Editing Cooling tower (section)

==History==
[[File:Barnard's fanless self-cooling tower.jpg|thumb|upright|A 1902 engraving of "Barnard's fanless self-cooling tower", an early large evaporative cooling tower that relied on [[Natural Draft|natural draft]] and open sides rather than a fan; water to be cooled was sprayed from the top onto the radial pattern of vertical wire-mesh mats.]]

Cooling towers originated in the 19th century through the development of [[Condenser (heat transfer)|condenser]]s for use with the [[steam engine]].<ref name=ICS1902a>{{cite book |author=International Correspondence Schools |date=1902 |title=A Textbook on Steam Engineering |publisher=International Textbook Co. |location=Scranton, Pa. |at=33–34 of Section 29:"Condensers" |url=https://archive.org/details/textbookonsteame04inteiala}}</ref> Condensers use relatively cool water, via various means, to condense the steam coming out of the cylinders or turbines. This reduces the [[back pressure]], which in turn reduces the steam consumption, and thus the fuel consumption, while at the same time increasing power and recycling boiler water.<ref name="Croft 1922">{{cite book |editor-last=Croft |editor-first=Terrell |date=1922 |title=Steam-Engine Principles and Practice |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |pages=283–286 |url=https://archive.org/details/steamengineprinc00crofrich}}</ref> However, the condensers require an ample supply of cooling water, without which they are impractical.<ref name="Heck 1911" /><ref name="The Engineer 1906">{{cite journal |last=Watson |first=Egbert P. |date=1906 |title=Power plant and allied industries<!--Title on cover image Google books--> |journal=The Engineer (With Which is Incorporated Steam Engineering) |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=69–72 |publisher=Taylor Publishing Co. |location=Chicago |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cKUiAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> While water usage is not an issue with [[Marine steam engine|marine engines]], it forms a significant limitation for many land-based systems.{{Cn|date=May 2021}}

By the turn of the 20th century, several evaporative methods of recycling cooling water were in use in areas lacking an established water supply, as well as in urban locations where municipal water mains may not be of sufficient supply, reliable in times of high demand, or otherwise adequate to meet cooling needs.<ref name=ICS1902a /><ref name="The Engineer 1906" /> In areas with available land, the systems took the form of [[cooling pond]]s; in areas with limited land, such as in cities, they took the form of cooling towers.<ref name="Heck 1911">{{cite book |last=Heck |first=Robert Culbertson Hays |date=1911 |title=The Steam Engine and Turbine: A Text-Book for Engineering Colleges |publisher=D. Van Nostrand |location=New York |pages=569–570 |url=https://archive.org/details/steamengineturbi00heck}}</ref><ref name="Snow 1908" />

These early towers were positioned either on the rooftops of buildings or as free-standing structures, supplied with air by fans or relying on natural airflow.<ref name="Heck 1911" /><ref name="Snow 1908">{{cite book |last=Snow |first=Walter B. |date=1908 |title=The Steam Engine: A Practical Guide to the Construction, Operation, and care of Steam Engines, Steam Turbines, and Their Accessories |publisher=American School of Correspondence |location=Chicago |pages=43–46 |url=https://archive.org/details/steamenginepract00amerrich}}</ref> An American engineering textbook from 1911 described one design as “a circular or rectangular shell of light plate—in effect, a chimney stack much shortened vertically (20 to 40 ft. high) and very much enlarged laterally. At the top is a set of distributing troughs, to which the water from the condenser must be pumped; from these it trickles down over ‘mats’ made of wooden slats or woven wire screens, which fill the space within the tower.”<ref name="Snow 1908" />

[[File:Staatsmijn Emma Koeltoren III - Brunssum - 20260911 - RCE.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Frederik van Iterson|Van Iterson]] cooling tower, 1918]]
A [[hyperboloid structure|hyperboloid]] cooling tower was patented by the Dutch engineers [[Frederik van Iterson]] and [[Gerard Kuypers]] in the Netherlands on August 16, 1916.<ref>NL/GB Patent No. 108,863: {{cite web |url=http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?KC=A&date=19180411&NR=108863A&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_V3&CC=GB&FT=D |title=GB108863A Improved Construction of Cooling Towers of Reinforced Concrete. |website=Espacenet, Patent search |access-date=2023-12-03}}</ref> The first hyperboloid reinforced concrete cooling towers were built by the [[Staatsmijn Emma|Dutch State Mine (DSM) Emma]] in 1918 in [[Heerlen]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gluckauf.nl/emma/koeltorens-van-de-stm-emma |title=Koeltorens van de Staatsmijn Emma |website=Glück Auf |language=Dutch |access-date=2023-12-03 }}</ref> The first ones in the United Kingdom were built in 1924 at [[Lister Drive power station]] in [[Liverpool]], England.<ref name="PopMech1930">{{cite magazine|title=Power Plant Cooling Tower Like Big Milk Bottle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-IDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA201|magazine=Popular Mechanics|date=February 1930|publisher=Hearst Magazines|page=201|issn=0032-4558}}</ref> On both locations they were built to cool water used at a coal-fired electrical power station.

According to a [https://scholar.google.com.tr/scholar?q=INTEGRATED+INDUSTRIAL+WASTEWATER+REUSE+VIA+THE+MAISOTSENKO+CYCLE+HEAT+RECOVERY+PROCESS Gas Technology Institute (GTI) report], the indirect–dew-point evaporative-cooling Maisotsenko Cycle (M-Cycle) is a theoretically sound method of reducing a working fluid to the ambient fluid’s dew point, which is lower than the ambient fluid’s wet-bulb temperature. The M-cycle utilizes the psychrometric energy (or the potential energy) available from the latent heat of water evaporating into the air. While its current manifestation is as the M-Cycle HMX for air conditioning, through engineering design this cycle could be applied as a heat- and moisture-recovery device for combustion devices, cooling towers, condensers, and other processes involving humid gas streams.

The consumption of cooling water by inland processing and power plants is estimated to reduce power availability for the majority of thermal power plants by 2040–2069.<ref name="van VlietWiberg2016">{{cite journal|last1=van Vliet|first1=Michelle T. H.|last2=Wiberg|first2=David|last3=Leduc|first3=Sylvain|last4=Riahi|first4=Keywan|title=Power-generation system vulnerability and adaptation to changes in climate and water resources|journal=Nature Climate Change|volume=6|issue=4|year=2016|pages=375–380|issn=1758-678X|doi=10.1038/nclimate2903|bibcode=2016NatCC...6..375V}}</ref>

In 2021, researchers presented a method for steam recapture. The steam is charged using an ion beam, and then captured in a wire mesh of opposite charge. The water's purity exceeded [[EPA]] potability standards.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Irving|first=Michael|date=2021-08-04|title=MIT steam collector captures pure water for reuse in power plants|url=https://newatlas.com/environment/steam-collector-water-reuse-power-plants/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-09|website=New Atlas|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804032517/https://newatlas.com/environment/steam-collector-water-reuse-power-plants/ |archive-date=4 August 2021 }}</ref>