89-17: Cooling Water Operational Experiences at an Ammonia Plant

With the increasing pressures placed on various chemical plants to limit effluent constituents, a greater emphasis has been placed on the cooling tower blowdown. Not only is the discharge concern placed on the commonly used heavy metal corrosion inhibitors such as chromate and zinc, but on other components as well such as ammonia. A review of cooling tower operational experiences is presented to illustrate one plant's method of minimizing the effluent discharge while observing excellent corrosion, scale, and microbiological control in their cooling water systems.