Source : wilkipedia

A spray tower (or spray column or spray chamber) is gas-liquid contactor used to achieve the
mass and heat transfer between a continuous gas phase (that can contain dispersed solid
particles) and a dispersed liquid phase. It consists of empty cylindrical vessel made of steel or
plastic and nozzles that spray liquid into the vessel. The inlet gas stream usually enters the
bottom of the tower and moves upward, while liquid is sprayed downward from one or more
levels. This flow of inlet gas and liquid in the opposite direction is called countercurrent flow.
This type of technology can be used for example as a wet scrubber for air pollution control.
Countercurrent flow exposes the outlet gas with the lowest pollutant concentration to the freshest
scrubbing liquid. Many nozzles are placed across the tower at different heights to spray all of the
gas as it moves up through the tower. The reasons for using many nozzles is to maximize the
number of fine droplets impacting the pollutant particles and to provide a large surface area for
absorbing gas.
Theoretically, the smaller the droplets formed, the higher the collection efficiency achieved for
both gaseous and particulate pollutants. However, the liquid droplets must be large enough to not
be carried out of the scrubber by the scrubbed outlet gas stream. Therefore, spray towers use
nozzles to produce droplets that are usually 5001000 m in diameter. Although small in size,
these droplets are large compared to those created in the venturi scrubbers that are 1050 m in
size. The gas velocity is kept low, from 0.3 to 1.2 m/s (14 ft/s) to prevent excess droplets from
being carried out of the tower.
In order to maintain low gas velocities, spray towers must be larger than other scrubbers that
handle similar gas stream flow rates. Another problem occurring in spray towers is that after the
droplets fall short distances, they tend to agglomerate or hit the walls of the tower. Consequently,
the total liquid surface area for contact is reduced, reducing the collection efficiency of the
scrubber.
In addition to a countercurrent-flow configuration, the flow in spray towers can be either a
cocurrent or crosscurrent in configuration.
In cocurrent-flow spray towers, the inlet gas and liquid flow in the same direction. Because the
gas stream does not "push" against the liquid sprays, the gas velocities through the vessels are
higher than in countercurrent-flow spray towers. Consequently, cocurrent-flow spray towers are
smaller than countercurrent-flow spray towers treating the same amount of exhaust flow. In
crosscurrent-flow spray towers, also called horizontal-spray scrubbers, the gas and liquid flow in
directions perpendicular to each other.
In this vessel, the gas flows horizontally through a number of spray sections. The amount and
quality of liquid sprayed in each section can be varied, usually with the cleanest liquid (if
recycled liquid is used) sprayed in the last set of sprays.

Particle collection

Spray towers are low energy scrubbers. Contacting power is much lower than in venturi
scrubbers, and the pressure drops across such systems are generally less than 2.5 cm (1 in) of
water. The collection efficiency for small particles is correspondingly lower than in more energyintensive devices. They are adequate for the collection of coarse particles larger than 1025 m
in diameter, although with increased liquid inlet nozzle pressures, particles with diameters of
2.0 m can be collected.
Smaller droplets can be formed by higher liquid pressures at the nozzle. The highest collection
efficiencies are achieved when small droplets are produced and the difference between the
velocity of the droplet and the velocity of the upward-moving particles is high. Small droplets,
however, have small settling velocities, so there is an optimum range of droplet sizes for
scrubbers that work by this mechanism.
This range of droplet sizes is between 500 and 1,000 m for gravity-spray (counter current)
towers.[1] The injection of water at very high pressures 20703100 kPa (300450 psi) creates
a fog of very fine droplets. Higher particle-collection efficiencies can be achieved in such cases
since collection mechanisms other than inertial impaction occur.[2] However, these spray nozzles
may use more power to form droplets than would a venturi operating at the same collection
efficiency.
Gas collection

Spray towers can be used for gas absorption, but they are not as effective as packed or plate
towers. Spray towers can be very effective in removing pollutants if the pollutants are highly
soluble or if a chemical reagent is added to the liquid.
For example, spray towers are used to remove HCl gas from the tail-gas exhaust in
manufacturing hydrochloric acid. In the production of superphosphate used in manufacturing
fertilizer, SiF4 and HF gases are vented from various points in the processes. Spray towers have
been used to remove these highly soluble compounds. Spray towers are also used for odor
removal in bone meal and tallow manufacturing industries by scrubbing the exhaust gases with a
solution of KMnO4.
Because of their ability to handle large gas volumes in corrosive atmospheres, spray towers are
also used in a number of flue-gas desulfurization systems as the first or second stage in the
pollutant removal process.

In a spray tower, absorption can be increased by decreasing the size of the liquid droplets and/or
increasing the liquid-to-gas ratio (L/G). However, to accomplish either of these, an increase in
both power consumed and operating cost is required. In addition, the physical size of the spray
tower will limit the amount of liquid and the size of droplets that can be used.

