Water is removed from the air stream leaving a cooling tower by using which device?

• A. Fill or Packing
• B. Desiccant
• C. Cyclone Separators
• D. Drift Eliminators

Answer: (D)

Drift eliminators remove entrained water droplets from the air exiting a cooling tower. As spray cools the water, tiny droplets can ride along with the exhaust air. Drift eliminators present surfaces that cause those droplets to coalesce and drain back into the tower, reducing water loss and plume. They’re placed at the tower outlet and are built to withstand humid, corrosive conditions, often from durable plastics.

Other options serve different roles: fill or packing increases internal contact between air and water for cooling rather than removing exiting droplets; desiccants dry air but aren’t used to strip moisture from cooling tower plumes; cyclone separators use centrifugal force to knock droplets out of gas streams but aren’t specifically optimized for the fine droplets typically targetted by drift eliminators.