Although the purpose of a Drift Eliminators is to reduce the escape of water droplets entrained in the air discharge, it is necessary to understand why this is important.
Their foremost purpose is to protect people and the local environment from escaping aerosols and water droplets from a cooling tower or evaporative condenser but this is not the only benefit of drift eliminators.
In the most serious case, if the water treatment regime has failed, then the drift eliminator provides the last line of defence in preventing the dispersion of harmful legionella bacteria often found in water cooling systems. Legionaires disease can be contracted by inhaling legionella bacteria contained in the aerosol discharge from the cooling tower.
By returning water droplets to the cooling tower, the drift eliminators aid in the conservation of water in the cooling system and the efficiency of a drift eliminator has a significant part to play in the water savings possible therefore it’s important to understand what the quoted efficiency refers to and the relative impact this has on water savings.