The Role of Packing Media in a Scrubber Performance Removing Sulfuric Acid Mists

The mass-transfer media plays a significant role on the performance of a packed tower. In this paper three counter-current single-stage packed towers at laboratory scale, randomly packed with two different sizes of two types of packing material were experimentally tested to study the role of the packing on the performance of them in the removal of sulfuric acid mists. Gas samples were extracted from specified points and quantified using US EPA method 8. All required steps were taken in order to comply with quality assurance procedures described in US EPA method 8. The results from 98 tests in four series including two types of packing materials each in two packing sizes revealed that 1.27 cm (0.5 inch) Raschig ring and Intalox saddle had higher removal efficiencies (94.0% and 92.3% respectively) than 2.54 cm Raschig ring and Intalox saddle (86.8 and 81.8% respectively). The statistical comparison of the average removal efficiencies showed that there was no significant difference (Pvalue = 0.344) between the average removal efficiency of the tower packed with 1.27 cm Intalox saddle and 1.27 cm Raschig ring. The highest removal efficiency of 98.2% was obtained at Hc/Dc ratio of 3 for 1.27 cm Raschig rings. The highest removal performance versus gas flow rate over packing volume (Qgas/Vpack) ratio was obtained with average removal efficiency of 95.0% for 1.27 cm Raschig rings. It was concluded that 1.27 cm Raschig rings performed the best for removal of sulfuric acid mists from air stream using packed bed caustic scrubbers.