Air stream solvent vapor remover
First Claim
1. A method for removing solvent vapors from air in an enclosure where the solvent is miscible with or soluble in or has an affinity for a scrubbing liquid comprising the steps of:
- generating a flow of air containing the vapors;
passing the flow of air through a fogging chamber;
injecting a scrubbing liquid in the form of fog droplets into the fogging chamber and with an amount and distribution of the fog so as to produce a supersaturated condition formed of scrubbing vapor and droplets within and throughout the air flow of the fogging chamber so as to cause contact between vapor molecules and scrubbing droplets;
passing scrubbing liquid saturated air flow from the fogging chamber past a cooling condenser;
cooling the condenser to a sufficiently low temperature so as to cool the saturated air flow to a temperature at which a substantial amount of the scrubbing liquid in the air flow is condensed out to wet the condenser and enable solvent vapors in the air flow to contact wettened surfaces of the condenser; and
collecting scrubbing liquid condensed out by the condenser with captured solvent to complete removal of the vapors from the air flow.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system are described to remove solvent vapors emanating from a source in a work place. The air stream is passed through a fogging chamber in which a plurality of ultrasonic foggers are used to create a supersaturated condition in the form of vapor and droplets of a scrubbing liquid such as water. The supersaturated condition is accompanied with a large amount of turbulence and mixing flows throughout the chamber to reduce the ability of solvent vapors from bypassing contact with the scrubbing liquid. The scrubbing liquid droplets and vapor are then condensed out in a cooling condenser and collected to leave a scrubbed air stream from which a substantial amount of the solvent vapors is removed. The scrubbed cooled air stream may then be recirculated for reuse in the work place. Several embodiments are shown and described including a scrubbing system in which several fogging chambers and condensers are used in tandem for an enhanced removal of solvent vapor from the air stream.
51 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for removing solvent vapors from air in an enclosure where the solvent is miscible with or soluble in or has an affinity for a scrubbing liquid comprising the steps of:
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generating a flow of air containing the vapors; passing the flow of air through a fogging chamber; injecting a scrubbing liquid in the form of fog droplets into the fogging chamber and with an amount and distribution of the fog so as to produce a supersaturated condition formed of scrubbing vapor and droplets within and throughout the air flow of the fogging chamber so as to cause contact between vapor molecules and scrubbing droplets; passing scrubbing liquid saturated air flow from the fogging chamber past a cooling condenser; cooling the condenser to a sufficiently low temperature so as to cool the saturated air flow to a temperature at which a substantial amount of the scrubbing liquid in the air flow is condensed out to wet the condenser and enable solvent vapors in the air flow to contact wettened surfaces of the condenser; and collecting scrubbing liquid condensed out by the condenser with captured solvent to complete removal of the vapors from the air flow. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for removing vapors of a solvent from an air stream drawn from a local region in a work place, comprising:
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means for producing a fogging chamber having an entrance and a discharge end; means for drawing a stream of air containing solvent vapors from a region around a source of such vapors and through the fogging chamber from its entrance to the discharge end; means for producing a scrubbing vapor throughout the fogging chamber in an amount sufficient to create a supersaturated condition of scrubbing liquid droplets and vapor and with the scrubbing droplets and vapor being sufficiently distributed throughout the fogging chamber and with sufficient mixing turbulence and induced recirculation so as to substantially reduce the ability of solvent vapors to bypass contact with the scrubbing liquid; means for cooling the air stream laden with scrubbing vapor and droplets to a temperature sufficient to remove moisture from the air stream by condensing the scrubbing vapors and droplets and capture the scrubbing liquid droplets on wetted surfaces so as to produce an air stream from which a substantial amount of the solvent vapors has been removed; and means for collecting the condensed scrubbing liquid with the solvent that was removed from the air stream. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16)
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14. The system for removing vapors of a solvent from an air stream as claimed in calim 13 and further including:
means for recirculating the air stream from the second cooling means to the work place.
Specification