Patent ID: 8317901

Claim:
A filter apparatus configured to process a gas including nanoparticles suspended therein, the filter apparatus having a gas intake and a gas output, and a flow direction extending from the gas intake to the gas output, the filter apparatus comprising: a piezoelectric ultrasonic plume generator that is positioned downstream of the gas intake in the flow direction, wherein the plume generator is adapted to receive the gas via the gas intake and configured to produce a plume of liquid droplets suspended in the received gas; a mixing chamber that is positioned downstream of the plume generator in the flow direction, wherein the mixing chamber is configured to receive and mix the plume of liquid droplets suspended in the received gas and the nanoparticles suspended therein to generate a mixture, wherein the mixture comprises gas and nanoparticles that are adhesively bonded to the suspended liquid droplets; a cyclonic separator that is positioned downstream of the mixing chamber, the cyclonic separator comprising a substantially conical cavity narrowing in diameter in the flow direction, and configured to produce cyclonic spinning of the gas to separate the suspended liquid droplets from the gas and to emit the separated gas to the gas output; wherein the filter apparatus is further configured to re-use, in the plume generator, liquid collected from the cyclonic separator; and a second stage filter configured to remove nanoparticles from liquid collected from the cyclonic separator, wherein the second stage filter is configured to allow a selected amount of nanoparticles to remain in the collected liquid to be re-used in the plume generator, to promote adhesion between liquid droplets and nanoparticles in the mixing chamber.