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Design of self priming venturi scrubber for the simultaneous abatement of

HCl gas and particulate matter from the flue gas

Article in Chemical Engineering Research and Design · August 2019

DOI: 10.1016/j.cherd.2019.08.005

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 Chemical Engineering Research and Design 1 5 0 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 311–319

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Chemical Engineering Research and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cherd

Design of self priming venturi scrubber for the

simultaneous abatement of HCl gas and particulate
matter from the flue gas

Manisha Bal a,∗ , Hammad Siddiqi a , Subhrajit Mukherjee a , B.C. Meikap a,b
aDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302, India
bDepartment of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Howard College, University of Kwazulu-Natal,
Durban, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Mostly, HCl gas along with particulate matter are generated from the combustion and waste
Received 19 March 2019 incineration process but exposure of these air pollutants beyond a certain limit is very dan-
Received in revised form 10 June gerous to the human life. Therefore, experimental study of simultaneous removal of HCl
2019 gas and fly ash from the flue gas using self priming venturi scrubber is investigated. Effect
Accepted 7 August 2019 of various parameters like throat gas velocity, inlet fly ash concentration, inlet HCl concen-
Available online 16 August 2019 tration and hydrostatic head of water on the removal of HCl gas and fly ash particle has
been studied. Maximum HCl removal is obtained as 98.3% at 60 m/s of throat gas velocity,
Keywords: 0.77 m of water level height, 500 ppm of inlet HCl loading and 0.3 × 10−3 kg/m3 of inlet fly ash
Self priming venturi scrubber concentration. On the other hand, maximum fly ash removal of 99.91% is achieved at 60 m/s
Particulate and gaseous pollutant of throat gas velocity, 0.77 m of water level height and 0.3 × 10−3 kg/m3 of inlet fly ash con-
removal centration. Empirical model is also developed for the prediction of HCl removal efficiency
Scrubbing in the presence of fly ash and validated with the experimental results. Thus the submerged
Pollution control venturi scrubber is a novel technique which may control the emissions from many process
industries.
© 2019 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and literature review according to the World Bank standards (State Compensation Insurance
Fund, 2015; World Bank Group, 1998). Therefore, most importance has
Industrial emitted gases contain different type of air pollutants which been given by the researcher in design and development in the removal
solely depend on the type of process and unit operation. These air pol- technique.
lutants are generally in the form of dangerous gases and particulate Both sequential and simultaneous removal technique have been
matter. Most of the power plant or waste incineration process emits practiced in the past decades for the removal of gaseous pollutants
toxic HCl gas along with fly ash particle (Shemwell et al., 2002; Kameda along with particulate matter. In the sequential method, particulate
et al., 2011). Emission of HCl gas results in coughing, edema, inflam- matter is removed in the 1st step and then the gaseous pollutants are
mation and desquamation of upper respiratory tract in inhalation and removed in the 2nd step. In the simultaneous removal technique, both
irritation of eye. On the other hand, fly ash particles can go deep inside gaseous and particulate matters are separated in one step. Sequential
the lungs and can be the cause of lung cancer and many heart dis- method becomes problematic for the industry to remove the particulate
eases (U.S Environmental Protection Agency, 1999; Azam et al., 2016; laden gaseous pollutants. Therefore simultaneous removal in one sin-
Kim et al., 2015). In light of this adverse effect on humans and the gle step is more viable to achieve techno economic feasibility (Meikap
environment, abatement of HCl gas as well as fly ash particle is very et al., 2002a,b; Bandyopadhyay, 1996). Despite of inherent shortcoming,
necessary in their source. According to the OSHS Board, ceiling value wet scrubbers are only the technique which removes the particulate
of HCl gas is 2 ppm and exposure limit of fly ash particle is 0.050 g/Nm3 matter and HCl gas both efficiently in simultaneous process.
Pollock et al. (1966) first investigated simultaneous removal of fly
ash and SO2 using a wet scrubber with alkali stream and results
∗
Corresponding author. obtained from this investigation are highly appreciated. Particulate
E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Bal). removal efficiency was 98%, whereas SO2 removal efficiency was 95%.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2019.08.005
0263-8762/© 2019 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
312 Chemical Engineering Research and Design 1 5 0 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 311–319

