Using liquid desiccant as a regenerable filter for capturing and deactivating contaminants

An apparatus for conditioning air and for capturing and deactivating biological and chemical contaminants in the air, comprising:

• a filter with a plurality of contact surfaces;
• an electronic air filter with surfaces adapted for charging the contaminants and collection surfaces electrically enhanced for attracting the charged contaminants;
• an air intake in communication with the filter gathering the air and directing the air to the filter;
• a distribution manifold distributing a liquid desiccant with a concentration of salt to the filter at a flow rate to wet the contact surfaces with the liquid desiccant;
• a conditioner sump for collecting the liquid desiccant that has passed through the filter and that has captured at least a portion of the contaminants from the air;
• a recirculation pump connected to the conditioner sump for pumping the liquid desiccant with the captured contaminants to the distribution manifold;
• and
• a regenerator linked to the conditioner sump for withdrawing diluted portions of the liquid desiccant from the sump and for returning the withdrawn liquid desiccant in a regenerated form, wherein the regenerator includes a heater for applying heat to the liquid desiccant and a regenerative filter for removing moisture from the heated liquid desiccant.

A ventilation system for purifying and dehumidifying air having one or more contaminants, comprising:

• a volume of liquid desiccant comprising water and a concentration of a salt;
• a conditioner including:
• an air intake for directing the air into the conditioner;
• a filter media comprising corrosion-resistant packing arranged with a void fraction creating a plurality of flow paths for the liquid desiccant and the air defined by contact surfaces;
• a conditioner sump below the filter media for collecting the liquid desiccant;
• and a recirculation pump for pumping the liquid desiccant from the conditioner sump to a distribution device above the filter media at a flow rate selected to be large enough to substantially wet the contact surfaces with the liquid desiccant, wherein the liquid desiccant captures a portion of the contaminants from the air;
• a capture filter between the conditioner sump and the filter media and a filter heater for heating the liquid desiccant within the capture filter to a deactivation temperature;
• and
• a regenerator in fluid communication with the conditioner to receive a dilute portion of the liquid desiccant from the conditioner sump and to return regenerated liquid desiccant to the conditioner sump, wherein the regenerator includes a regenerator heater for heating the diluted portion to a regeneration temperature and a filter for removing moisture from the heated portion to generate the regenerated liquid desiccant;
• wherein the captured contaminants in the liquid desiccant are at least partially deactivated.

A method of purifying and conditioning a stream of air containing contaminants, comprising:

• wetting a filter packing media with a liquid desiccant comprising a concentration of a salt;
• directing the stream of air to flow through the wetted filter packing media;
• ionizing the contaminants in the stream of air and electrostatically precipitating the ionized contaminants from the stream of air;
• concurrently with the directing, capturing a fraction of the contaminants in the stream of air in the liquid desiccant;
• concurrently with the capturing, dehumidifying the stream of air with the liquid desiccant in the filter packing media;
• deactivating at least a portion the captured contaminants including heating at least a portion of the liquid desiccant with the captured contaminants to a deactivation temperature;
• regenerating the liquid desiccant including applying a quantity of heat and removing moisture from the liquid desiccant;
• and
• repeating the wetting with the regenerated liquid desiccant.

A method of purifying and conditioning a stream of air containing contaminants, comprising:

• wetting a filter packing media with a liquid desiccant comprising a concentration of a salt;
• directing the stream of air to flow through the wetted filter packing media;
• concurrently with the directing, capturing a fraction of the contaminants in the stream of air in the liquid desiccant;
• concurrently with the capturing, dehumidifying the stream of air with the liquid desiccant in the filter packing media;
• deactivating at least a portion the captured contaminants including heating at least a portion of the liquid desiccant with the captured contaminants to a deactivation temperature;
• regenerating the liquid desiccant including applying a quantity of heat and removing moisture from the liquid desiccant;
• and
• repeating the wetting with the regenerated liquid desiccant, wherein the captured contaminants include anthrax spores.

An apparatus for conditioning air and for capturing and deactivating biological and chemical contaminants in the air, comprising:

• a filter with a plurality of contact surfaces;
• an air intake in communication with the filter gathering the air and directing the air to the filter;
• a distribution manifold distributing a liquid desiccant with a concentration of salt to the filter at a flow rate to wet the contact surfaces with the liquid desiccant;
• a pair of capture filters upstream of the distribution manifold, a valve for selectively directing flow away from one of the capture filters, and a filter heater contacting the capture filters for applying heat to the one capture filter to raise the temperature of the liquid desiccant in the one capture filter to a deactivation temperature selected for deactivating the captured contaminants;
• a conditioner sump for collecting the liquid desiccant that has passed through the filter and that has captured at least a portion of the contaminants from the air;
• a recirculation pump connected to the conditioner sump for pumping the liquid desiccant with the captured contaminants to the distribution manifold;
• and
• a regenerator linked to the conditioner sump for withdrawing diluted portions of the liquid desiccant from the sump and for returning the withdrawn liquid desiccant in a regenerated form, wherein the regenerator includes a heater for applying heat to the liquid desiccant and a regenerative filter for removing moisture from the heated liquid desiccant.

