Client: A key national-level oil refining and natural gas chemical plant in Iraq

Country: Iraq

Equipment Model: Closed-Circuit Cooling Tower

Media: Process Circulating Pure Water

Quantity: 4 units

Project Description

This project provided closed-circuit cooling towers for a core petrochemical project in Iraq's Middle East, meeting the continuous cooling requirements of large reactors and heavy oil heat exchange systems. 

Addressing the harsh operating conditions of the Middle Eastern desert region, characterized by extreme summer temperatures, strong ultraviolet radiation, frequent sandstorms, and severe water scarcity, the project employed fully enclosed circulating heat exchange technology and a robust wind and sand protection design, achieving high-precision temperature control and extreme water conservation, ensuring the safe and stable production of the energy production line.

Recommended Standardized Case Study: Integrated Delivery of Closed-Circuit Cooling Towers with High Weather Resistance in Extreme Desert Environments of the Middle East

Situation

Iraq is located in the heart of the Middle East, with a typical continental subtropical desert climate. Summers are long and extremely hot, with daytime temperatures often exceeding 50 degrees Celsius, accompanied by strong ultraviolet radiation and frequent sandstorms. As the country's economic lifeline, petrochemical companies generate massive amounts of heat during their refining and chemical reaction processes, placing near-stringent demands on the heat dissipation efficiency and temperature control precision of the cooling system. Due to the extremely precise piping of the core petrochemical heat exchangers, using traditional open-circuit cooling towers would result in strong desert winds quickly mixing with the water, causing scaling, wear, and even blockages and bursts in the pipes. Simultaneously, the high cost of industrial water in the region and the significant evaporation losses of traditional systems place heavy environmental and financial pressure on the companies.

Task

The core task of this project is to construct a 100% pollution-free, highly redundant, and extremely water-efficient central cooling system in the extreme heat waves and sandstorms of the Middle East, exceeding 50 degrees Celsius.

Challenging Temperature Limits Above 50 Degrees Celsius: The system must ensure that four units operating in parallel can continuously reduce the high-heat-load petrochemical process water to the target temperature under extremely narrow heat transfer temperature differences.

Absolute Protection Against Sandstorms and UV Radiation: The equipment needs to be exposed to the desert environment for extended periods. External sand and dust must be prevented from entering the process water circuits, and mechanical and electrical components must possess top-tier sun protection and anti-aging capabilities.

Extreme Water Conservation and High Availability: Significantly reduce drift and unnecessary evaporation, ensuring the system's reliability for 24/7 continuous high-intensity operation under water-constrained conditions.

Standardized Action

Shandong Kaisen Heat Transfer Solutions' expert team, after multiple rounds of Middle Eastern meteorological data simulation, tailored a comprehensive integrated solution for closed-circuit cooling towers (mixed-flow structure):

• Advanced Mixed-Flow Heat Exchange Technology: Utilizing the KCH mixed-flow (composite flow) design, water is sprayed downwards from the top, while air is blown in horizontally from the sides, with both converging on the coil surface. This design significantly increases the contact time between air and water. Combined with the closed-circuit flow of pure process water within the pipes, it still delivers powerful heat dissipation efficiency even in extreme heat exceeding 50 degrees Celsius.

• Customized Desert-Grade Sand and Dust Protection and Sunshade: The air inlet is specially equipped with heavy-duty multi-directional sand-proof louvers, along with a quick-opening sewage discharge and filtration system at the bottom of the water collection tank, effectively blocking sand and dust from entering the heat exchange area. The outer casing is made of extra-thick galvanized steel or stainless steel, with an outer layer of UV-resistant, heavy-duty anti-corrosion coating that can withstand long-term exposure to strong sunlight without peeling.

• High-efficiency water blocking and precise water replenishment intelligent system: A high-density environmentally friendly PVC water collector is installed at the top of the tower, reducing the drift rate to an incredible limit and greatly minimizing unnecessary water dispersion in the air. Combined with an intelligent water level control valve and a dual-circuit backup water replenishment system, it ensures the rational and efficient use of water resources.

• International petrochemical standard safety configuration: All supporting motors and water pumps are upgraded to high protection and high insulation levels. Key electrical control boxes adopt a double-layer heat-insulating and explosion-proof design. For the complex processes of cross-border sea-land transport, the equipment adopts standardized modular disassembly packaging, and provides on-site digital installation guidance in English and full life-cycle operation and maintenance training.

Key Achievements

Closed-circuit cooling towers were successfully put into operation at the Iraq petrochemical project site on the first attempt, demonstrating outstanding operational performance:

• Successfully overcoming the Middle East heatwave: In extreme tests exceeding 50 degrees Celsius for several days in summer, the closed-circuit cooling system maintained precise and stable temperature control, fully meeting heat exchange efficiency standards, ensuring that the petrochemical production line never experienced production reduction or shutdown due to overheating.

• Zero pollution and zero scaling in the production system: Thanks to its perfectly closed-loop dual-circulation design, the water quality in the core heat exchanger of the petrochemical reactor remains consistently high in purity, reducing pipe scaling and dust accumulation to zero, and extending the lifespan of core equipment by more than 5 years.

• Excellent resource savings: Compared to open cooling equipment in similar projects, this system reduces overall water replenishment by more than 25%, alleviating the plant's water quota pressure and saving the client considerable electricity costs through intelligent variable frequency fan regulation, earning unanimous praise from the Iraqi owner and multinational EPC contractor.

SMART Metrics

Heavy-duty closed-circuit cooling towers are operating at high standards in Iraq.

Successfully challenged the extreme dry-bulb temperature in the Middle East: continuous and stable heat dissipation exceeding 50 degrees Celsius.

Petrochemical precision heat exchange pipeline scaling failure rate: 0%.

Comprehensive water saving rate compared to traditional heat exchange methods: greater than 25%.

Comprehensive operational safety and lifespan of the reactor system: significantly improved.

Reusability Takeaways

Mixed-flow (composite-flow) closed-circuit heat exchange technology: possesses extremely high promotion and application value in regions with extremely hot summers, dry air, and small heat transfer temperature differences (such as the Middle East and North Africa).

Extreme desert environment weather resistance and sand-resistant design: Developed a standardized configuration solution for harsh outdoor climates, including high-density sand-proof louvers, UV-resistant special coatings, and explosion-proof and sun-proof electrical controls.

Compliance with international petrochemical standards: We have accumulated mature engineering management experience in dealing with the stringent security access standards in the Middle East, cross-border land and sea multimodal transport, and rapid assembly in complex on-site environments.