Many more investigations have been done on simultaneous removal of

fly ash and SO2 in wet scrubbers (Burbach, 1973; Teller and Wyatt, 1970;
Nomenclature
Cornell and Dahlstrom, 1975; Johnson, 1981; Kohl and Riesenfeld, 1985;
Vth Throat gas velocity, m/s Meikap et al., 2002a,b; Rajmohan et al., 2008; Bandyopadhyay, 2009). No
ug Relative velocity between gas and liquid, m/s literature has been found on simultaneous removal of fly ash and HCl
gas using wet scrubber. Thus, present study involves the investigation
hth Height of throat, m
on simultaneous removal of fly ash and HCl gas using wet scrubber.
dth Diameter of throat, m
Very few literatures are available for the removal of HCl gas and
db Diameter of bubble, m
particulate matter. Rini et al. (1997) reported removal of air toxic
H Water level in outer cylinder, m
and particulate matter in an ultra-high efficiency ESP. But, control of
h Difference in height between liquid level in gaseous pollutants is not an efficient process in this ESP. Later, Levendis
outer cylinder and outlet of venturi, m (1998) investigated the simultaneous removal of O2 , NOx , HCl, and par-
CCl Chloride ion concentration, ppm ticulates by in-furnace high-temperature sorbent injection. Shemwell
Cflyash I Inlet fly ash concentration, kg/m3 et al. (2002) reported the simultaneous separation of SO2 , NOx , HCl, and
CHCl I Inlet HCl concentration, ppm particulate matter by the method of furnace sorbent injection and hot
CHCl IE Outlet HCl concentration at the end of diffuser flue-gas filtration. Bal et al. (2019a,b) reported the HCl gas removal from
section, ppm the flue gas in a self priming venturi scrubber. Here, we tried to remove
the HCl gas as well as fly ash particle simultaneously in self priming
CHCl,int Interfacial HCl concentration, ppm
venturi scrubber.
CNaOH Concentration of NaOH, kg/m3
Literature survey revealed that the self priming venturi scrubber
Cflyash-HCl I Inlet fly ash concentration in presence of
is becoming an efficient technology for the removal of gaseous pollu-
HCl, kg/m3 tant and particulate matter as well. In case of submerged condition,
Cflyash-HCl O Outlet fly ash concentration in presence of venturi scrubber is immersed in the scrubbing liquid whereas gaseous
HCl, kg/m3 contaminants are absorbed from gas and bubbles to liquid droplets
CHCl-flyash I Inlet HCl concentration in presence of fly and surrounding scrubbing liquid respectively (Bal and Meikap, 2016;
ash, ppm Bal et al., 2018; Ali et al., 2013a,b; Zhou et al., 2016). However no
CHCl-flyash O Outlet HCl concentration in presence of fly known references seem to exist on simultaneous removal of partic-
ash, ppm ulate matter laden HCl gas in self priming venturi scrubber. In the

