What are cooling towers primarily used for?

Cooling towers are primarily used to remove process waste heat from industrial and commercial processes, including HVAC systems. This mechanism is crucial for maintaining optimal operating temperatures in machinery and systems, which helps improve efficiency and prolong the life of equipment.

In a cooling tower, water absorbs heat from the process it is cooling. As the water circulates through the tower, it is exposed to air, which causes evaporation. This evaporation removes heat from the water, thus cooling it before it is recirculated to absorb more heat from the process. This ability to dissipate significant amounts of heat makes cooling towers essential in various applications, such as power generation and chemical processing.

While the other options might involve processes that require cooling, they do not accurately capture the primary function of a cooling tower. For instance, while cooling towers can indirectly impact the efficiency of systems that generate electricity or cool refrigerants, their main purpose is the removal of waste heat. Likewise, storing water is not a function of cooling towers; they do hold water as part of the cooling process, but that is not their primary purpose.