Apparatus for and method of separating droplets of a liquid from a gas

Claim 1

Apparatus for separating liquid droplets from a gas, comprising an elongate cylindrical chamber having a generally horizontal axis and including a continuous interior wall and a closely spaced coaxial continuous exterior wall, the exterior wall having annularly spaced longitudinal slits substantially parallel to the chamber axis through which liquid carried by the gas may pass out as the gas flows around the chamber, elongated inlet and outlet manifolds annularly spaced apart along the circumference of said chamber, each said manifold having an opening into said chamber of approximately the cross sectional area of the chamber and smaller than the cross section of the manifold and extending along substantially the entire length of and parallel to the chamber axis, a plurality of inlet ducts, for gas under pressure, having axes radial to said chamber and connected to said inlet manifold one after another substantially its full length, each of said ducts housing spray jet means for mixing wash water with incoming gas, and baffle means in said inlet manifold for changing the direction of flow of the incoming gas from a direction radial of the chamber to a direction tangential to the chamber as the incoming gas enters the chamber through said opening in the inlet manifold, whereby incoming gas under pressure mixed with wash water will flow through the inlet ducts into the inlet manifold, strike the baffle means and change from radial direction to enter the chamber tangentially through the inlet manifold opening, flow circumferentially around the chamber in a stream of greater velocity having no stratification and little or no movement longitudinally of the chamber, while liquid droplets are efficiently separated from the stream through said slits, and finally emerge from the chamber through the outlet manifold.