PHCl present research, we tried to remove HCl gas and particulate matter
Partial pressure of HCl in inlet gas, Pa
from flue gases in a self-priming venturi scrubber for non-submerged
Vimp Volume of impinger solution, L
and submerged condition using 0.005 N NaOH solution as scrubbing
Vair Volume of air, Ml
liquid. In my previous work, HCl removal in this self priming ven-
Vb Velocity of bubble, m/s
turi scrubber has been investigated at different concentration of NaOH
Mair Molecular weight of air, g in scrubbing liquid. 0.005 N NaOH was shown the maximum removal
MCl Molecular weight of chloride ion, mg efficiency of HCl. Thatswhy, 0.005 N NaOH scrubbing liquid has been
␳air Density of air, g/Ml chosen for present experiments (Bal et al., 2019a). Moreover, variation
␳l Density of liquid, kg/m3 of effecting parameters such as gas flow rate, inlet HCl loading, inlet
␳g Density of gas, kg/m3 concentration of fly ash and liquid height in outer cylinder on removal
␮l Viscosity of scrubbing liquid, Pa-s efficiency was investigated. Empirical model was also developed for
␮g Viscosity of gas, Pa-s the prediction of HCl removal efficiency of in the presence of fly ash
for the non-submerged and submerged conditions and compared with
KG Overall gas mass transfer coefficient, m/s
the experimental results.
kG Gas side mass transfer coefficient, m/s
kl Liquid side mass transfer coefficient, m/s
E Enhancement factor 2. Material required and experimental
I Stoichiometric mole ratio of NaOH and HCl procedure
 surface tension of gas-NaOH solution interface,
N/m 2.1. Material
DNaOH Diffusivity of NaOH in water, m2 /s
DHCl Diffusivity of HCl in water, m2 /s Merck Life Science Pvt. Ltd., India supplied the HCl acid (35%)
DHCl NaOH Diffusivity of HCl in 0.005 N NaOH solution, and solid NaOH. Perspex was used to fabricate the venturi
m2 /s scrubber which was procured by Anupam Enterprise, West
Re g Reynolds number of gas, dimensionless Bengal, India. Sample fly ash was supplied from the Kolaghat
Re b Reynolds number of bubble, dimensionless Thermal Power Station, West Bengal, India.
Sc Schmidt number, dimensionless
␩flyash-HCl Experimental removal efficiency of flyash in 2.2. Experimental set up and procedure
presence of HCl, %
␩HCl-flyash Experimental removal efficiency of HCl in Schematic representation of experimental set up is
presence of flyash, % shown in the Fig. 1. In the present research, venturi
␩HCl-FA NS Predicted removal efficiency of HCl in pres- scrubber is kept inside the vertical perspex column
ence of flyash for non-submerged condition, % (Length × Diameter = 1 m × 0.17 m).Convergent angle and
␩HCl-FA S1 Predicted removal efficiency of HCl inside ven- divergent angle are 25◦ and 7◦ , respectively. Air stream was
turi scrubber for submerged condition, % passed through a calibrated rotameter to measure the flow
␩HCl-FA S Predictedremoval efficiency of HCl in presence rate of air and mixed with HCl vapours and fly ash particles
of flyash for submerged condition, % in a venturi shaped mixing tank which produced a uniform
composition of HCl gas and fly ash particles. On the other
hand, 0.005 N NaOH solution was drawn from the liquid tank
to the bottom of the column. Liquid level was maintained at
 Chemical Engineering Research and Design 1 5 0 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 311–319 313

Fig. 1 – Schematic diagram of experimental set up for simultaneous removal of HCl gas and fly ash.

