Each cooling system is unique. Many conditions can have an impact on cooling towers, including:
- The raw water source
- Air quality
- Flow rates
- Metallurgy
- Temperature
- Humidity
- Operating procedures
- Other factors
Northstar cooling water treatment programs are specifically tailored to meet the needs of your cooling systems and prevent corrosion, scale, microbiological growth, and fouling.
Northstar’s Survey Process Improves Cooling System Operations
Our cooling water treatment programs start with a survey of your system’s:
- Process
- Water chemistry
- Cooling requirements
- Metallurgy in your industrial cooling system
With the results of this survey, your Northstar representative can determine whether the system is more scale-forming or corrosive. The survey results also enable our team to pinpoint any factors that will lead to fouling of heat transfer surfaces.
With our cooling water treatment programs, we help customers effectively minimize these issues in industrial cooling water systems.
Applying Northstar products will:
- Keep your system running efficiently
- Maximize equipment life
- Reduce utility costs
- Protect the environment
We also offer state-of-the-art control and monitoring technology with remote access and adjustability to help increase reliability and decrease costs.
Closed-Loop Systems
Most chilled water systems work together with an open recirculating system that uses a cooling tower for evaporative cooling.
Our engineers have expertise with all the equipment involved in both processes, including but not limited to:
- Evaporative condensers
- Shell and tube heat exchangers
- Plate and frame heat exchangers
Custom Solutions for Unique Cooling Systems
The key to a successful cooling water treatment program is using the right products in the right amount all of the time. Our team has custom blended chemistry experience, engineering knowledge, and years of experience with industrial water cooling. With this skill set, our team delivers the highest level of cooling system expertise and service available.
Northstar’s expertise with closed-loop water systems includes the following:
- Cooling water used to produce cool air for comfort air conditioning and/or humidity control
- Cooling water systems used in process cooling water loops
- Thermal storage systems and ice-making equipment
- Hot water systems that generate tempered water for space heating
- High-temperature hot water systems (HTHW) that circulate water for humidification, process heating, and many other uses
Heat exchangers typically transfer unwanted heat to a recirculating cooling water stream. The heat exchanger elevates the temperature of the cooling water as it absorbs heat from process and utility equipment. The system then expels some of the heat through partial evaporation of the water across a cooling tower.
Several problems may arise, which reduce the flow rates and heat transfer rates, and the system’s efficiency. These problems include:
- Corrosion
- Scale
- Fouling
- Microbial growth
Northstar field engineers create custom cooling water treatment programs to ensure heat exchangers operate at peak efficiency and the cooling system effectively reduces the process fluid temperature.
We have expertise in a variety of different heat exchanger designs including:
- Shell and tube
- Plate and frame
Open Recirculating Water Cooling Towers
Open recirculating systems are the most common form of industrial cooling systems, with continuous recirculation of the same water for equipment cooling needs.
These cooling systems provide water to remove heat from industrial applications using heat exchangers, condensers, air compressor jackets, or process reactors.
The water returning to the water in the cooling tower absorbs the desired amount of process heat and then dissipates it via evaporation by moving the water over the cooling tower fill.
The cooling tower exposes the heated water to air, causing approximately 1–3% of the water to evaporate. This typically removes 1,000 BTUs per pound of evaporated water and cools the water that is not evaporated, then recirculates it back to the process.
Reusing cooling tower water results in water and chemical savings, as the chemistries are retained in the system. However, this also creates issues with scale formation, corrosion, and microbiological growth for several reasons:
- Evaporation increases the amount of dissolved and suspended solids in the circulating water, which eventually leads to scale formation
- The warm temperatures and moist environments in cooling towers are optimal for biological growth
- Cooling tower operation acts as a scrubber and introduces airborne contaminants from the air into the cooling water, causing fouling and microbial growth in the circulating water
Northstar water treatment consultants have extensive experience treating all kinds of open cooling systems, including natural draft, mechanical, crossflow, and counterflow cooling tower designs.
Our technical staff combines education, experience, and process knowledge to customize a solution for your specific system and work to find savings in the following areas:
- Improving heat transfer efficiency by removing and preventing heat exchanger fouling with scale inhibitors
- Preventing fouling caused by the scale formation, suspended solids deposition, and microbial growth
- Reducing cooling system maintenance requirements and facility downtime with corrosion inhibitors
- Ensuring the integrity of metal components by minimizing corrosion and pitting that lead to system failures
- Increasing cycles of concentration and reducing utility and chemical costs with advanced and proprietary chemical solutions
- Reducing the amount of makeup water and chemicals necessary for proper treatment and lowering your utility costs
- Optimizing cooling water equipment efficiency with biocide programs
- Reducing and removing microbial growth on the cooling tower fill and other heat exchange surfaces, creating increased air contact and evaporation rates
The cooling water treatment chemistry provided by Northstar Chemical meets the following certifications:
FDA, USDA, Kosher, Halal, non-GMO, GRAS, and NSF
For more information, visit our certifications page.
