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Elimination of Single-Pass Water Cooling Systems in Support of the UCOP Sustainability Policy

Elimination of Single-Pass Water Cooling Systems in Support of the UCOP Sustainability Policy

Project Leads: Michael C.Kumpf, Joseph Swabeck, & Lucy Darago

Project Sponsor: College of Chemistry

TGIF Grant: $34,282

Project Theme: Water Conservation

Application Submission

Project Description: Scientific instruments that go to low temperatures generate large amounts of waste heat along the way. Water-cooling is the primary method used to cool such equipment. Water-cooling is often open loop (also called “single pass”), meaning all the cooling water used runs through the system only once, with a continuous supply and drain of water through the system, leading to enormous water waste. In contrast, recirculating water systems, which consist of a water chiller that uses common refrigerants to cool a recirculating, closed water loop, use the same quantity of water over and over again to continuously cool the system. Implementation of such systems will save tens of thousands of gallons of water per month, per recirculating system installed.

Project Goals: 

  1. Implement water recirculating systems to cool scientific equipment in place of “single pass” or open loop systems
  2. Utilize TGIF funding to offset the expense of such systems for research groups
  3. Use these example systems to motivate other research groups, departments, and universities worldwide to switch to recirculating water-cooled systems through outreach efforts.

Final Report

Final Poster 

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