The Study of the Particles Size Influence on the Venturi Scrubbers Perfomance

The suspended particles in the air are a factor that causes chronic illnesses to the respiratory system, which go from allergy to severe pulmonary damage. Particulary, breathable particles (from 0,5 μm to 5,0 μm sizes) cause damages to the respiratory system. The penetration and the deposition are the reason for the damages to the pulmonary alveolus. The industrial activity is the main responsible for the most part of the breathable particles emission. Because of that, Venturi scrubbers have been incorporated to the industrial process due to their high efficiency for particle collection. Venturi scrubbers are gas-atomizing devices. They are mechanical devices which rely on shearing and impaction forces to break water into fine droplets. Those droplets in contact with the particles, will collected them. This work consists of a Venturi scrubber of circular section operating horizontally, with liquid injection through a single orifice located in the scrubber throat. The experiments will analyse the influence of the length throat, gas velocity, liquid flow and particles sizes on the Venturi´s collection efficiency.