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Seeking Portable Solution for Rapidly Cooling 10 Tons of Water from 100°C to 30°C for Transport

Maral

I'm working on a water treatment project where we need to transport 10 tons of water from the production site to a treatment plant. The challenge is that the water exits the production process at 100°C, and this high temperature risks damaging the pump system on our transport truck, leading to operational issues. I'm looking for a portable and efficient solution that can rapidly cool this large volume of water from 100°C down to 30°C before it enters the truck’s system. The cooling mechanism needs to be compact enough to fit within the truck's infrastructure and must be compatible with the truck and tunnel system materials to prevent rust and corrosion. Has anyone dealt with a similar challenge? What technologies, materials, or approaches would you recommend to achieve this rapid cooling? Any insights on energy requirements or practical considerations would also be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help! 

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  • 0

      Portable and inexpensive... two options.  #1 big radiator.  Source second-hand from someone that blew up their large generator engine.  Not common but not unobtainable either.  Challenge is this requires real power.  This radiator would require a fan with motor and a shroud to direct the air through the radiator but creates efficient heat transfer.  It will be above the $5,000 budget but it is an option.  I think option #2 will be better.
    image

    #2 Similar to ground thawing equipment.  Instead of pumping the water directly into the bladder, run it through a long series of hose/pipes.  This creates a heat exchanger that will surrender the almost 100 degree heat to the surrounding air.  It's all about surface area.  Two things that will drastically improve the heat transfer is raise the hose/piping off the ground and shade the hose/pipe.  This technique will also work on any stored water waiting for the next transfer truck.  Install a circulating pump that can handle the heat (similar to the process pump) and just keep running the stored water through the heat exchanger - shedding BTU's.

    Because natural heat transfer is largely driven by ΔT, I recommend option #2 no matter what.  Any heat you can dump to ambient air is that much less you have to deal with.  Yes, shading is THAT important but... you are in the Gobi.  You already know that. Relaxed

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  • 0

      Portable and inexpensive... two options.  #1 big radiator.  Source second-hand from someone that blew up their large generator engine.  Not common but not unobtainable either.  Challenge is this requires real power.  This radiator would require a fan with motor and a shroud to direct the air through the radiator but creates efficient heat transfer.  It will be above the $5,000 budget but it is an option.  I think option #2 will be better.
    image

    #2 Similar to ground thawing equipment.  Instead of pumping the water directly into the bladder, run it through a long series of hose/pipes.  This creates a heat exchanger that will surrender the almost 100 degree heat to the surrounding air.  It's all about surface area.  Two things that will drastically improve the heat transfer is raise the hose/piping off the ground and shade the hose/pipe.  This technique will also work on any stored water waiting for the next transfer truck.  Install a circulating pump that can handle the heat (similar to the process pump) and just keep running the stored water through the heat exchanger - shedding BTU's.

    Because natural heat transfer is largely driven by ΔT, I recommend option #2 no matter what.  Any heat you can dump to ambient air is that much less you have to deal with.  Yes, shading is THAT important but... you are in the Gobi.  You already know that. Relaxed

Children
  • 0 in reply to kmikemoo

    Second your suggestion. Was thinking the same thing (#2). Using long pipes/hoses to allow for delta T drop to be conducted across the pipe/hose surface. You could do something fancy like a double layered pipe to allow for more energy transfer via conduction/convection.

  • 0 in reply to BigG

    Remember the OP wants a truck mounted portable solution - a radiator on a truck seems barely feasible  - the fan could possibly be directly engine powered but laying out hosepipes in the desert might be a bit time consuming.

    And to cool the water by 50C in one hour will take 50 * 4.2 * 1E7 / 3600 = 580kW of cooling power.

    I think that would be  a lot of hosepipe.

    Interestingly what might work better (although it isn't what was asked for)  would be to install a permanent cooling system. Suppose we got rid of that heat in a week not an hour, now its only 3.45kW  - I'm thinking of a horizontal radiator, screened from the sun by a shack with no walls and a shiny roof, natural convection to generate the airflow. Might be able to use convection in the water to make it circulate as well.

    But I don't know how many tanks they need to do.

    MK

  • 0 in reply to michaelkellett
    michaelkellett said:
    I think that would be  a lot of hosepipe.

    I guess that you could fit quite a lot of fold-flat hosepipe on a wind-up reel on a truck though ?

    image

    michaelkellett said:
    laying out hosepipes in the desert might be a bit time consuming

    A motorised drum might speed it up a bit. Just need to anchor the far end of the hoses and then drive the truck down the road unreeling the hoses as you go. When done, reverse the truck up the road reeling in the hose as you go.  

    Shading and raising it off the ground might be more of a challenge though.

  • 0 in reply to michaelkellett

    That's a good point. One of natures best cooling mechanisms is evaporation. If there was a way to move air over a damp surface you can naturally cool thing. I suppose this comes back to the radiator as a possible solution, even if barely feasible. Needs lots of moving air to start.