Decarbonating a gas with a wetted filter

A device for decarbonating a flow of gas or gas mixture containing carbon dioxide, this device comprising a vessel provided with an inlet orifice for the gas to be decarbonated, and an outlet orifice for recovering the decarbonated gas, a filtering cartridge containing a CO.sub.2 -absorbent, this filtering cartridge being positioned between said inlet and outlet orifices so as to be traversed by the whole gas flow, the device further comprising means compensating, at least partially, for any decrease in the water content of the CO.sub.2 -absorbent, said compensating means comprising a water source means and at least one element for continuously transferring water from said water source means to said filtering cartridge,

• wherein said water source means is a water containing tank, and
• wherein said element is made of a fibrous material, one end of said element being immersed in the water of said tank and the other end of said element penetrating in the filtering cartridge, said element having a predetermined contact surface with the CO.sub.2 -absorbent in said cartridge, said element providing for water transfer by capillary action.

In a device for decarbonating a gas mixture containing carbon dioxide including a filtering cartridge formed from soda-lime through which the gas mixture to be decarbonated is passed, the improvement comprising compensating means for maintaining the water content of the soda-lime in said filtering cartridge to 10 to 30%, said compensating means comprising a water-containing tank and at least one element for transferring water from said tank to said filtering cartridge said at least one element being so constructed that water is transferred from said tank to said filtering cartridge by capillary action.