A New Air Compressor Cooling System for the Pinellas County Resource Recovery Facility

Due to serious deterioration of aluminum fins on two dry coolers only 6 years after initial installation, the potential to disrupt operation of the 3,000 tons per day (tpd) Pinellas County Resource Recovery Facility was a real concern. A new system upgrade was required to provide reliable cooling of the glycol liquid system. This system dissipates the heat rejection requirements of the process and instrument air compressors, particularly critical during Florida’s hot summer months. A second issue was the need to provide redundancy, which was not designed into the original installation. The selected system included two plate and frame coolers along with two pumps located next to the existing cooling tower (C.T.) basin. Water from the C.T. basin is pumped through one plate and frame cooler, reducing the temperature of the glycol liquid. The water then flows back to the C.T. basin. The construction work, completed in August 2003, provides in excess of 200% redundancy and has been in successful operation since that date.