Experimental study and predictions of an induced draft ceramic tile packing cooling tower

Deterioration of the filling material in traditional cooling towers is of serious concern. In this study, long life burned clay is used as the filling material. It guards against common cooling tower problems resulting from chemical water treatment and deterioration. The size of the ceramic packing material and outlet conditions predictions by theoretical modeling require heat and mass transfer correlations. An experimental study to evaluate the heat and mass transfer coefficients is conducted. The previous correlations found in the literature could not predict the mass transfer coefficient for the tested tower. A mass transfer coefficient correlation is developed, and new variables are defined. This correlation can predict the mass transfer coefficient within an error of ±10%. The developed correlation is used along with theoretical modeling to predict the cooling tower outlet conditions within an error of ±5%.