Estimation of Air Handling Units Condensate Recovery in the Medical Campus Buildings at University of Alabama at Birmingham

摘要

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (U.S. Drought Mitigation Center December 13, 2011), themajority of the Southeastern states are classified as being in a state of "moderate", "severe", "extreme",and or "exceptional" drought. Due to the prevailing drought conditions in the southeastern U.S., it isnecessary to conserve water resources by using them as efficiently and responsibly as possible. Theincreasing population, socioeconomic developments, and industrialization will have significant impactson the way we consume water today. There will be an imbalance in the water supply and demand if wateris not used more efficiently. Water and energy are interdependent and hence it is necessary that buildingoperators and industry leaders realize that water conservation is as important as energy conservation.Building operators of many industrial and commercial buildings prefer energy conservation as a prioritydue to the high savings in electricity bill, water conservation is often considered as an afterthought.However, as far as power generation is concerned, both energy and water are interdependent; water isused for power generation and energy is used in harvesting water. There is a need to grow waterconservation awareness, and a need for more research to develop effective water conservation techniquesthat are unique to the local conditions of the area.Air Handling Units (AHUs) are most commonly used for space conditioning in commercial,industrial, and institutional buildings and take advantage of large amounts of chilled water internally forcooling their coils as warmer air is forced across them. During the hot summer months, a large quantity ofwater is condensed when hot air passes through the cooling coils. In the past, condensate formed duringthis process was dumped into storm drains resulting in discarding large quantities of usable water. TheEnergy Management Division (EMD) of the Facilities Management Department at University of Alabama(UAB) has taken the initiative to collect this water and reduce the make-up water requirement of theirthree major centralized cooling plants on campus. EMD is currently conducting a pilot study in fivecampus buildings to investigate the performance of the condensate recovery system.