desired height. Here, HCl vapours were produced by passing filter (FAS), vacuum pump (VP) and dry gas meter (GM). Fly ash
air through the diluted HCl solution in a round bottomed flask was collected on the glass fibre filter paper which was dried in
and flow rate of air was adjusted by the calibrated rotameter. an air oven at 105 ◦ C and cooled in desiccators. Difference in
Fly ash was fed in a mild steel hopper (Hp ) used as storage weight of initial and final filter paper determines the amount
chamber which was connected to an electric vibrator feeder of fly ash particle collected in filter paper. Amount of sample is
(VB ) to control the flow of fly ash to the mixing tank. Basically, expressed as fly ash collected in filter paper (kg) that is divided
suction was created inside the venturi mixing tank due to by the volume of the air. Here vacuum pump sucked the fly ash
air flow rate which helps to mix the solid in the air stream enabling it to pass through the fly ash collector. Whereas dry
uniformly. Concentration of HCl gas was controlled by the gas meter was used to measure the volume of the air passing
operating valve between the connecting line with volumetric through the fly ash collector. Furthermore after leaving from
flask and mixing tank. Scrubbing liquids entered the venturi the gas meter air was passed through the impinger which was
scrubber at the throat section by the suction generated due to connected with the aspirant bottle. Impinger solution con-
huge pressure drop between the outside hydrostatic pressure taining 100 mL of NaOH solution was selected based on the
of liquid and static pressure of the gas in a venturi scrubber. solubility of HCl. Aspirant bottle was filled with water. It con-
However, the gas collided with the liquid droplets mainly trols the flow rate of gaseous sample collection by the control
by inertial impaction and captured the fly ash particle and valve. Volume of the air passing through the impinger solution
absorbed the HCl gas from the airstream. Here, HCl concen- was evaluated by the volume of water coming out from the
tration was adjusted in the air stream as 100 ppm, 300 ppm, aspirant bottle. Ion chromatography was used to measure the
500 ppm, whereas, fly ash concentration was maintained as Cl− ion concentration (ppm) generated in impinger solution.
(0.003–0.3) × 10−3 kg/m3 . Inlet and outlet concentration of HCl (ppm) were calculated
using the below formula Eq. (1) (Bal et al., 2019a,b).
2.3. Sampling procedure and analysis
Vimp (L) *CCl (ppm) Mair (g)
CHCl (ppm) = *10−6 * g (1)
Sampling was done simultaneously at the inlet and outlet MCl (mg) Vair (mL) *air ( mL )
sampling port by passing the sample 1st through the par-
ticulate sampling assembly and then through the impinger 2.4. Selection of scrubbing liquid
containing absorbing solution. Sampling has been done at
isokinetic condition (Bal et al., 2019a,b; Kurella and Meikap, Selection of scrubbing liquid is very important factor for the
2016). Isokinetic condition is obtained when the velocity of removal of HCl gas in the present system. There are some fac-
the sample captured from the inlet or outlet is equal to the tors that should be kept in mind while choosing the scrubbing
velocity of the sample passing through the scrubbing system. liquid such as high absorption capacity, availability, nontoxic,
In the present study, sample was collected at the sampling low price, low viscosity, low vapour pressure, non-corrosive
flow rate of 0.41–0.83 LPM and for 5–15 min. Particulate sam- and also could be regenerated or disposed of in a simple
pling assembly consists of fly ash collector glass micro fibre way (Bandyopadhyay and Biswas, 2006).In the literature many
314 Chemical Engineering Research and Design 1 5 0 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 311–319

Fig. 2 – Concentration profiles of components for HCl absorption with chemical reaction (Film theory).

absorbents are suggested in removing the HCl gas like sodium Enhancement factor of instantaneous chemical reaction
bicarbonate, methanol, ethanol, Ca(OH)2 ,ether etc. (Kong and for the HCl absorption in NaOH solution can be given by Eq.
Balland, 2011; Pozzo et al., 2018). Absorbing capacity of NaOH (4) (Bal et al., 2019a).
in HCl is extremely high (Brady, 1987) and effluent solutions
from the scrubber can be rejuvenated in the alkali solution by DNaoH CNaOH
E=1+i (4)
reacting normally with lime, i.e., Ca (OH)2 . DHCl CHCl,int

Interfacial concentration of HCl in water is determined

2.4.1. Mass transfer phenomena between scrubbing liquid
from the Eq. (5) (Bal et al., 2019a).
and air pollutant HCl gas
Gas–liquid mass transfer occurs in present system by diffusion
CHCl,Int = HXPHCl (5)
where group of molecules tend to move from a high concen-
tration region to a low concentration region. Main focus of
HCl absorbed in water follows the below equations.
scrubbing is to achieve as much as possible transfer of HCl gas
into the NaOH solution at a low cost. Chemical absorption of
HCl(g) + H2 O(l) → HCl(aq) (6)
HCl into NaOH solution can be defined by the Two-film theory.
According to Two-film theory, there are two thin layers near
HCl(aq) → H+ + Cl− (7)
the gas and liquid interfaces, which separate the gas from the
liquid bulk phases. This theory considered that equilibrium HCl(aq) + H2 O(l) → H3 O+ (aq) + Cl− (aq) (8)
exists in bulk phases and all resistances of mass and heat
transfer exist in the two films. Chemical reaction takes place in Above reactions (8) is the hydrolysis reaction of HCl in water
the liquid film or liquid bulk region when HCl molecules move and is fast compared to the diffusion process; basically, sur-
from the gas to the liquid phase. Based on the Two-film the- face of the liquid film is instantly saturated with gaseous HCl
ory and Fig. 2, the reaction between HCl and the NaOH can be at equilibrium concentration. Thus, the absorption of HCl in
characterized as infinitely fast rate or very slow rate depend- water may be presented as a physical mechanism.
ing on the controlling resistance (gas/liquid) (Li et al., 2014; When HCl is absorbed in NaOH solution itis followed by the
Kierzkowska-pawlak, 2012). neutralization reaction as presented below Eq. (9).
According to the two film theory, correlation between over-
all mass transfer coefficient and the individual mass transfer HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) → H2 O(l) + NaCl(aq) (9)
coefficient is shown by the following Eq. (2) (Li et al., 2014).
Absorption rate of HCl gas is much faster in NaOH solution
1 1 H
= + (2) than in water. Thus, in the present research, 0.005 N NaOH
KG kG EkL
solution has been chosen as scrubbing liquid for the removal
Mass transfer can be controlled by either gas or liquid, of HCl gas.
it depends on the Eq. (2).When kG /KG ≤ 1.1 indicates it is
gas phase controlled whereas kG /KG ≤ 10 is liquid phase con-
3. Characterization of fly ash
trolled. Variation of the ratio H*(kG /kL ) mainly occurs due to
variation of H (Bandyopadhyay and Biswas, 2006). 3.1. Size distribution of particle
In addition, enhancement factor (Kraub and Rzehak, 2017)
used in alkaline scrubbing describes the influence of chemical In the present study, sample fly ash was supplied from the
reaction is given as follows Kolaghat Thermal Power Station, West Bengal, India. Malvern
2000 Mastersizer was used to determine the particle size
Rate of mass transfer due to chemical reaction distributions and the particle sauter mean diameter. Size dis-
E= (3)
Rate of mass transfer in absence of chemical reaction tribution of inlet flyash particle is presented in Fig. 3. It is
 Chemical Engineering Research and Design 1 5 0 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 311–319 315

