V-tex technology installed at Irish pharma manufacturer to treat reactor off-gases
ERG (Air Pollution Control), of Horsham in the UK, has installed a new V-tex gas scrubber unit at a major pharmaceutical manufacturer in Ireland.
Hot off-gases from the pharmaceutical reactor are pumped tangentially into the V-tex scrubber chamber, where they create a vortex. Simultaneously, caustic liquor is injected into the top of the V-tex chamber via a patented ‘cobra’ nozzle unit that creates a planar atomised spray.
The action of the liquor droplets passing through the gaseous vortex generates intensive gas contact, allowing the caustic to react with and neutralise the acids in the off-gas stream. The neutralised gases are then passed to the facility’s existing stainless steel rich vent system, where the VOCs are treated and recovered.
The V-tex scrubber was constructed from multiple layers of laminated GRP to comply as a category 4 rated pressure vessel operating at up to 4 bar and 90°C. It was then lined with ECTFE (ethylene chloro-trifluoroethlyene) for extra chemical and corrosion resistance. The whole unit had to be ATEX rated for operation in an explosion risk area.
The V-tex scrubber is designed to remove more than 99% of the acidic contaminants and has the flexibility of a high turndown ratio when handling wide variations in the gas flow rate from the reactor. In addition, it has a lower energy consumption than a venturi scrubber, is a compact design, making for easy installation in height restricted or tight locations and has an almost maintenance free operation when compared with packed tower scrubbers owing to the absence of any packing material to foul.