Low maintenance, eco-friendly cooling alternative

STEAM jet cooling systems can be an extremely environmental-friendly alternative to absorption cooling systems, as they only require water or aqueous solutions instead of chemical cooling agents. Instead of high-value electricity, low-pressure steam (waste steam) can be used for the operation of such systems. For this reason, the operating expenses are extremely low compared to other technological systems.
These systems are used to cool water or aqueous solutions down to the formation of ice. The structure and function of steam jet cooling systems are simple, and they perform a nearly maintenance-free operation.
One such system is a steam jet cooling plant taken installed in autumn 2005 by GEA Wiegand, within an EO/EG process unit of a big chemical company in China. It has been operated continuously for more than seven years without requiring any shut-down of the plant for maintenance purpose. Water steam under a slight overpressure (waste steam) is used as drive energy for this plant. Apart from the drive energy the steam jet cooling system requires relatively warm cooling water (37°C). With the cooling system a refrigerating capacity of 16,450 kW can be generated. In this case, 1,572 m3/h of water are cooled from 29° to 20°C.
This chilled water is used to optimize the EO/EG production in particular during summer periods when the cooling water is relatively warm. If no cooled water was available, production would have to be stopped, or, even worse, the systems would have to be shut-down.
Steam jet cooling systems are applied for the generation of cold water in the field of air-conditioning and for product cooling in the food industry, chemical industry, synthetic material, and pulp industries and for direct product of e.g. moulding sand, colours and crystal slurry.