Table 1 – Operating condition of simultaneous removal

of HCl gas and fly ash in venturi scrubber system.
Parameters Values

Inlet temperature of the 303–305

experimental air (K)
Gas flow rate (Nm3 /s) 4.5 × 10−4 to 9 × 10−4
Throat gas velocity (m/s) 36–72
Water level in outer cylinder (m) 0.4, 0.5, 0.67, 0.77
Inlet HCl concentration (ppm) 100, 300, 500
Inlet fly ash concentration (kg/m3 ) (0.003, 0.01, 0.1, 0.3) × 10−3
Scrubbing liquid (N) 0.005 N NaOH solution

of fly ash and height of the liquid in the outer cylinder. Exper-

imental condition of scrubbing system is given in the Table 1.
Percentage removal of HCl gas and fly ash has been evalu-
ated in each run by the Eq. (10) and (11) (Meikap et al., 2002a,
Fig. 3 – Particle size distribution of sample fly ash (Malvern
b; Bandyopadhyay, 2009).
analysis).

Cfly ash−HCl I − Cfly ash−HCl O

observed from the Malvern analysis that particles are in the fly ash−HCl = × 100 (10)
range of 2.8–50 ␮m which is necessary to remove as per EPA Cfly ash−HCl I

norms.
CHCl−fly ash I − CHCl−fly ash O
HCl−fly ash = × 100 (11)
3.2. XRF analysis CHCl−fly ash I

XRF analysis has been done to determine the sample compo- 5. Results and discussion
sition. Fig. 4 shows the different oxide composition present in
fly ash. 5.1. EDX analysis

4. Removal efficiency study of HCl and fly Dried sample, fly ash was first analysed in EDX and then after
ash scrubbing operation, fly ash was collected in the form of slurry
and accumulated in the settler placed at the bottom of the
4.1. Experimental procedure for simultaneous removal scrubber assembly; fly ash was allowed to settle for 30 min in
efficiency of HCl and fly ash the settler. After that, fly ash was dried in an air oven for 30
mints at 80 ◦ C and then again analysed in EDX. Results of EDX
In the present work the simultaneous removal of HCl and fly analysis for the fly ash before and after scrubbing operation
ash with the help of self-priming venturi scrubber is analysed are shown in Fig. 5a, b respectively. From the figure, the pres-
at different gas flow rate, inlet HCl loading, inlet concentration ence of Cl− in the fly ash is observed. Basically, HCl gas was

Fig. 4 – Chemical composition of fly ash in oxide form (XRF analysis).

