July, 2024

AS Cooling Elevates Efficiency at JSW Steel’s Vijayanagar Plant

Overview

Located in Vijayanagar, Karnataka, JSW Steel is a leading steel manufacturing company in India. It boasts the largest single-location steel-producing facility in the country, with an impressive capacity of 12 million tons per annum (MTPA). The state-of-the-art facility produces high-value special steel products, which are extensively utilised across a diverse range of industries including construction, infrastructure, automobiles, electrical applications, and appliances.

Client Requirement

JSW Steel contracted AS Cooling for a critical refurbishment and upgrade project for two of its four 300MW cooling towers at the Captive Power Plant (CPP). The project involved refurbishment of the Unit 3 cooling tower, which consists of 12 cells, and four cells in Unit 4. The primary objective was to replace existing fills and sprayers with high-performance, low-fouling potential alternatives. AS Cooling proposed a combination of low-fouling trickle grid fills and high thermal performance cross flute fills, combined with highly efficient sprayer designs.

Our Solution

As part of the integrated steel plant, the cooling fills at the CPP were persistently clogged with fine dust from the steel mills, causing a significant loss of thermal efficiency in the cooling towers. AS Cooling’s solution involved the following steps:

1. Removal of Existing Fouled Fill Packs: The existing fouled fill packs were removed to make way for new, more efficient solutions.
2. Installation of Low Clogging Trickle Fills and High Performance Cross Flute Fills: The cooling towers were equipped with a combination of low clogging trickle fills and high-performance cross flute fills. This strategic combination was designed to enhance thermal performance while minimising clogging.
3. Sprayer Replacement: The existing sprayers did not offer uniform water distribution which caused dry spots in the cooling tower. The new sprayer design promotes uniform water distribution with an overlapping spray pattern, resulting in higher spray zone cooling.
4. Performance Improvement: The refurbishment reduced the cold water temperature by 1.6°C, drastically improving both the cooling tower performance and the overall efficiency of the power plant.
5. Addressing Fouling Issues: By using low clog trickle fills as the bottom layer, AS Cooling effectively reduced the potential for future fouling, ensuring long-term efficiency.

Achievements

This project marked a first-of-its-kind successful fill replacement job in India. Providing two different fill types is very uncommon in India. Different types of film fill combinations have been used in the past, but having a trickle grid combined with a film fill is unprecedented in India. The refurbishment was completed in just eight months and delivered significant improvements in cooling tower performance and power plant efficiency.

Conclusion

AS Cooling’s innovative approach and effective solutions have significantly enhanced the operational efficiency of JSW Steel’s Vijayanagar plant. The successful completion of this refurbishment project underscores AS Cooling’s expertise in delivering high-performance, low-fouling potential solutions for cooling towers. Through this achievement, AS Cooling has reinforced its position as a leader in cooling tower refurbishment, helping JSW Steel maintain its status as a leading steel manufacturer in India.