PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR SAFE OPERATION OF COOLING-TOWER WATER OZONATION SYSTEMS

Guidelines for the successful use of ozone as a stand-alone cooling tower water treatment method are discussed. Included are recommendations for system sizing, proper ozone residuals, mixing and distribution of the ozonated water, and potential problems and solutions. These include excessive or insufficient cycles of concentration, chemical contamination, low flow rates, high heat exchanger temperatures, and extended system turnover times. Also discussed are recommended maximum system downtimes, preferred types of towers and heat exchangers to treat with ozone, use of filtration systems, and elastomer compatibility with ozone. System monitoring and maintenance procedures are discussed along with ozonation safety considerations. With this information, two recently reported ozonation system failures are analyzed and the causes of failure are discussed.