Performance characteristics of the particulates scrubbing in a counter-current spray-column

Spray scrubbers are being widely used for off gas cleaning in chemical process industries due to its various advantages like low-pressure drop and simplicity. A pilot plant counter-current spray-column wet scrubber has been conceived, designed and fabricated. Experimental investigations were conducted to quantify the performances of a counter-current spray-column for scrubbing the particulates from the gaseous waste stream. Performance characteristics of the air-blast atomizing spray-column have been evaluated on the basis of the fly-ash (particulates) collection efficiencies within the stability range of the column. A maximum efficiency of 94.23% is achieved for gas and liquid flow rate of 5.084 × 10-3 Nm3/s and 33.34 × 10-6 m3/s, respectively. Results further show that Inlet solid loading effects positively in increasing the collection efficiency. Experimental results were further analyzed in terms of various pertinent variables of the system and a simplified correlation has been proposed. The predicted values agreed well with the experimental data obtained. A maximum difference of 17-18% was found towards higher liquid rates, rest showing a very minimum percentage of error and standard deviations between the experimental and the predicted values. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.