Patent ID: 7819223

Claim:
A silencer for attenuating noise in a gas separation system, the silencer comprising: a shell; a silencer inlet opening; a plurality of reactive chambers disposed within the shell, each reactive chamber separated from another reactive chamber by a dividing wall, each dividing wall including a plurality of outlet and inlet openings therein, with the outlet and inlet openings dimensioned such that the total area of the outlet openings is about 33% larger than the total area of the inlet openings to effect a low flow velocity and a low pressure drop in the gas separation system, such that a flow velocity at the silencer inlet opening is restricted to an average flow velocity of about under 75 ft/s, while the average flow velocity inside the silencer is kept under about under 15 ft/s; and a plurality of absorptive chambers, wherein the plurality of the absorptive chambers having one or more dividing walls and provide for a serpentine flow channel through the plurality of absorptive chambers; wherein the shell and the dividing walls are formed of concrete and the at least one absorptive chamber is covered with a sound absorbing material to reduce noise levels to below about 90 dBA.