Gas scrubbing for the chemical industry

The removal of contaminants from gas flows is a common application in which spray nozzles are deployed.  A nozzle serves two main function - to atomise the fluid and so increase the overall surface area and to distribute the fluid to where it is needed.  Both functions are important in gas scrubbers.

There are two main designs of scrubber that use spray nozzles.  Firstly there are scrubbers which spray the reacting fluid directly into the gas and rely on the large surface area of the spray itself to ensure sufficient contact with the gas.  Secondly there are packed bed scrubbers in which the scrubbing fluid is distributed over a porous media bed which acts to increase the surface area in contact with the gas.

Nozzle selection criteria direct spray scrubbers

• Smaller droplet nozzles for maximum surface area/reaction
• Larger droplets for improved dwell time in fast gas flows
• Wide-angle nozzles for wide-area fluid distribution
• Special materials for corrosive high wear environments
  

Nozzle selection criteria packed bed scrubbers

• Wide spray distribution
• Relatively even spray distribution
  
• Special materials for corrosive high wear environments