The fate of chlorine in recirculating cooling towers Field results

Chlorine and chloramines are volatile compounds which are stripped (“flashed off”) from recirculating cooling water systems by the large volumes of air which flow through the water in the cooling tower. The fraction of a volatile gas, such as hypochlorous acid (HOCl), which is removed by stripping is determined by Henry's constant H for that gas: H = X_G/X_L, where X_G is the mole fraction of the gas in the air and X_L is the mole fraction of the gas in the water. We have measured H for HOCl, OCl⁻, NH₃, NH₂Cl, NHCl₂ and NCl₃ at 20 and 40°C. We found H = 0.076 for HOCl, compared to 0.71 for NH₃, at 20°C. At 40°C, H was about 2.5-fold larger for HOCl. This means that 10–15% of the HOCl is stripped from cooling water on each passage through a typical cooling tower. The measured flashoff of free available chlorine (HOCl + OCl⁻) was markedly pH-sensitive with a pK of 7.5, exactly as expected if HOCl is volatile but OCl⁻ is not. The data permit a quantitative understanding of the fate of chlorine in cooling systems. The values of H at 40°C for NH₂Cl, NHCl₂ and NCl₃ were 1.28, 3.76 and 1067. This means that all of the chloramines are quickly stripped in a cooling tower.