Water scrubber

Application

Removal of volatile components with a high to moderate water solubility:

• Acids or bases:

  • hydrogen chloride (HCl)

  • hydrogen fluoride (HF)

  • sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄)

  • hydrogen sulphide (H₂S)

  • ammonia (NH₃)

• Organic compounds:

  • alcohols, such as methanol (CH₃OH) and ethanol (C₂H₅OH)

  • ketones, such as acetone

  • aldehydes, such as butanal

  • acetates, such as vinyl acetate

  • ...

Principle

The simplest scrubbing technique is a scrubber column with a continuous supply of fresh water on top of the column. For compounds with a moderate to high water solubility, very high efficiencies can be obtained using this technique provided the correct amount of fresh water is supplied. No chemical dosing is needed, but the discharge water should be recuperated in the production process or sent to a waste water treatment plant.

For applications at tank farms, two or more water feed lines can be provided towards the top of the scrubber column, being a small one for scrubbing the small flows of the breathing losses and a bigger one for scrubbing the displacement gases during refilling of the tanks.

For other applications, a dual loop scrubber is preferred, meaning a lower packing section with a circulating water loop and an upper packing section with a once-through water flow. This ensures the optimal use of the scrubbing water and allows to use the circulation pump for the water discharge.

Scheme

Realisations