Air pollution control
Nederman MikroPul has been a pioneer worldwide in wet scrubbers, solving air pollution control problems across heavy industry. Our scrubbers are engineered to greater than 99% efficiency and configured to your process - in mild steel, FRP or stainles steel.
Common things to know
Answers to common questions about industrial wet scrubbers
The Basics
A wet scrubber is an air pollution control device that removes particulate matter, acid gases, fumes, and odors from an industrial gas stream by bringing that stream into intimate contact with a scrubbing liquid.
Where a dry collector traps dust on a filter medium, a wet scrubber transfers the contaminant into liquid. Particles are captured when they collide with droplets. Gasses are captured by absorption into the liquid, often with a reagent that neutralizes them chemically. The wetted contaminant is then separated from the gas stream and drained away as a slurry, and clean gas leaves the unit.
That is the difference why wet scrubbers are selected for duties dry collection struggles with: sticky or hygroscopic dusts, high gas temperatures, combustible or explosive dusts, condensing moisture, and gas streams where particulate and acid gas have to be removed together.
Reagent selection depends on the chemistry being treated. Common choices include caustic (NaOH), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), phosphoric acid and sodium hypochlorite.
We can optimize wet scrubber performance and design for your application which can achieve > 99% efficiency. Our wet scrubbers can be configured to meet your requirements and are available in mild steel, FRP, or stainless steel.
Nederman MikroPul has been a pioneer worldwide in providing wet scrubbers to solve air pollution control problems for almost 50 years. We offer designs to meet almost any requirement — in several configurations and a full range of sizes. Numerous materials of construction include carbon steel, plastics/FRP, and exotic alloy steels. Nederman MikroPul has the demonstrated capability to engineer a wet scrubber system that efficiently meets your needs.
Principle of operation
Every wet scrubber does the same four things - contact, capture, separate, drain. What changes between technologies is how the energy for that contact is supplied: gas velocity through a venturi throat, a rotating atomizer wheel, a wetted fan, or the surface area of a packed bed.
Dust-laden gas enters the scrubber and is brought into contact with scrubbing liquid introduced into the gas stream.
Energy input - velocity, rotation or packing surface - breaks the liquid into find droplets and disperses them across the full flow cross-section.
Particles collide with droplets and are wetted; soluble gasses are absorbed into the liquid phase and neutralized by the reagent.
Centrifugal action and inertial separation pull the heavy wetted particles out of the gas stream toward the vessel walls.
The dust and liquid mixture is washed down the walls and drains from the bottom of the separator as slurry.
A mist eliminator or demisting vane removes residual droplets, and cleaned gas exists the unit.
Continuous blow-down with fresh water makeup keeps solids concentration under control and reduces downtime. Several Nederman MikroPul designs, including the Mikro-Vane scrubber, are built to tolerate high solids content in the recycled water.
Product Range
Our designs are offered in several configurations and a full range of sizes. Each technology solves a different combination of particle size, inlet loading, gas chemistry, and available pressure drop.
Accelerates contaminated gas through an adjustable throat where it collides with scrubbing liquid, trapping the sub-micron particles other collectors miss. the wet-approach design introduces liquid tangentially, so the stream swirls along the converging walls before the throat.
A dynamic wet scrubber with an integral wetted fan, removing dust, aerosols and gasses in a single unit. Widely applied in metals and chemical processing, plus dust control on spray drying and incineration plants, and odor control duty.
Built for heavy inlet dust loading with no moving parts at all. The vane design holds collection efficiency up while keeping water consumption, water pressure and maintenance demand low.
A rotating atomizer wheel sends centrally supplied liquid through guide vanes to form a thin film, which breaks into fine droplets at the wheel's outer edge — creating a liquid curtain across the entire flow cross-section. Droplet size is set by wheel speed and liquid flow rate.
A cost effective solution for treating gaseous pollutants. Packed bed scrubbers neutralize a wide range of contaminants and handle high concentrations of both acidic and basic species, in a compact vessel with low capital cost.
Completely engineered systems combining multiple scrubber technologies in one vessel — a packed tower with integral venturi and chimney tray keeping separate liquid loops, or a Multi-Venturi rod deck ahead of a dynamic or Mikro-Vane stage.
