Decontamination of process streams

A method of removing contaminants from a process stream comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of reticulated elements in a vessel, the vessel being located upstream of a process unit in which a substantially decontaminated process stream can be processed and the reticulated elements having a pore distribution range of about 4 to 800 pores per linear inch;
• randomly packing the plurality of reticulated elements within the vessel whereby the plurality of reticulated elements provides enhanced filtration of contaminants within a process stream on a surface of the plurality of reticulated elements;
• providing filter media in a layer downstream of the plurality of reticulated elements, the filter media acting as an indicator to signal a pressure drop increase across the conventional filter media, the pressure drop increase being indicative of exhaustion of the filtering capacity of both the plurality of reticulated elements and the filter media;
• contacting the contaminated process stream with the plurality of reticulated elements and the filter media to remove contaminants from the contaminated process stream in a non-reactive manner while allowing the contaminated process stream to pass unimpeded through the plurality of reticulated elements thereby producing a substantially decontaminated process stream;
• and
• sending the substantially decontaminated process stream to a downstream process unit for further processing.