Patent ID: 7563312

Claim:
An aerosol separator comprising: a channel section with an essentially upright vertical axis, in which an aerosol separation structure is arranged into which an exhaust gas is conducted from the bottom end thereof, at least one injection nozzle zone extending over the channel cross-section and having injection nozzles mounted in the channel wall in a circumferentially uniformly spaced relationship disposed in a particular cross-sectional plane, for the addition of an easily vaporizing liquid to the exhaust or raw gas whereby the gas becomes oversaturated, each spray nozzle being so arranged that the respective spray axis is inclined at an angle toward the on-flowing gas, a bundle of tightly packed same type straight tubes arranged in a subsequent downstream channel section so as to extend over the whole channel cross-section and consisting of a process-appropriate inert material, the tubes being supported on a perforated tube support structure which, from a channel center point, extends downwardly to the channel side walls so as to form a cone or pyramid like tube bundle arrangement, the diameter of the tubes being so selected that the Reynolds number of the tube bundle is R e =w×D/v< 2000 and the length of a tube is at least five times the tube diameter D, a gutter extending circumferentially at the inner wall of the channel below the tube support structure for collecting condensate deposited on the tube surfaces and running down along the support structure toward the channel wall, the gutter having a discharge opening extending through the channel wall.