Intensification of volatile organic compound absorption in a compact wet scrubber at co-current flow

Three volatile organic compounds (VOC) with no acidic or basic function (butanol, butyraldehyde, methylethylketone), encountered at low concentrations in odorous effluents, were absorbed in water in a compact wet scrubber. This gas-liquid contactor consisted of a wire mesh packing structure where the gas phase flows at high velocity (>12 m s^-1). A very turbulent two-phase downward flow could be observed in the scrubber with dispersed fine droplets (around 10 μm). For compounds showing a good affinity for water, such as butanol, removal efficiencies up to 90% were measured for a short contactor length of 32 cm leading to a gas residence time of 20 ms. However, the removal efficiency of butyraldehyde, which is poorly soluble in water, ranged between 10 and 30%. Mass-transfer modeling was achieved and underlined that working with several small scrubbers in series, fed with an unloaded solution, is effective to improve the removal efficiency. The influences of the VOC/solvent affinity, the contactor length, and the mass-transfer and hydrodynamic parameters on the removal efficiency were evaluated through a sensitivity analysis.