Wet scrubbers

Wet scrubbing is a traditional process for handling some emissions including acid gas streams, ammonia bearing streams and streams with solids that might foul other equipment.

EIS systems fall into two main categories which can also be combined as part of an overall system:

Venturi systems are co-current scrubbers that accelerate the gas stream into a high density liquor spray. The aqueous droplets then impinge or impact at high relative velocity with solids in the gas stream. The resulting conglomerated particle is then separated from the gas stream in a disengagement tower using inertial forces.

The high density spray also provides reasonable mass transfer to the absorption of gaseous contaminants.

ScrubberPacked Towers are typically counter current scrubbers that utilise high surface area media as a contact zone for the gas stream with a suitable scrubbing liquor. The media facilitates high efficiency mass transfer to provide >99.9% removal of gaseous contaminants.

Systems can be combined for quench cooling or scrubbing of streams that contain significant levels of both gaseous and solid contaminants.

Either system is typically tailored to an application by the use of chemical reagents as a means of "mineralising" the contaminants.