Cambridge EnTech has designed and manufactured eight pairs of traveling water screens recently installed in new cooling tower systems for El Dorado Chemical. The rotating water screens are part of a refurbished production line for ammonium nitrate and sulphuric acid manufactured at the company’s El Dorado, Arkansas plant.
Eight metal mesh screen pairs – four per cooling tower – filter water and block debris that can back up pumps and heat exchangers that transport water during the cooling process. Each screen pair covers a 13-foot wide opening and is capable of filtering more than 20,000 gallons of water per minute. The screens rotate and force debris into a catch basin that is emptied periodically by plant personnel.
Critical to reducing the heat build-up produced during chemical manufacturing, each cooling tower sits over an eight-foot-deep, football field-sized pond. Water is pumped into the tower during production and then returned to the cooling pond.
Cambridge worked with the Oklahoma City office of Leidos throughout design and installation to develop a customized solution for the El Dorado project.
“From the onset, we knew the size of the screens presented both logistical and financial challenges, so we developed a solution that paired two six-foot screens per opening to significantly reduce shipping and handling expenses,” said, Larry Windsor, Cambridge Executive Director of Sales and Business Development. “Each pair was then coupled so only one motor and gearbox was required, which provided additional equipment and electrical installation savings.”
The size and efficiency solutions developed by the engineering teams at Cambridge and Leidos resulted in more than $200,000 in cost savings, according to Windsor.
