A CONFINED VORTEX SCRUBBER FOR FINE PARTICULATE REMOVAL FROM FLUE-GASES

An innovative cleanup concept, based on a Confined Vortex Scrubber (CVS), for fine particulate removal from combustion flue gases has been developed, tested and verified. The CVS consists of a cylindrical vortex chamber with multiple tangential flue gas inlets. The clean gas exit is via two central tubes. Water is introduced into the chamber and is confined within the vortex chamber by the extremely high centrifugal forces generated by the gas flow. The confined water forms a layer through which the flue gas is forced to bubble. Due to the high radial acceleration, the bubbles generated are very small, leading to a strong gas/liquid interaction, high inertial separation forces and extremely efficient fine particle cleanup. Collection efficiencies in excess of 99.5 percent have been measured for extremely fine fly ash (mean particle size 3 microns). A collection efficiency of 98 percent has been measured for 0.3 micron diameter particles.