Scrubber for the treatment of flue gases

A novel scrubber equipment for treatment of flue gases from a power generation, metallurgical or chemical plant conducted process, in order to absorb acidic impurities from the flue gases into a liquid being a water-based solution, without substantial precipitation of a solid, said scrubber equipment comprising:

• (a) a horizontal chamber having a basically rectangular cross section through which flue gases flow, said horizontal chamber divided along a horizontal axis into at least two compartments by a vertically-draining demister;
• (b) a liquid-collecting sump disposed with each compartment;
• (c) a pump disposed with each compartment to remove liquid from said sump disposed with said compartment to at least two spray nozzles disposed in said compartment to provide, “falling curtains” of the liquid that are perpendicular to the flue gas flow so the liquid drains back into the sump;
• (d) the liquid sumps of the different compartments are arranged so that excess liquid from one compartment overflows into the previous one, without possibility of liquid back-flow, the liquid from the liquid sump of the first compartment overflows into a collecting tank, and water or a process solution is introduced in the last compartment so that solutions of increasing concentrations are obtained in the overflows from the different compartments and a concentrated final solution is obtained in the sump of the first compartment;
• wherein the flue gases entering said horizontal chamber at one end and exiting at the other end are thoroughly washed by the liquid in said compartments with the liquid having different controlled concentrations of the water-based solution in different compartments.