Selection Guide
Wet scrubber comparison — specifications as published on each product page
| Technology | Primary target | Stated efficiency | Pressure drop | Distinguishing trait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venturi | Sub-micron particulate, PM2.5 | 99.9%+ | - | Adjustable throat; handles high temperature and high dust loading |
| Dynamic | Dust, aerosols and gases together | High on solids and gases | max 1.2 kPa (5 in. w.g.) | Integral wetted fan; multiple scrubbing stages |
| Mikro-Vane | High inlet dust loading | 99+% at ~5 µm | 1.2 kPa (5 in. w.g.) | No moving parts; tolerates high solids in recycle water |
| Rotary (MRW) | Fine dust, harmful gases, odors | - | - | Atomizer wheel; low fresh water use; vertical or horizontal |
| Packed bed | Acidic and basic gases | - | - | Inlet gas up to 1800°F; compact, low capital cost |
| Two stage | Particulate and gas in one train | Higher than single stage | Lower than equivalent separate stages | Optional quench and condensing sections |
Dashes indicate figures not published on the corresponding product page. Request the technical data sheet for application-specific performance.
Wet scrubbers are configured to your requirements in mild steel, FRP or stainless steel. A wide choice of construction options lets the vessel be matched to the process chemistry rather than the other way around.
Common reagents include caustic (NaOH), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), phosphoric acid and sodium hypochlorite. Selection depends on the chemical being treated.
Venturis can be arranged in series where more complete particle removal is needed than a single stage can achieve. The Multi-Venturi rod deck reaches higher efficiencies at lower pressure drops, with a two-stage demisting zone that removes 90% of water before the final demist vanes.
Technology comparison
A baghouse or cartridge collector separates dust onto a filter medium and discharges it dry. A wet scrubber transfers it into liquid. Neither is universally better — the process decides.
Wet scrubbing earns its place where the gas stream is hot, humid, sticky, corrosive or combustible, or where a gaseous pollutant has to be absorbed alongside the dust. It also takes up less room: MikroPul venturi scrubbers occupy a smaller footprint than comparable dry collection equipment.
The trade is a liquid effluent stream to manage and, on high-efficiency designs, the energy cost of pressure drop. Continuous blow-down with fresh water makeup keeps the recirculating liquid within specification and reduces downtime.
Where are they used
MikroPul wet scrubbers are installed across heavy industry — anywhere a process gas stream carries dust, fume or gas that has to be removed before it reaches the stack.
Uranium, copper and zinc ore processing, potash minerals, lime kilns and lime shakers, dissolving tanks, flotation cells and general dedusting.
Fume and particulate capture across metals processing, including HCl and particulate removal in aluminum refining.
Dryers and polypropylene dryers, calcining, reagent preparation, autoclave and fertilizer duty, spray drying plants.
Waste incineration, combustion applications, crematory emissions and odor control.
Support
Evaluation of your existing air pollution control equipment and process conditions before anything is specified.
OEM parts for MikroPul scrubbers, keeping performance and warranty conditions intact.
Scheduled and corrective field service to keep collection efficiency and pressure drop where they were designed to be.
A wet scrubber is used to remove particulate matter, acid and basic gases, fumes and odors from an industrial gas stream before it is discharged. It works by bringing the gas into contact with a scrubbing liquid, so contaminants transfer out of the gas and into the liquid, which is then drained away as slurry.
That depends on the design. A MikroPul venturi scrubber is rated at 99.9%+ efficiency on sub-micron particles, with particulate removal above 99.9% for PM2.5. The Mikro-Vane scrubber is rated at 99+% collection efficiency around the 5 micron size range while handling much heavier inlet dust loading. Rotary scrubbers target fine dust alongside gases and odors.
A dry collector such as a baghouse separates dust onto a filter medium and discharges it dry. A wet scrubber transfers the contaminant into a liquid instead. Wet scrubbing suits hot, humid, sticky, corrosive or combustible gas streams, and is the practical choice when a gaseous pollutant has to be absorbed at the same time as dust is collected. Wet scrubbers also occupy a smaller footprint than comparable dry collection equipment. The trade-off is a liquid effluent stream to manage.
Reagent selection depends on the chemistry being treated. Common choices include caustic (NaOH), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), phosphoric acid and sodium hypochlorite. Continuous blow-down with fresh water makeup controls solids concentration in the recirculating liquid.
Venturi scrubbers handle high inlet gas temperatures as part of their normal duty, and the packed bed scrubber accommodates inlet gas temperatures up to 1800°F. Two stage systems can include a quench section specifically to bring elevated inlet temperatures down before the pollutant removal stage.
It varies by technology. The MikroPul dynamic scrubber operates at a maximum pressure drop of 1.2 kPa (5 in. w.g.), and the Mikro-Vane scrubber at the same 1.2 kPa figure. Venturi scrubbers trade pressure drop for sub-micron efficiency and are set by throat position. Two stage designs are built specifically to reach higher efficiencies at lower pressure drops than an equivalent train of separate units. Request the data sheet for figures against your gas volume and loading.
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