Ozone Treatment of Cooling Water: Results of a Full-Scale Performance Evaluation

This paper is the first technical status report of a continuing evaluation of ozone treatment for cooling tower water. Data will be presented that illustrate the results of ozone treatment in a 3400-ton air-conditioning cooling system at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. Heat-transfer data and equipment inspections confirm that a threshold surface temperature exists, below which heat-exchange surfaces remain free of mineral scale. Heat-exchange surfaces that exceed the temperature threshold experience calcium carbonate scaling. The temperature threshold effect may explain why ozone treatment has been reported as a successful treatment for air-conditioning cooling towers but has not been successful in higher temperature process cooling systems. Plans for future ozone investigations will be discussed. 15 refs., 6 figs., 6 tabs.