316 Chemical Engineering Research and Design 1 5 0 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 311–319

Fig. 6 – Effect of throat gas velocity on HCl removal

efficiency at 0.3 × 10−3 kg/m3 of inlet fly ash concentration
and at H = 0.77 m.

Fig. 5 – (a) EDX analysis of sample fly ash before

experiment. (b) EDX analysis of fly ash after experiment.

adsorbed in the surface of fly ash particle at the time of scrub-

bing operation. From the XRF analysis, it is known that the fly
ash particles contain many basic oxides like CaO, MgO, Al 2 O3
etc., they may escalate the absorption rate of acid gas like HCl Fig. 7 – Comparison of removal efficiency of HCl gas in the
on the fly ash surface. presence and absence of fly ash.

5.2. Effect of throat gas velocity and inlet HCl loading means increase in molecular density of HCl gas which dimin-
on HCl removal efficiency in the presence of fly ash particle ishes the distance between the gas molecules. It results in
enhancement of impaction between liquid droplets and gas
The effect of throat gas velocity on HCl gas removal effi- molecules. It causes increase in removal efficiency. Therefore,
ciency at 0.77 m water level in outer cylinder in the presence it can be concluded that the inlet HCl concentration is plays
of 0.3 × 10−3 kg/m3 of fly ash is shown in the Fig. 6. Graphs has important which affects the efficiency significantly. Maximum
been plotted at the H = 0.77 m because maximum efficiency HCl removal efficiency, 98.3% is obtained at the 60 m/s of throat
has obtained at H = 0.77 m. Reason behind this maximum gas velocity, 0.77 m of water height, 500 ppm of inlet HCl con-
efficiency is that longer interaction time of the gas stream centration and 0.3 × 10−3 kg/m3 of inlet fly ash concentration.
when it passes through the water bed surrounding the ven-
turi scrubber in the form of bubbles which does not happen in 5.3. Comparison of removal efficiency of HCl gas in the
a non-submerged condition. presence and absence of fly ash particle
It can be seen from the Fig. 6, even after presence of fly ash
the HCl removal efficiency increases with throat gas velocity. To compare the removal efficiency in the presence of fly ash
The absorption rate of HCl gas in scrubbing liquid is very high and absence of fly ash a graphhas been plotted in the Fig. 7,
in the presence of fly ash. Liquid injected at the throat section, kept at identical condition of throat gas velocity, inlet con-
interaction of high speed contaminated air with the entrant centrations and water height in the outer cylinder. Efficiency
liquid, droplet formation occurs that droplets absorbs the HCl obtained for HCl scrubbing in the presence of fly ash is found
gas from the air. High gas velocity enhances the amount of liq- to be more than the efficiency of scrubber in absence of fly
uid entering at the throat section of the venturi scrubber and ash. This happens may be due to three basic reasons: (1) cat-
relative velocity between air and liquid which is responsible alytic activity of fly ash, or (2) enhancement in pH of scrubbing
for the increment in removal efficiency of HCl. liquid in the presence of fly ash or (3) adherence of fly ash par-
It is also shown in the Fig. 6 that with increase in HCl load- ticles to the gas molecules. In the literature (Rajmohan et al.,
ing, the HCl removal efficiency enhances. High HCl loading 2008), it is reported that the gas liquid system is controlled
 Chemical Engineering Research and Design 1 5 0 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 311–319 317

Fig. 8 – Effect of inlet fly ash concentration on removal

efficiency of HCl gas at throat gas velocity of 60 m/s and at
H = 0.77 m. Fig. 9 – Effect of throat gas velocity and inlet fly ash
concentration on fly ash removal efficiency at H = 0.77 m.
by the physical absorptive mass transfer operation. There-
fore, enhancement in overall mass transfer can be a reason to
increase the removal efficiency of HCl gas by catalytic activ-
ity. On the other hand, it is also reported that the pH does
not change appreciably for the presence of fly ash in aqueous
medium. Therefore, increment in efficiency can be explained
by the phenomena of adsorption of HCl gas on the fly ash
particle which adheres to the gas bubbles which follows the
observation reported by Vinke et al. (1992).

