Process Cooling's Top 10 most popular feature stories of 2022.

A free webinar will discuss how to handle typical problems, failures and misconceptions related to cooling tower maintenance and performance. The 30-minute webinar, held December 8 at 2 p.m. (EST), will provide an overview of cooling tower basics before expanding into points about preparing for and conducting a structural inspection.

For one chemical manufacturer in North Carolina, after decades of replacing their metal towers with the same material, corrosion-resistant engineered-plastic cooling towers provided an alternative.

While many facilities are focusing on precautions for preventing the spread of COVID-19, they also need to be proactive when it comes to reducing the risk of Legionella. 

Cleaning equipment and solutions play a key role in optimizing the operation of equipment used in industrial environments. A heavily fouled cooling tower or chiller, for instance, has poorer heat transfer.

It is not up for debate: You should follow a cooling tower maintenance program to thwart the development of Legionella. And to prevent the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease within cooling towers, you should follow a few tips for cooling tower maintenance.

Facility managers are responsible for keeping their plants and buildings as safe as possible. This includes mitigating and preventing the contamination of cooling towers from dirt, bacteria and other dangers. COVID-19’s impact on sources such as cooling towers and HVAC systems is still being researched. However, cooling towers are a common source for the growth of infectious bacteria such as Legionella.

In industrial facilities such as manufacturing and processing plants as well as mills, forges and refineries, cooling towers often are used to remove heat from machinery, heated process material and fluids, buildings and other sources by exchanging the heat using water or chemical solutions as a coolant.

Currently, it is thought that the novel coronavirus causing outbreaks of COVID-19 worldwide is not a significant risk of contaminating industrial cooling towers. Little research has been completed to date, however.