Maintenance problems

The main advantage of spray towers over other scrubbers is their completely open design; they
have no internal parts except for the spray nozzles. This feature eliminates many of the scale
buildup and plugging problems associated with other scrubbers. The primary maintenance
problems are spray-nozzle plugging or eroding, especially when using recycled scrubber liquid.
To reduce these problems, a settling or filtration system is used to remove abrasive particles from
the recycled scrubbing liquid before pumping it back into the nozzles.
Summary

Spray towers are inexpensive control devices primarily used for gas conditioning (cooling or
humidifying) or for first-stage particle or gas removal. They are also being used in many flue-gas
desulfurization systems to reduce plugging and scale buildup by pollutants.
Many scrubbing systems use sprays either prior to or in the bottom of the primary scrubber to
remove large particles that could plug it.
Spray towers have been used effectively to remove large particles and highly soluble gases. The
pressure drops across the towers are very low usually less than 2.5 cm (1.0 in) of water; thus,
the scrubber operating costs are relatively low. However, the liquid pumping costs can be very
high.
Spray towers are constructed in various sizes small ones to handle small gas flows of 0.05 m/s
(106 ft/min) or less, and large ones to handle large exhaust flows of 50 m/s (106,000 m/min) or
greater. Because of the low gas velocity required, units handling large gas flow rates tend to be
large in size. Operating characteristics of spray towers are presented in the following table.[3]

Spray Towers

In spray towers or spray chambers, gas streams are fed into a chamber and contacted with
scrubbing liquid produced by spray nozzles. The droplet size is controlled to optimize particle
contact and droplet separation from the gas stream. Chambers can be oriented for cross-flow,

countercurrent flow, or concurrent (co-current) flow. Chambers may also include baffles to
improve gas-liquid contact.
Spray towers have low power consumption but have relatively low particulate
collection efficiencies. The recirculated water in the system must be thoroughly cleaned to
prevent excessive nozzle fouling or clogging. Nozzle cleaning and replacement are a major part
of the maintenance required for these units.

Spray Column
The gas flows upward continuously through an open chamber in which scrubbing liquid droplets
falls from spray nozzles through the gas. The gas pressure drop is small, but separation is not as
good as the bubble column. This column is widely used for its simplicity, low pressure drop, and
resistance to scale deposition and plugging.

Spray chamber

Synonyms, abbreviations and/or process names

Dust scrubber

Removed components
Dust, particles: fine, sticky, hygroscopic
Gaseous components

Diagram

Process description
In spray chambers or spray towers water is sprayed or dispersed in fine droplets, normally via
sprayers or nozzles at the top of the scrubber, while gas is fed tangentially from underneath
thus forming counter-current flow. Due to the centrifugal effect, there will already be a preseparation of larger particles in the column. It is also possible to place spray-towers in co-current
or cross-current set-up.
High L/G ratios are required to remove fine particles.

Efficiency
Removal efficiency varies between 70 and 99%, depending on particle distribution.

Boundary conditions
Flow rate: 2 500 -170 000 Nm3/h
Temperature:
4 - 370 C
In-coming concentrations: 100 -10 000 g/Nm3

Auxiliary materials
Water

Environmental aspects
Waste water must be treated or discharged into the sewer network.
Residues which must be dewatered and disposed of.

Energy use
Energy use varies between 0.4 to 2 kWh per 1 000 m3

Cost aspects

Investment
For a very basic spray scrubber, investment costs for a to-be-treated gas stream of 10
000 Nm/h amount to
ca. 50 000 EUR or 5 000 EUR per 1 000 Nm3/h. For other capacities, one should
consider a scale-up factor to
the power of 0.3

Operating costs
Personnel costs: ca. 0.25 mh/day
Operational costs: 0.4 0.5 EUR per 1 000 Nm
Auxiliary and residual materials: The separated dust must be dewatered and disposed
of. The water must be
treated prior to being discharged. Transport costs for the separated dust are
determined by the type of residue.
Inert: ca. 75 EUR/ton
Chemical: 150 250 EUR/ton

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages
Simple implementation
No risk of fouling or blockage in the washing section
In addition to dust, gaseous particles are also separated
Available in various construction materials
Able to deal with fluctuating gas flows
Low pressure drops
Little space required

Disadvantages
Installation type with spray-heads with small openings requires clean washing liquid
Blockages in sprayers could lead to a large yield loss
Not efficient for the removal of fine dust particles
Mass transfer is not very efficient

Applications
Is also used as a cooler to quench flue gases.
Spray scrubbers are used in a variety of settings, including:

The chemical industry, to separate dust and aerosols;

The metal industry for various types of waste gases;
Waste incineration installations;
Gasification processes;
Potato-processing industry for the removal of starch;
Glass industry;
Melting processes in metallurgy;
Foundries;
Sintering processes;
Drying processes
Fertiliser production;
Pharmaceutical industry;
Plastics industry.

References
1. Factsheets on Air-emission reduction techniques, www.infomil.nl, Infomil
2. Common waste water and waste gas treatment and management systems in the chemical
sector. BREF document, European IPPC Bureau, http://eippcb.jrc.es
3. Elslander H., De Fr R., Geuzens P., Wevers M. (1993). Comparative evaluation of
possible gas purification systems for the combustion of household waste. In: Energie &
Milieu, 9
4. Work-book on environmental measures: Metal and electro-technical industry (1998 ).
VNG publishers
5. Supplier information
6. VDI 3679, Nassabscheider fr Partikelfrmige Stoffen