Ducon Wet Scrubbers for Particulate and Acid Gas Control

What Are Ducon Wet Scrubbers?

Ducon Wet Scrubbers are industrial air-pollution-control systems designed to remove particulate matter, fumes, acid gases, and other contaminants from process exhaust streams.

The system brings contaminated gas into contact with water or a chemically treated scrubbing liquid. During this contact, particulate matter is captured by liquid droplets or wetted surfaces, while soluble gases are absorbed into the liquid and, when required, neutralized using the proper chemical reagent.

Ducon wet scrubbers can be designed for dust collection, gas cooling, acid-gas absorption, fume control, and combined particulate-and-gas removal applications.

How Does a Wet Scrubber Work?

The contaminated gas enters the scrubber and comes into contact with scrubbing liquid through sprays, wetted vanes, liquid pools, venturi sections, or packed media.

Particulate matter is collected by impaction, interception, and diffusion. Soluble gases are absorbed into the scrubbing liquid. For acid-gas applications, chemicals such as caustic soda may be added to improve neutralization and removal efficiency.

The cleaned gas passes through a mist eliminator before leaving the scrubber. The recirculating liquid collects in an integral sump or separate tank for reuse, treatment, or discharge.

Pollutants That Can Be Controlled

Ducon wet scrubbers can be designed to control:

• Dust, soot, fly ash, and process particulate
• Abrasive dust and metal fines
• Acid gases such as HCl, SO₂, HF, chlorine, and sulfuric acid mist
• Ammonia and alkaline gases with appropriate scrubbing chemistry
• Fumes, odors, and soluble organic compounds
• Hot, humid, and saturated exhaust gas streams

Actual removal efficiency depends on gas flow, pollutant concentration, particle-size distribution, gas temperature, liquid-to-gas ratio, scrubbing chemistry, pressure drop, and selected scrubber design.

Ducon Wet Scrubber Configurations

UW-3 Dynamic Wet Scrubber

The UW-3 Dynamic Wet Scrubber is commonly used for general industrial particulate, fume, and gas-cooling applications. It is suitable for process exhaust streams containing dust, fumes, or soluble gaseous contaminants.

Typical applications include process ventilation, furnace exhaust, chemical process exhaust, and general industrial dust control.

UW-4 Dynamic Wet Scrubber

The UW-4 Dynamic Wet Scrubber is designed for demanding service conditions involving high particulate loading, abrasive materials, or severe process conditions.

It is commonly selected for foundries, mineral processing, metallurgical operations, abrasive dust applications, and high-temperature exhaust streams.

Multivane Centrifugal Wet Scrubber

The Ducon Multivane Centrifugal Wet Scrubber is primarily used for particulate control, especially where the gas stream contains coarse particles, high dust loading, or sticky particulate.

Its wetted vane design and centrifugal action assist with particle separation. The open internal arrangement can also make it suitable for applications where maintenance access and fouling resistance are important.

Typical applications include wood dust, paper and pulp exhaust, food-processing particulate, coarse mineral dust, grinding operations, and material handling.

Packed-Bed Wet Scrubber

Packed-bed wet scrubbers are generally selected for high-efficiency removal of soluble acid gases or alkaline gases.

The gas passes through wetted packing media that creates a large gas-liquid contact area. The recirculating liquid may use water, caustic soda, sulfuric acid, or another reagent selected for the pollutant chemistry.

Typical applications include HCl, SO₂, chlorine, HF, ammonia, corrosive fumes, and chemical-process exhaust.

Spray Tower or Quench Scrubber

Spray towers are commonly used for gas cooling, quenching, preliminary particulate removal, and absorption of highly soluble gases.

Their open design can be beneficial for hot, sticky, or fouling gas streams and can provide simpler maintenance than a packed-bed scrubber.

How Do You Select the Right Wet Scrubber?

Application Requirement	Recommended Ducon Solution
High dust load or coarse particulate	Multivane Centrifugal Wet Scrubber
Abrasive dust or severe service	UW-4 Dynamic Wet Scrubber
General particulate and fume control	UW-3 Dynamic Wet Scrubber
Fine particulate removal	Dynamic or venturi-type wet scrubber
High-efficiency acid-gas removal	Packed-Bed Wet Scrubber
Hot-gas cooling or quenching	Spray Tower or Quench Scrubber
Particulate plus acid-gas control	Multi-stage system with particulate scrubber and packed-bed absorber

Key Design Considerations

Ducon evaluates the following when selecting and designing a wet scrubber system:

• Gas flow rate, temperature, and humidity
• Pollutant type, concentration, and particle size
• Required outlet emissions
• Available fan static pressure
• Reagent and wastewater requirements
• Pressure drop and recirculation rate
• Materials of construction
• Space limitations and maintenance access

Wet scrubber performance and guarantees should always be based on defined inlet conditions, operating conditions, and applicable test methods.

Materials of Construction

Depending on the application, Ducon wet scrubbers can be manufactured using:

• Carbon steel with coating or lining
• Stainless steel
• FRP
• Polypropylene
• PVC or CPVC
• Rubber-lined steel
• Specialty alloys for severe corrosion or abrasion service

Material selection depends on gas chemistry, liquid chemistry, temperature, chlorides, abrasion, and expected operating life.

Typical System Components

A complete Ducon wet scrubber package may include:

• Scrubber vessel and inlet/outlet transitions
• Spray nozzles, packing, vanes, or other internal components
• Mist eliminator
• Integral sump or recirculation tank
• Recirculation pumps
• Chemical-feed system
• pH, level, flow, and pressure instrumentation
• Makeup-water and blowdown connections
• Fan, motor, controls, supports, and access platforms

Why Choose Ducon Wet Scrubbers?

Ducon provides custom-engineered wet scrubber systems for industrial applications involving particulate, fumes, acid gases, and corrosive exhaust streams.

Multiple wet scrubber configurations allow the system to be matched to the process conditions, pollutant characteristics, required outlet emissions, available pressure drop, and maintenance requirements.

Ducon can provide complete systems including the wet scrubber, recirculation equipment, pumps, instruments, fan, controls, duct transitions, and structural accessories.

Contact Ducon for a Wet Scrubber Evaluation

For a detailed evaluation, provide the gas flow rate, gas temperature, pollutant type, inlet concentration, particulate loading, particle-size distribution, required outlet emission limit, available pressure drop, and any wastewater or chemical limitations.