5.4. Effect of inlet fly ash concentration on HCl

removal efficiency

Fig. 8 shows the effect of inlet fly ash concentration on the

HCl gas removal efficiency. It is clear from the figure that the
absorption of HCl gas increases with the fly ash loading. This
is because higher fly ash concentration gives more number
active area for adsorption of HCl gas.

5.5. Effect of throat gas velocity and inlet fly ash Fig. 10 – Effect of inlet HCl loading on fly ash removal
concentration on removal efficiency of fly ash efficiency.

Effect of throat gas velocity and inlet fly ash concentration on

fly ash removal efficiency at various fly ash concentrations and
at 0.77 m water height is shown in the Fig. 9. Fig. 9 reveals that 6. Development of empirical model to
the fly ash removal efficiency increases with throat gas veloc- estimate the removal efficiency of HCl gas in
ity. It is reported in the literature (Bandyopadhyay, 2009) that the presence of fly ash
in the venturi scrubber system, particle mainly captured by
inertial impaction, interception etc. Efficiency gets increased 6.1. Non submerged condition
by the higher rate of collision between the particles with the
liquid droplets at the higher throat gas velocity. Maximum fly As we know in case of non-submerged condition, removal
ash removal efficiency, 99.91% was obtained at 60 m/s of throat occurs only at throat section of venturi scrubber. The parame-
gas velocity, 0.77 m of water level height, 0.3 × 10−3 kg/m3 inlet ters that could possibly affect the removal efficiency of HCl in
fly ash concentration and 500 ppm of inlet HCl concentration. the presence of fly ash are throat diameter (dth ),height of the
throat (hth ),throat velocity (Vth ),flow rate of liquid entered at
5.6. Effect of inlet HCl loading on fly ash removal throat section (Ql ), density of scrubbing liquid(␳l ), viscosity of
efficiency scrubbing liquid(␮l ), density of gas (␳g ), viscosity of gas(␮g ),
inlet HCl concentration(CHCl I ), inlet fly ash concentration
Effect of inlet HCl loading on fly ash removal efficiency at var- (Cflyash I ), surface tension of gas-NaOH solution interface (␴),
ious fly ash concentrations and water height at 0.77 m, throat diffusivity of HCl in 0.005 N NaOH solution (DHCl NaOH ),droplet
gas velocity at 60 m/s is shown in the Fig. 10. It is observed diameter (dd ). Therefore, removal efficiency of HCl gas in pres-
from the figure that the there is no effect of inlet HCl loading ence of fly ash is the function of these parameters and can be
on fly ash removal efficiency. expressed as in the Eq. (12).
318 Chemical Engineering Research and Design 1 5 0 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 311–319

HCl−FA = f(dth , Vth , g , Ql , l, , g , dd , DHCl−NaOH ,

l, hth , Cflyash I , CHCl I ) (12)

The droplet diameter was estimated from the

Nukiyama–Tanasawa equation which is given in Eq. (13).
Literature survey revealed that the Nukiyama–Tanasawa
equation predicted the droplet diameter very well.

50 Q 1.5
dd = + 91.8( l ) (13)
ug Qg

Buckingham’s pi theorem has been employed to compute

the dimensionless numbers from the variables.
 a  b
g Vth dth DHCl CHCl
HCl−FA NS = k1 NaOH I
G l
 c  d  e  f  g
Ql Cflyash I l l hth
(14)
Qg g g g dth

Simplified dimensionless analysed equation can be written Fig. 11 – Comparison of experimental and predicted from
as below. the developed model in submerged and non-submerged
condition.
 a b Ql c Cflyash I
d
HCl−FA NS = k Reg (Sc) ( ) ( ) (15)
Qg g The final equation is given in the Eq. (19)

Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to estimate 0.06

h 0.022 Cflyash I
the constants and coefficients of the equation. The resulting HCl−FA s1 = K (Reb )0.41 (Sc)−0.07 ( ) ( ) (19)
db g
equation is shown in the Eq. (16).
The overall equation for the HCl removal in the presence of
 0.34 −0.066 Ql 0.18 Cflyash I
−0.07
HCl−FA NS = 3.62 × Reg (Sc) ( ) ( ) fly ash in submerged condition is presented by below Eq. (20).
Qg g
(16)
 HCl−FA
 HCl−FA

