Cooling Water Study

EPCON develops a detailed hydraulic model of a cooling water system with plant flow and pressure data to determine the root causes of low velocities in key heat exchanger tube bundles. The hydraulic models identify the most cost effective solution that is carried through the FEED, detailed design, procurement and construction management phases. EPCON’s technology based approach combined with our high level of experience enables us to determine the lowest cost piping and pump modifications to restore full design velocities to all key exchangers in the system. This results in significant improvements in plant performance.

Efficient plant performance is crucial to smooth operation, so if you want to maximize your results, turn to EPCON. We provide a cooling water study that will analyze cooling water needs for projects and processes and offer detailed, cost-effective solutions.

How We Help

Our cooling water system software looks at every aspect of your water system’s performance to identify areas that need improvement. With our cooling water software we can analyze:

• Pump performance: Our system identifies poorly performing pumps, based on both design and external factors.
• System capacity: You don’t want to push your plant past its limit. With our cooling water study software, we can tell you exactly what the theoretical capacity is for your cooling water system so you can manage your use accordingly.
• Buildup: If your exchanger or pipes become blocked, the entire performance of the plant could be in jeopardy. Our cooling water system simulation software can identify buildup and plugging and present effective solutions.
• Low-flow exchangers: We want your equipment to last as long as possible, so we look for lowflow exchangers that could shorten your exchangers’ lives.
• Future modifications: Not only do we look at your current processes and performance but also we look to the future to give you ideas on how to best modify your plant to get the best results.

When you have a performance problem in your plant or want to increase efficiency, we can help you find inefficiencies and provide effective and affordable solutions.

Who We Are

We can improve the function of a variety of refinery units, such as vacuum units, reformers, cokers, and alkylation units. With our cooling water system modeling, we can find the most efficient ways to run your systems to improve performance.

If you want to try our services for yourself, contact us to ask about our cooling water hydraulic model.

Benefits of a Cooling Water Study:

• Quantify pump performance versus design to identify poorly performing pumps
• Establish maximum theoretical system capacity and limits by design
• Provide a basis for comparison of improvement options and future operations
• Identify exchanger and pipe plugging
• Determine the optimal number of operating pumps
• Reduce pump electricity usage by optimizing equipment usage

How a Cooling Water Hydraulic Model Improves Plant Performance:

• Analyze cooling water needs for major projects, often resulting in completed preliminary design
• Re-distribute cooling water flow to key units
• Identify optimal future piping modifications
• Improve exchanger life by identifying low flow exchangers and the root cause
• Balance flows by reducing identified system build-ups, reconfiguring piping, and restoring identified pump degradation
• Ensure Cooling Tower can meet hydraulic & thermal loads

Example refinery units that benefit:

• Vacuum Units – pressure limited by cooling water flow
• Reformers – purer hydrogen recycle and lower MW means less work for compressor
• Alkylation units – helps produce higher octane
• Coker – better cooling keeps pressure down and improves coke yield
• Hydrocracker – pressure limited by cooling water flow
• HDS – pressure limited by cooling water flow