Bore-water Cooling

The Great Artesian Basin. It is the size of a quarter of the Australian continent and has been an important key to the life in Australia. It covers most of Queensland, and parts of the Northern Territory, South Australia, and New South Wales. Without this Artesian Basin, life in the outback as we know it would be very different. Water is trapped underground; it is hot and pressurised. When it is drilled, it comes out at near to boiling temperatures.

Lakeside Cooling Towers has been selected to cool numerous such water supplies to townships and industrial sites around Australia.

Lakeside Cooling Towers’ ability to cool differing water qualities with extreme temperatures has made it a regular supplier to numerous locations around the country, including very remote places such as Thargomindah in Queensland, Dubbo new South Wales, Santos operations in South Australia etc.

Some of the clients & cooling tower uses we’ve provided:

Santos:
Moomba Gas Fields, South Australia

Model: 700DF x 3
Type: Cross flow
Duty: 53°C / 35° / 22°
Application: Flash Evaporator – Moomba Gasfields – S.A.
Material: Steel Frame – 316 stainless lathes
Date of Installation: October 2000

Production:
The Santos raw gas gathering network system in the SA Cooper and Eromanga Basins consists of approximately 440 operating gas wells, feeding into 13 gas satellite facilities, which are connected into the Moomba Processing Plant through 9 separate trunk lines. One of these trunk lines provides gas supply from the Ballera Plant in South-West Queensland to the Moomba Plant.

Water:
Water is essential to Santos operations. Water is required for: Steam generation. Process requirements. Domestic purposes for Cooper Basin Camps. These various users require water of various qualities. Domestic water requires water suitable for human consumption. Steam generation and some process facilities (eg.

‘Benfield’ solution) require water of a far higher quality. Raw water is provided by an above ground pipeline from artesian bores at Gidgealpa, 27 kilometres north-west of the Moomba camp. This water is purified, in accordance to its end use, by various systems including: Reverse Osmosis. Flash Evaporation.

Township water requirements supply.

The bore water temperature is approx. 90ºC and needs to be cooled to around 25 ºC. The system used in Thurgomindah is specific for the town’s existing conditions.

These were a 3-pond arrangement that included a first “make-up” pond into which the hot bore water was delivered, The two other ponds had a copper piping that was set in a “series” arrangement heat exchanger in each pond which was designed to be cooled by natural convection and deliver the cooled water circulated through the pipes to the township.

The resultant performance was poor, and water was normally delivered to the township at around 45ºC. The town’s engineer approached Lakeside Cooling Towers for a solution to the town’s problem and resolved it.

Lakeside designed and undertook the following:

1. Pond water agitation and complete circulation of the total ponds’ water contents.
2. Supply and installation of a single cooling tower associated pumps and piping to each pond to cool the required water flow rate as per the township requirement of 41 litres per second to 25 ºC.
3. Provide a fully automated and remote monitoring of the system performance via the internet.

Monitoring was for the following:
a). Water flows and temperatures of inlet to the ponds’ heat exchangers and out to the township. And alarms.
b). Water flows and temperatures into the cooling towers and out of the cooling towers.
c). Monitoring of pumps and motors and alarms.
d). Thermostatic controls to cut out unnecessary tower motor fans’ operation and ponds’ circulating pumps circulating and alarms for each individual mechanical unit.
e). Water level control and sensor of the “make up” pond with alarm.

Benefits gained:

1. Water cooled to 25 ºC or less.
2. Water consumption monitoring.
3. Energy consumption monitoring.
4. Remote system monitoring option for future distance performance alteration.
5. Removal of the potentially dangerous blue algae build up due to water stagnation.

Dubbo is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 38,392 at June 2018. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Golden highways. The nearest city, Orange, is about 144 km away.

Area: 182.6 km²
Elevation: 275 m
Weather: 16 °C, Wind E at 21 km/h, 66% Humidity
Postal code: 2830
Population: 38,392 (2018) (37)
Location: 392 km (244 mi) NW of Sydney; 308 km (191 mi) SW of Tamworth

Council owns and operates its own water supply system and sources its potable water supply from the Macquarie River (typically 70%) and a total of 7 bores within the South Dubbo borefield (typically 30%). The water from both sources is treated at the John Gilbert Water Treatment Plant in Macquarie Street (south) before being pumped to service reservoirs throughout the urban area of Dubbo and villages.

Lakeside Cooling Towers have provided cooling to the bore water from 38.5°c to28.5°c.