolve unique heat transfer equipment challenges. In addition to their portfolio of corrosion-free packaged cooling towers, MSEC also offers customized solutions.

The Advantages of Modern Cooling Tower Systems

The advancements in manufacturing and design of cooling tower systems have a lot to do with materials. Engineered plastic is the new gold standard. In the past, traditional metal towers only lasted a few years and came with unwelcome environmental and economic side effects, like increased chemical use, higher maintenance costs, replacement costs, and disposal requirements.

However, engineered plastic cooling tower systems are a valuable tool for productivity and cost savings for businesses. Factory-assembled cooling towers made with engineered molded plastics continue to gain popularity over galvanized sheet metal models that once dominated the cooling tower industry. There are several reasons why you might want to considered an engineered plastic cooling tower system to reduce costs and better meet your process needs:

Life Expectancy

Standard metal cooling towers have casings with thin sheets of galvanized steel. These sheets usually have welded seams that can deteriorate within a year and will require re-welding, patching, or coating to prevent leakage. Additionally, the cooling tower water treatment, which contains chemical compounds, tends to attack the galvanized metal, wearing it out in an extraordinarily short time. Also, environmental conditions such as sunlight, pollution, salt air, and harsh process chemicals contribute to galvanized steel’s early demise. Plus, ambient air pollution can affect galvanized steel, leading to premature failure.  Since metal expands and contracts depending on temperature, repeated cycling causes stress that can also accelerate corrosion, rust, and leakage.  Even low-grade stainless shell options, like series 300 stainless steel that’s designed to resist corrosion, wears out from cooling tower chemical water treatment chemicals and environmental factors.

Flexible Modular Design

In the past, plastic cooling tower systems were too small for many industrial processes. For that reason, galvanized metal cooling towers were traditionally used for most applications above 250 tons. But those days are over. Delta has introduced its TM Series® of modular, factory-assembled, plastic towers that can be combined to provide up to 2,500 cooling tons in a single unit. These modular cooling tower systems also facilitate the use of an extra margin of cooling capacity, making it easier to manage operational heat load or outflow changes or upgrade systems to meet future cooling requirements.

Continuous, More Economical Operation

Engineered plastic can also reduce the expected and inconvenient consequences of operating a cooling tower, which include electric power usage, water-treatment chemicals, labor and materials for maintenance, and unscheduled process downtime for cooling tower repairs. Maintenance and repairs usually mean process interruptions, the costliest of all problems related to cooling towers.

Easier Installation

The basic design advantages of the latest plastic cooling tower systems also include easier installation, especially on rooftops, because a lightweight plastic shell weighs up to 40 percent less than a steel tower, while being 5-10 times thicker. Bonus: Installation is often faster and easier when modular cooling towers are combined in a cluster.

Going Green

It’s possible for businesses to meet green standards and reduce the costs associated with being more environmentally conscious. How? A systematic approach to cooling tower greenness will help increase energy efficiency, improve water conservation, and create a smaller carbon footprint, compared to conventional cooling towers, often constructed with sheet metal cladding. The alternative of using cooling towers with molded seamless plastic is immediately beneficial to both the environment and bottom line.  In addition, engineered HDPE plastic design cooling towers are designed for the most aggressive water treatment options available, allowing higher cycles of concentration and saving tens of thousands of gallons of makeup water per year.  These substantial water and chemical savings can help solve water issues as well as save on operating costs. Plus, the counterflow design of Delta cooling towers also keeps water totally enclosed and free from sunlight, lessening biological growth, making it less likely that you’ll need harsh cooling tower water treatment.

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