Determination of Air Pollutants Removal Efficiency by Wet Packed Scrubber System

Abstract

Wet packed scrubber system is one of the considering air pollution control technology. Its high removal efficiency has been recognized by many studies. However, different type of biomass sources and different type of wet scrubber may produce different desirable result. Considering on the emission of biomass burning type in Cambodia, this study aims to investigate the performance removal efficiency of particulate matter from biomass burning using wet packed scrubber system. The laboratory scale of wet packed scrubber system was designed to meet the current requirement of Cambodia’s biomass emission. One kilogram of each type of biomasses (wood, rice straw, mango seed and mango skin) were burning for 15 minutes in an open burning combustion chamber, designed of 1m×1m steel sample tray, by which the exhaust smoke was treated in the wet packed scrubber system. To study the optimization removal efficiency of the system, three scenarios are proposed. T0 is the condition of biomass burning without treatment. T1 is the condition that exhaust smoke is treated with spray water in the system. T2 is the condition that exhaust smoke is treated with spray water combined with the activated carbon as a packing material in the system. The result show that the removal efficiency is great in T3 scenario in mango seed sample. For other samples, the result was not conclusive as the removal efficiency in each sample was not consistency. The high removal efficiency of particulate matter in mango seed was 70.12% for PM10, 69.79% for PM2.5, and 71.53% for PM1. To enhance the quality of research, some aspects require further improvement to achieve the optimal outcome. Since biomass burning remains the main source of boiler energy, there is a need to develop more-cost effective and simpler emission control technologies that can diminish air contaminant before release.