What Is a Venturi Scrubber?

A venturi scrubber is a type of wet scrubber designed to clean gases. Solid materials or otherwise valuable materials that are contained in high concentrations in slurries can also be recycled using venturi scrubbers. They are employed to collect fine or coarse particulate, which includes particles with a diameter under 0.00004 inches (0.001 millimeter) that are high in moisture or sticky. To ensure proper operation, a venturi scrubber must be carefully designed.

A converging section, a diverging section, and a throat section make up the main sections of the traditional venturi scrubber. When dirty gas is forced through the system's converging section and throat, the gas collides with scrubbing water. Through diffusion and impaction, water droplets can capture certain particles held within the gases. After this process is complete, dirty water is discharged into a recycling tank.

These devices are widely employed in various industries involved in chemical processing. They are very effective at removing fine particles from hazardous, corrosive, or volatile gas streams. These scrubbers can also be used to reduce particles in industrial gas streams and gas streams that contain difficult to handle solid materials.

A venturi scrubber can offer between 95 and 98.5 percent collection efficiency, depending on whether a three-, four-, or five-stage scrubber is employed. Five-stage systems generally offer higher collection efficiency percentages. Since they are continuously wet, venturi systems are not prone to clogging, scaling, or plugging.

Processing a high percentage of particulate under 0.00002 inches (0.0005 millimeters) involves a pressure drop and a lot of energy. Venturi scrubbers may be inefficient devices for collecting particles that are smaller in diameter than this. For applications involving these ultra-fine particles, a cloud chamber scrubber is more efficient than a venturi scrubber. A cloud chamber scrubber is also linked with a lower operating cost.

Many manufacturers produce venturi scrubbers that feature a quench section, which is designed to accommodate gas streams that are high in temperature. High-temperature gas streams include gas streams from glass manufacturing, casting, sintering, and incineration. Manufacturers make venturi scrubber models that can accommodate either horizontal or vertical scroll outlets. They can create custom venturi system with a capacity to handle flows up to 300,000 cubic feet per minute (8,495 cubic meters per minute).

Several manufacturers make venturi scrubbers that feature compact design and horizontal venturi sections. Throats can be fixed or adjustable and feature multiple or single blades. Water can be injected into many venturi scrubber system through spray nozzles. To minimize wear, flooded elbow inlets can also be fitted into these systems.