Charged droplet gas scrubber apparatus and method
First Claim
1. Apparatus for removing both particulate pollutants and gaseous pollutants, from a gas to be cleaned, said gas to be cleaned already flowing in an established gas flow stream and gas flow direction upon entry into said apparatus, said gas flow direction defining a downstream direction in said gas flow stream as a direction parallel to said gas flow direction and defining an upstream direction in said gas flow stream as a direction opposite to said gas flow direction, said apparatus comprising:
- (a) a pressurized liquid means, being a source providing a pressurized liquid at a controllable liquid pressure;
(b) a droplet production means, connected to said pressurized liquid means, for emitting copious quantities of droplets of said liquid;
(c) a droplet charging means, communicating with said droplet production means, for exposing said droplets, at the instant of emission of each of said droplets from said droplet production means, to an electric field of strength sufficient for charging said droplets to an average charge which is at least an appreciable portion of the maximum charge which may be carried by said droplets of said liquid;
(d) an injection means, acting upon said droplets, for injection of said droplets into said gas to be cleaned, and for intimately mixing said droplets with said gas to be cleaned by causing said droplets to travel through said gas to be cleaned in motion of said droplets through a length of travel relative to said gas to be cleaned; and
(e) a droplet removal means, communicating with said gas to be cleaned and said droplets injected into said gas, for removing said droplets from said gas to be cleaned after said droplets have interacted with said gas, and for collecting together said liquid contained in said dropletswherein said pressurized liquid means, said droplet production means, said droplet charging means, and said injection means are so configured and operated as to provide said droplets with a combination of size, charge, droplet production rate, and length of travel of said droplets in said gas to be cleaned such as to cause removal of said pollutants with a desired particulate removal efficiency for said particulate pollutants, and to also cause removal of said gaseous pollutants with a desired gaseous pollutant removal efficiency.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Gas scrubbing apparatus and method, employing highly charged liquid droplets for removal of both particulates and pollutant gases from the gas to be cleaned, allowing scrubbing of uncharged particulates by means of monopole--dipole attractive forces between the charged liquid droplets and the electric dipoles induced in the uncharged particulates by the charged droplets; employing electrode geometry at the site of droplet production and charging, having spreading liquid sheet electrodes emitting the droplets from the edges of the liquid sheets, interspersed with electrically conductive induction electrodes, with electrostatic potential of no more than about 20 kv existing between the induction electrode array and the array of liquid sheets, and with spacing such that adequately high electric field strength can be maintained at the edges of the liquid sheets to allow adequate charging of the droplets emitted from the liquid sheets, without the occurrence of corona discharges which could deplete droplet charges or interfere with production of the electric field strength required for adequate droplet charging; allowing the particulate and pollutant gas scrubbing procedures to be carried out simultaneously in a single chamber; requiring no substantial power other than that for the blower or other means which moves the gas to be cleaned through the cleaning chamber; and allowing these results to be achieved with low liquid-to-gas flow ratios.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. Apparatus for removing both particulate pollutants and gaseous pollutants, from a gas to be cleaned, said gas to be cleaned already flowing in an established gas flow stream and gas flow direction upon entry into said apparatus, said gas flow direction defining a downstream direction in said gas flow stream as a direction parallel to said gas flow direction and defining an upstream direction in said gas flow stream as a direction opposite to said gas flow direction, said apparatus comprising:
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(a) a pressurized liquid means, being a source providing a pressurized liquid at a controllable liquid pressure; (b) a droplet production means, connected to said pressurized liquid means, for emitting copious quantities of droplets of said liquid; (c) a droplet charging means, communicating with said droplet production means, for exposing said droplets, at the instant of emission of each of said droplets from said droplet production means, to an electric field of strength sufficient for charging said droplets to an average charge which is at least an appreciable portion of the maximum charge which may be carried by said droplets of said liquid; (d) an injection means, acting upon said droplets, for injection of said droplets into said gas to be cleaned, and for intimately mixing said droplets with said gas to be cleaned by causing said droplets to travel through said gas to be cleaned in motion of said droplets through a length of travel relative to said gas to be cleaned; and (e) a droplet removal means, communicating with said gas to be cleaned and said droplets injected into said gas, for removing said droplets from said gas to be cleaned after said droplets have interacted with said gas, and for collecting together said liquid contained in said droplets wherein said pressurized liquid means, said droplet production means, said droplet charging means, and said injection means are so configured and operated as to provide said droplets with a combination of size, charge, droplet production rate, and length of travel of said droplets in said gas to be cleaned such as to cause removal of said pollutants with a desired particulate removal efficiency for said particulate pollutants, and to also cause removal of said gaseous pollutants with a desired gaseous pollutant removal efficiency. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. Method for removing both particulate pollutants and gaseous pollutants, from a gas to be cleaned, said gas to be cleaned already flowing in an established gas flow stream and gas flow direction prior to application of said method, said gas flow direction defining a downstream direction in said gas flow stream as a direction parallel to said gas flow direction and defining an upstream direction in said gas flow stream as a direction opposite to said gas flow direction, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) Producing copious quantities of liquid droplets; (b) Exposing said produced droplets, at the instant of emission of each of said produced droplets, to an electric field of strength sufficient for charging said droplets to an average electric charge which is at least an appreciable portion of the maximum charge which may be carried by said droplets of said liquid; (c) Injecting said charged droplets into said gas flow stream of said gas to be cleaned in a manner causing said droplets to be intimately mixed with said gas to be cleaned by causing said droplets to travel through said gas to be cleaned in motion of said droplets through a length of travel relative to said gas to be cleaned; and (d) removing said droplets from said gas to be cleaned after said droplets have interacted with said gas to be cleaned; said method providing said droplets with a combination of size, charge, droplet production rate, and length of travel of said droplets in said gas to be cleaned such as to cause removal of said pollutants with a desired particulate removal efficiency for said particulate pollutants, and to also cause removal of said gaseous pollutants with a desired gaseous pollutant removal efficiency. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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Specification