03-01: Why Every Air Cooled Steam Condenser Needs A Cooling Tower

This technical paper will review the basic types of cooling systems utilized by utility power plants, and explain the reasons why it is advantageous to include a cooling tower in many dry cooling applications. A system where a cooling tower is used in conjunction with an air-cooled steam condenser is called a parallel condensing system. This type of system utilizes three traditional types of heat exchangers: a cooling tower, an air-cooled steam condenser and a surface condenser. An optimized parallel condensing system reduces both investment costs and operational costs while using a minimum amount of water.