Patent ID: 7604685
Filing Date: 2009-10-20
Classification: B01D

Abstract:
1. A process for the extraction of an unwanted component from a gas, said unwanted component having small droplets in the range of 0.1 to 1 microns, comprising: introducing an extraction liquid into a gas having said unwanted component therein by forming a physical aerosol comprising a plurality of small extraction liquid droplets and the gas; allowing said plurality of extraction liquid droplets to interact with the small droplets in the fluid to cause said extraction liquid droplets to form into a plurality of aerosolized droplets containing said small droplets in the range of 0.1 to 1 microns, said small droplets forming a discontinuous liquid phase within a continuous gas phase; capturing said aerosolized droplets by movement into a porous medium consisting of fibers with dimensions similar to that of said droplets at least one of the dimensions of the fibers in said porous media being in the 0.5 to 2 micron range, said porous media having a specific surface area of greater than 1000 m2/m3 and said fibers of said porous media being wet out by said captured droplets to allow said captured droplets to interact with the small droplets in the fluid to further extract the small droplets from the fluid into said captured droplets; growing said aerosolized droplets into larger droplets containing the small droplets; and gravitationally separating said larger droplets from said gas by the time the gas reaches the outside of said porous medium.