Offsites · Refining
Steam & Cooling Water
The utilities behind every unit: boilers that make steam and cooling towers that reject process heat to the air by evaporation.
What it does
Steam drives turbines, strips columns and heats lines; cooling water condenses and cools products. Both need treated water to avoid scale and corrosion.
Basics
| Cooling towers | Crossflow or counterflow, forced or induced draft |
| Boiler feedwater | Clarified, filtered, softened and deaerated |
| Boilers | With blowdown to limit scale |
Common failures
- Loss of cooling water or steam that forces units to cut rates or shut down
Troubleshooting
- Symptom
- Cooling water supply too warm
- Likely cause
- Fouled tower fill or fans down
- What to check
- Check fans, water treatment and fill condition