Method and apparatus for agglomeration

An apparatus for selectively separating contaminants in a gas, the apparatus comprising:

• an inlet for receiving a flow of a gas into a chamber;
• a virtual impactor positioned within the chamber for separating the gas flow into a first flow stream comprised primarily of particles of a first size and a second flow stream comprised primarily of particles of a second size that is larger than the first size, the virtual imnpactor comprising a nozzle configured to receive the gas flow from the inlet and accelerate the gas flow, at least one primary pathway entrance positioned at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the nozzle for receiving the first flow stream, and a secondary pathway entrance positioned downstream of the at least one primary pathway and aligned with the longitudinal axis of the nozzle for receiving the second gas flow stream;
• primary pathway extending from the primary pathway entrance;
• secondary pathway extending from the secondary pathway entrance and positioned adjacent to the primary pathway;
• an ionization means positioned within each of the primary pathway and the secondary pathway and configured to impart an electrical charge of a given polarity on the particles of the first gas flow stream and impart an electrical charge of an opposite polarity on the particles of the second gas flow stream;
• an agglomeration region positioned within the chamber and downstream of the ionization region, the agglomeration region extending from a downstream end of each of the primary pathway and the secondary pathway and configured to receive the first flow stream of the primary pathway and the second flow stream of the secondary pathway and facilitate the agglomeration of particles of the first size with particles of the second size;
• and
• an outlet for exhausting the flow of gas out of the chamber.

An apparatus for selectively separating contaminants in a gas, the apparatus comprising:

• an inlet for receiving a primary flow of a gas having particles dispersed therein into a chamber, the particles being of a first size;
• a primary pathway positioned within the chamber to receive the primary gas flow from the inlet, the primary pathway having an ionization region with a first charging area to impart an electrical charge on the particles of the first size;
• a secondary pathway positioned within the chamber to receive a secondary gas flow having particles of a second size dispersed therein, the particles of the second size being larger than the particles of the first size and having an electrical charge that is opposite of that of the particles of the first size;
• an agglomeration region positioned within the chamber and configured to receive the primary gas flow from the primary pathway and the secondary gas flow from the secondary pathways and facilitate the agglomeration of particles of the first size with particles of the second size;
• and
• an outlet for exhausting the flow of gas out of the chamber.

A method for agglomerating particles of differing sizes, the method comprising the steps of:

• introducing a gaseous flow having particles dispersed therein into a chamber;
• separating the gaseous flow into a first gas flow stream comprised primarily of particles of a first size and a second gas flow stream comprised primarily of particles of a second size that is larger than the first size;
• ionizing the first and second gas flow streams by imparting an electrical charge on the particles of the first gas flow stream and imparting an electrical charge on the particles of the second gas flow stream that is opposite of that of the particles of the first gas flow stream;
• recombining the first and second gas flow streams and agglomerating the particles of the first size with particles of the second size;
• and
• exhausting the gaseous flow out of the chamber.