Drift particles are a byproduct of combustion, meaning they are produced when you burn fuels like wood or fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. If there is no drift eliminator in a cooling tower, it generates a high amount of drift particles.  These particles are so small that they can penetrate deeply into your lungs and are a particular concern for people near the tower. Additionally, the substances in cooling tower drift might cause equipment to corrode. This is why cooling tower drift eliminators exist.

What is Drift?

Drift is an important aspect of cooling tower operation. It’s essentially the amount of water or air that passes through the cooling tower that is not actually evaporated or cooled by the water flow. Drift is undesirable since it makes the cooling tower lose its ability to cool down the water and makes it harder for the air or water to be cooled in the tower, because it is not actually flowing through the tower.

Modern Drift Eliminators

Cooling towers are essential for many industries, especially power plants and water treatment facilities. While they help keep down energy costs by maintaining a consistent temperature, they emit toxic chemical compounds into the atmosphere on a regular basis. This is why modern drift eliminators are now mandatory in many municipalities. A drift eliminator is a device that prevents the flow of toxic chemical compounds from cooling towers into the atmosphere. It does this by collecting the toxins and then cleaning and recycling them. The modern cooling tower drift eliminators are made of a series of tubes that are filled with different chemicals, the most important of which are ascorbic acid and ferric chloride.

Surfactants and Drift Rate

Surfactants have a negative effect on cooling towers since they reduce surface tension, resulting in an increase of smaller droplets. For drift eliminators to work more effectively, the water droplets need to be larger in size. Among some of the surfactants present in cooling towers are bio-dispersants and scale inhibitors. If drift becomes a large issue for a cooling tower, it is likely because there are many surfactants present. The best way to solve this problem is by working with experts in the clear air technology industry.

To learn more about cooling tower drift eliminators, check out Kimre—the top producer of clear air products.