Wet Scrubber

A wet scrubber is used to clean air, flue gas or other gases of various pollutants and dust particles. Wet scrubbing works via the contact of target compounds or particulate matter with the scrubbing solution. Solutions may simply be water (for dust) or solutions of reagents that specifically target certain compounds

Removal efficiency of pollutants is improved by increasing residence time in the scrubber or by the increase of surface area of the scrubber solution by the use of a spray nozzle, packed towers or an aspirator. Wet scrubbers may increase the proportion of water in the gas, resulting in a visible stack plume, if the gas is sent to a stack

The basic scrubber configurations are:

  1. Spray Nozzle Scrubbers - water are sprayed with high pressure through nozzles to produce the droplets in the air.
  2. Venturi Scrubbers - air or gas velocity is increased through a venturi shape - increased
  3. Packed Bed Scrubbers - air passes through wet-laden fibre mats where mists are collected. Not suited if solid particles are present in the air since the fibre mats may plug.
  4. Spray Towers are inexpensive control devices primarily used for gas conditioning (cooling or humidifying) or for first-stage particle or gas removal.