NS s1
HCl−FA S = [1 − 1− 1− ]X 100
100 100
Deviation between experimental and predicted from devel- (20)
oped empirical model for non submerged condition gives
±20%. Deviation between the experimental removal efficiency and
predicted efficiency is ±5.2% giving best possible fit. Compari-
6.2. Submerged condition
son of experimental and predicted from the developed model
in both the case submerged and non-submerged is shown in
In case of submerged condition, removal of HCl gas occurs not
the Fig. 11.
only at throat section but also in the water bed at the outlet of
diffuser. Correlation between the HCl removal efficiency and
effecting parameters in submerged condition is given in the 7. Conclusion
Eq. (17). Many industries like chemical processing industry release par-

a1  b1 ticulate matter along with gaseous pollutants which affect
 V d DHCl CHCl h c1
l b b the human health and environment severely. So, removal
HCl−FA s1 = K1 NaOH IE
( )
l l db of both particulate matter as well as gaseous pollutants is

d1
 e1 very imperative. Therefore, in the present study, simultane-
Cflyash I l ous removal of HCl gas as well as fly ash has been carried
( ) (17)
g g out in a specially designed and fabricated self priming ven-
turi scrubber. Scrubbing of HCl gas and fly ash using 0.005 N
Here, inlet concentration of HCl (CFA IE ) is the outlet HCl con- NaOH solutions as scrubbing liquid was done at various water
centration at the end of diffuser section evaluated from the heights in outer cylinder, throat gas velocities, inlet HCl gas
empirical equation developed for the non-submerged condi- concentrations and inlet fly ash concentrations. Efficiency
tion. h is the distance between the outlet of venturi scrubber in removing of fly ash is found to be function of throat
and liquid height in outer cylinder. Bubble diameter and gas velocity, height of liquid and inlet fly ash concentration.
velocity were calculated by the equation reported in the lit- Maximum HCl removal, 98.3% is achieved at 60 m/s of throat
erature (Bal et al., 2019). gas velocity, 0.77 m of water height, 500 ppm of inlet HCl
concentration and 0.3 × 10−3 kg/m3 of inlet fly ash concentra-
d1
h c1 Cflyash I tion. On the other hand, maximum fly ash removal, 99.91%
HCl−FA s1 = K (Reb )a1 (Sc)b1 ( ) ( ) (18)
db g is obtained at 60 m/s of throat gas velocity, 0.77 m of water
 Chemical Engineering Research and Design 1 5 0 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 311–319 319

height and 0.3 × 10−3 kg/m3 of inlet fly ash concentration. Kim, K.H., Kabir, E., Kabir, S., 2015. A review on the human health
Moreover the scrubbing of HCl gas about 7–10% enhancement impact of airborne particulate matter. Environ. Int. 74,
136–143.
in efficiency was observed in the presence of fly ash due to
Kohl, L., Riesenfeld, F.C., 1985. Gas Purification, second ed.
adsorption of HCl gas on the surface of fly ash particle. Exper-
McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, USA,
imental results verified with developed empirical model which pp. 126–210.
showed excellent fitting for the prediction of HCl removal effi- Kong, Y., Balland, J.P., 2011. Effective removal of HCl and SO2 with
ciency in the presence of fly ash. Thus it can be concluded dry injection of sodium bicarbonate or trona. Proceedings of
that the desired removal of gaseous pollutants along with the 19th Annual North American Waste-to-Energy Conference
the particulate matter can be achieved in self priming venturi (NAWTEC19).
Kraub, M., Rzehak, R., 2017. Reactive absorption of CO2 in NaOH:
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Acknowledgement Kurella, S., Meikap, B.C., 2016. Removal of fly-ash and dust
particulate matters from syngas produced by gasification of
Present work was supported by Department of Chemical coal by using a multi-stage dual-flow sieve plate wet scrubber.
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West J. Environ. Sci. Health A 51 (10), 870–876.
Bengal, India. Levendis, 1998. Simultaneous Control of SO2 , NO2 , HCl, and
Particulates by In-furnace High-temperature Sorbent Injection
and Particulate Removal, U.S. Patent 5785936. Assigned to
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