Datteln 4 - Kraftwerk Datteln

Cooling tower
13 Condenser
14 Dortmund-Ems Canal
15 Cooling water purifi cation
16 Cooling water pump
17 Cooling tower
As an inland location, Datteln 4 exhibits a very
high degree of effi ciency. Over 45 percent of the
energy in the coal is converted into electrical
energy – this is high-performance technology.
Water cools the steam
Once the steam has gone through all the turbine
stages, it turns back into water in the condenser
(13) and begins its journey through the boiler
again. This concludes the water-steam cycle. Only
the water that evaporates out of the cool ing
tower is removed from the Dortmund-Ems Canal
(14). After heating in the condenser, the cooling
water ends up in the natural draft cooling tower
(17). This performs two functions: First, the cooling
water transfers its heat to the air stream ing in
from the bottom. Second, the cooling tower captures
the purifi ed fl ue gases. This makes a second
fl ue unnecessary.
The cooling tower’s height of nearly 180 meters
is needed in order to reach the desired plant effi -
ciency of over 45 %. If we used smaller ventilator
cooling towers, the plant effi ciency would diminish
as a function of increased station supply, and
fuel consumption and CO 2 emissions would rise.
This means that an optimal cooling tower height
also contributes to climate protection.