Makeup-Water Chemistry
Wet-cooled plants continuously add treated makeup water to replace evaporation and blowdown; closed dry-cooled loops need only minimal, occasional makeup.
The continuous makeup demand
An evaporative cooling system loses water constantly, to evaporation, drift, and blowdown, so it must continuously add makeup water. That makeup must be treated for hardness, pH, and biological content before it enters the loop, and the treatment scales with the volume added.
What treatment involves
- Softening or partial demineralization to limit scale
- Corrosion inhibitors to protect metal surfaces
- Biocides to prevent biofilm and microbial growth
- Continuous monitoring of cycles of concentration
Why the burner's makeup is minimal
A closed, dry-cooled loop does not lose water to evaporation. Its only losses are small leaks and maintenance draining, so makeup is occasional and low-volume. The loop's chemistry is set once and maintained, rather than continuously corrected for the concentrating effect of evaporation.
The compounding effect
Minimal makeup means minimal water treatment, minimal treatment chemicals, and minimal associated waste. Each piece of the evaporative water story, consumption, makeup, treatment, and blowdown, shrinks together when the steam cycle and its cooling tower are absent.