Koch Hydrocarbon Co.

Each year, more new and good uses are found for tilt-up. Two projects from 1995 illustrate one new use.

Tower Tech, Inc. of Chickasha, Oklahoma, working in conjunction with Tilt-Up Concrete, Inc. of Lincoln, Nebraska, has begun to construct industrial water cooling towers out of tilt-Up concrete. Two projects were completed for the Koch Hydrocarbon Company of Hutchinson, Kansas, an 8,500 square foot facility in Hutchinson and a 4,000 square foot facility at the Frac Plan expansion, also in Hutchinson.

Tower Tech and Tilt-Up Concrete, Inc. have been collaborating for over a year to develop, design and engineer plans for concrete cooling tower structures. Many cooling towers have been constructed of either wood or fiberglass. Although concrete is usually preferable to either wood or fiberglass, cast-in-place concrete techniques required a very long, labor intensive effort that increased the cost of concrete towers 20-45% over the alternatives.

Using tilt-up to build these towers, however, allows them to be constructed of long-lasting concrete at a price that is competitive with wood. No one can argue with tilt-up’s speed of construction: these sizable towers were designed, cast and erected in three weeks. Tower Tech has several patents and patents pending for this construction technique.

Tilt-Up Concrete, Inc., reports a great deal of interest in tilt-up cooling towers from firms all over the world.  Several more towers are under contract.