Scrubbers – in Air Pollution Control

Technology
Authors: Dr. Fizza Zahid &
Engr. Azka Tauseef
Scrubbing
 Process of absorbing one or more components from a gaseous stream into an absorbent.
 “Scrubbing = Absorption”
 Industrial scrubbers are pollution filtration systems that utilize solids in “dry scrubbers” or other
liquids in “wet scrubbers”.
 Scrubbers are mainly used for treating flue gases- acid gases, particulate matter, heavy metals,
organics and odors.
 System might be arranged in one or two scrubbers in series (Multi-stage scrubbing process)
 Most scrubbers have removal efficiencies greater than 90 % (pollutant load).

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Wet scrubbers
 Devices that use a liquid for removing particles or polluted gases from
an exhaust gas stream.
 Water sprays can be injected into the gas stream; gas can be forced to
pass through sheets or films of liquid; or, the gas can move through
beds of plastic spheres covered with liquid
 Remove particulate matter
 Can remove HCl or SO2

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 Wet Scrubbers

 Wet collectors are designed to incorporate small dust particles into

larger water droplets.
 Droplets ranging from 50 to 500 mm in diameter are produced and
brought into contact with the particulate matter.
 These larger droplets containing the captured particles are then
collected by simple mechanisms such as gravity, impaction on
baffles, or by cyclonic action.
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WET SCRUBBERS

 Most wet collectors can

be represented as
having two zones: a
contact zone (particle
capture) and a
separation zone (droplet https://youtu.be/0Qv92ygQkUo?feature=shared
capture)

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Factors controlling efficiency
 The driving force of the absorption process is related to the
 amount of soluble gas in the gas stream,
 and the concentration of the solute gas in the liquid film in contact with the
gas.
 When water is used as the absorbing material, other chemicals may be present to
react with the pollutant being absorbed to reduce the concentration.

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Design criteria
 Use a liquid for absorption that offers a high solubility of the pollutant in the gas stream being treated,
 Maximize gas-liquid contact surfaces.
 When the two conditions are met, the pollutant will readily diffuse out of the gas phase and be absorbed
into the liquid phase.
 Additionally, absorption (mass transfer) from gas into liquid (or vice versa) is dependent on the physical
properties of the gas–liquid matrix (e.g., diffusivity, viscosity, density) as well as the conditions of the
scrubber system (e.g., temperature, pressure, gas and liquid mass flow rates).
 Absorption of a pollutant is enhanced by lower temperatures, greater liquid–gas contact surfaces, higher
liquid–gas ratios, and higher concentration of the pollutant in the gas phase (or, alternately, lower
concentration of the pollutant in the liquid phase)

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 Particulate Collection Mechanism
1. Impaction
 When a gas stream flows around a small liquid droplet, the inertia of the particles causes them to continue to
move toward the object, and particles will be collected by the liquid. Inertial impaction customarily describes
the effects of small-scale changes in flow direction.

2. Diffusion (Brownian motion)

 When particles are small enough (,1.0mm), they are “thrashed” about by gas molecules, such that they act
similarly to gas molecules. They “diffuse” randomly through the gas. As these small fines are diffusing
randomly through the gas, the probability of contact with a liquid droplet increases. This phenomenon
explains why the collection efficiency rises for extremely small particle diameters.

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Wet Scrubbing Systems

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Wet Scrubber Systems

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 Venturi Scrubber

 The Venturi principle states that as gas enters a narrow constriction (the
Venturi), the velocity of the gas increases.
 At this point of constriction, the absorbent liquor (scrubbant) is introduced.
The high-velocity gas forces the liquor to atomize into small droplets, which
offer a large total surface area of liquor into which the PM absorbs.
 After passing through the Venturi, the gas returns to near original velocity.
At this lower velocity, the scrubbing liquor agglomerates back into the bulk
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liquid phase, containing the PM.

 Venturi Scrubber

 In a typical Venturi scrubber, liquid, normally water, is introduced upstream of the Venturi or
throat. As the water flows down the convergent sides of the throat, the sudden acceleration of
gas velocity in the throat atomizes the water.
 As soon as the water is atomized, it collects particles by impaction of the particles on the water
droplets. This impaction process is possible as the result of the difference in velocities between
gas (high) and the water droplets (slow). As the gas–water droplet mixture passes out of the
throat, the velocities of both gas and water droplets decelerate.
 At this point, further impaction causes the water droplets to reform into the bulk liquid phase.
Particles that were captured by water droplets in the throat will remain in the bulk liquid phase.
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The water is then sent to a separator, where it is separated from the clean gas stream
Venturi Scrubber

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General design considerations
 The solubility of the pollutant in the chosen liquid,
 Pollutant concentration in the airstream being treated,
 Temperature and pressure of the system,
 Flow rates of the gas and liquid streams,
 Gas-liquid contact surface area,
 Stripping efficiency of the liquor and recycling gases
 https://www.epa.gov/air-emissions-monitoring-knowledge-base/monitoring-control-technique-
wet-scrubber-gaseous-control

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 Design Equations

 Efficiency (fraction of particles collected in scrubber)

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 Design Equations

 Intertial Impaction Factor

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 Design Equations

 Cunningham Correction Factor

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 Design Equations

 Mean Droplet Diameter (do)

Where

do= µm

vt = ft/s

R = gal/1000 acf 18
 Design Equations

 Pressure Drop ∆P

Where

∆P= in H2O

vt = ft/s

R = gal/1000 acf 19
 Problem
 A venturi scrubber is being designed to remove particulates from a gas stream. The maximum gas
flowrate of 30,000 acfm has a loading of 4.8 gr/ft3. The average particle size is 1.2 µm and the
particle density is 200 lb/ft3. Neglect the Cunningham correction factor. The Johnstone coefficient k
for this system is 0.15. The proposed water flow rate is 180 gal/min and the gas velocity is 250 ft/s.
Assume gas viscosity 1.23x10^-5 lb/ft.s

(a) What is the efficiency of the proposed system?

(b) What would the efficiency be if the gas velocity were increased to 300 ft/s?

(c) Determine the pressure drop for both gas velocities.

(d) Determine the daily mass of dust collected and discharged for each gas velocity.
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(e) What is the discharge loading in each case?

 Example Problem
 A consulting firm has been requested to calculate the throat area of a venturi scrubber to operate at a specified
collection efficiency. Pertinent data are given below.
 Volumetric flow rate of process gas stream= 11,040 acfm (at 688F)
 Density of dust= 187 lb/ft3
 Liquid-to-gas ratio= 2 gal/1000 ft3
 Average particle size= 3.2 µm
 Water droplet size= 48 µm
 Johnstone scrubber coefficeint k= 0.14
 Required collection efficiency=98%
 Viscosity of gas =1.23x10^-5 lb/(ft . s)
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 Cunningham correction factor= 1.0

 Example Problem
 Find the required throat diameter of a venturi scrubber in order to operate at 99% efficiency. The
process stream is air and the scrubbing fluid is water. Assume that the Johnstone equation applies.
Data are provided below.

 Volumetric flow rate of process gas q= 16,384 acfm

 Density of particles= 128 lb/ft3

 Liquid-to-gas ratio = 2 gal/1000 ft3

 Average particle diameter dp = 2.56x10^-5 ft

 Scrubber coefficient k= 0.16 (1000 acf/gal)

 Gas viscosity = 1.28 lb/ft . S

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