An apparatus for conditioning air and for capturing and deactivating biological and chemical contaminants in the air, comprising:

• a filter with a plurality of contact surfaces;
• an air intake in communication with the filter gathering the air and directing the air to the filter;
• a distribution manifold distributing a liquid desiccant with a concentration of salt to the filter at a flow rate to wet the contact surfaces with the liquid desiccant;
• a conditioner sump for collecting the liquid desiccant that has passed through the filter and that has captured at least a portion of the contaminants from the air;
• a recirculation pump connected to the conditioner sump for pumping the liquid desiccant with the captured contaminants to the distribution manifold;
• and
• a regenerator linked to the conditioner sump for withdrawing diluted portions of the liquid desiccant from the sump and for returning the withdrawn liquid desiccant in a regenerated form, wherein the regenerator includes a heater for applying heat to the liquid desiccant and a regenerative filter for removing moisture from the heated liquid desiccant, and wherein the regenerator further includes a slipstream heater in parallel to the regenerator heater and a valve for directing a portion of the withdrawn liquid desiccant to the slipstream heater, the slipstream heater heating to at least partially deactivate the contaminants in the directed portion.

An apparatus for conditioning air and for capturing and deactivating biological and chemical contaminants in the air, comprising:

• a filter with a plurality of contact surfaces;
• an inertial filtration enhancement insert positioned in contact with the filter adapted to create turbulent flow in the air in the filter adjacent sidewalls of the insert and to direct the liquid desiccant to contact the turbulently flowing air;
• an air intake in communication with the filter gathering the air and directing the air to the filter;
• a distribution manifold distributing a liquid desiccant with a concentration of salt to the filter at a flow rate to wet the contact surfaces with the liquid desiccant;
• a conditioner sump for collecting the liquid desiccant that has passed through the filter and that has captured at least a portion of the contaminants from the air;
• a recirculation pump connected to the conditioner sump for pumping the liquid desiccant with the captured contaminants to the distribution manifold;
• and
• a regenerator linked to the conditioner sump for withdrawing diluted portions of the liquid desiccant from the sump and for returning the withdrawn liquid desiccant in a regenerated form, wherein the regenerator includes a heater for applying heat to the liquid desiccant and a regenerative filter for removing moisture from the heated liquid desiccant.

An apparatus for conditioning air and for capturing and deactivating biological and chemical contaminants in the air, comprising:

• a filter with a plurality of contact surfaces;
• an air intake in communication with the filter gathering the air and directing the air to the filter;
• a pretreatment device positioned downstream of the air intake and configured to pretreat the gathered air prior to directing the air to the filter with a treatment selected from the group of treatments consisting of fogging the gathered air, applying additives to the contaminants in the gathered air, and condensing the gathered air;
• a distribution manifold distributing a liquid desiccant with a concentration of salt to the filter at a flow rate to wet the contact surfaces with the liquid desiccant;
• a conditioner sump for collecting the liquid desiccant that has passed through the filter and that has captured at least a portion of the contaminants from the air;
• a recirculation pump connected to the conditioner sump for pumping the liquid desiccant with the captured contaminants to the distribution manifold;
• and
• a regenerator linked to the conditioner sump for withdrawing diluted portions of the liquid desiccant from the sump and for returning the withdrawn liquid desiccant in a regenerated form, wherein the regenerator includes a heater for applying heat to the liquid desiccant and a regenerative filter for removing moisture from the heated liquid desiccant.

A ventilation system for purifying and dehumidifying air having one or more contaminants, comprising:

• a volume of liquid desiccant comprising water and a concentration of a salt;
• a conditioner including:
• an air intake for directing the air into the conditioner;
• a filter media comprising corrosion-resistant packing arranged with a void fraction creating a plurality of flow paths for the liquid desiccant and the air defined by contact surfaces;
• a conditioner sump below the filter media for collecting the liquid desiccant;
• and a recirculation pump for pumping the liquid desiccant from the conditioner sump to a distribution device above the filter media at a flow rate selected to be large enough to substantially wet the contact surfaces with the liquid desiccant, wherein the liquid desiccant captures a portion of the contaminants from the air;
• and
• a regenerator in fluid communication with the conditioner to receive a dilute portion of the liquid desiccant from the conditioner sump and to return regenerated liquid desiccant to the conditioner sump, wherein the regenerator includes a regenerator heater for heating the diluted portion to a regeneration temperature and a filter for removing moisture from the heated portion to generate the regenerated liquid desiccant, wherein the regenerator further includes a slipstream heater in parallel to the regenerator heater for heating at least a fraction of the diluted portion to a temperature greater than the heated portion exiting the regenerative heater, whereby at least a portion of the contaminants are deactivated;
• wherein the captured contaminants in the liquid desiccant are at least partially deactivated.

A ventilation system for purifying and dehumidifying air having one or more contaminants, comprising:

• a volume of liquid desiccant comprising water and a concentration of a salt;
• a conditioner including:
• an air intake for directing the air into the conditioner;
• a filter media comprising corrosion-resistant packing arranged with a void fraction creating a plurality of flow paths for the liquid desiccant and the air defined by contact surfaces;
• a conditioner sump below the filter media for collecting the liquid desiccant;
• and a recirculation pump for pumping the liquid desiccant from the conditioner sump to a distribution device above the filter media at a flow rate selected to be large enough to substantially wet the contact surfaces with the liquid desiccant, wherein the liquid desiccant captures a portion of the contaminants from the air, wherein the conditioner includes a charger upstream of the filter media for ionizing the contaminants in the air and a set of collection surfaces electronically enhanced to attract and collect the ionized contaminants;
• and
• a regenerator in fluid communication with the conditioner to receive a dilute portion of the liquid desiccant from the conditioner sump and to return regenerated liquid desiccant to the conditioner sump, wherein the regenerator includes a regenerator heater for heating the diluted portion to a regeneration temperature and a filter for removing moisture from the heated portion to generate the regenerated liquid desiccant;
• wherein the captured contaminants in the liquid desiccant are at least partially deactivated.