Major pharmaceutical manufacturer selects new gas scrubber to treat reactor off-gases

ERG (Air Pollution Control) Ltd (UK) has installed another new V-tex^TM gas scrubber unit at a major pharmaceutical manufacturer in Ireland.  

Some pharmaceutical manufacturing processes can produce gases laden with aggressive acid and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These must be treated before they can be safely vented to atmosphere. The V-tex^TM scrubber is ideally suited to this tough gas cleaning challenge, and is designed to remove greater than 99% of the acidic contaminants.   Hot off-gases from the pharmaceutical reactor are pumped tangentially into the V-tex^TM scrubber chamber, where they create a vortex. Simultaneously, caustic liquor is injected into the top of the      V-tex^TM 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 design of the V-tex^TM scrubber had to meet tough requirements set by the client. The vessel 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.