HIGH TEMPERATURE QUENCHING (HTQ)

Principles

Using evaporation cooling systems improves the handling and the reliability of the furnace evacuation.

BSE HTQ System provides the most rapid off-gas cooling with highest efficiency.

Concept

The temperature variable gases from the Direct Furnace Evacuation system are cooled down by regulating the amount of injected
atomised water.

This maintains the outlet temperature of the HTQ below the temperature level of the dioxin/furan de-novo-synthesis and protects
the bag house against peak temperatures.

Water amount correlates with the off-gas temperature to ensure a full evaporation of the water in the spray chamber, even at low
temperatures.

Hot gas quench

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o

Evaporation

Distillation and rectification

Vacuum technology

Jet pump technologies

Gas scrubbing technology

Jet scrubbers

Submerged scrubbers

Venturi scrubbers
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Hot gas quench

Columns

Aerosol separators

Questionnaire for GEA Wiegand Gas scrubbing

Membrane filtration

The GEA Wiegand hot gas quench is suited for a safe cooling of flue gases with inlet temperatures of up to 1,300 C and can be combined
with any scrubber type by GEA Wiegand.
The mode of action is based on the principle of quench, i.e. the specific injection of liquid into a hot exhaust gas stream. The hot exhaust gas is cooled
by the evaporation of water in the exhaust gas up to an equilibrium temperature.

Hot gas quench

In order to protect the apparatus from the hot exhaust gases, scrubbing fluid is injected in the entry into the hot gas quench so that a liquid film is built
on the tank wall. The liquid film protects the scrubbing tube from the high gas temperature and prevents existing solid matters from caking/adhering to
the inner side of the tube. The gas flows in the centre of the tube is cooled by liquid which is evenly distributed as a liquid screen over the total cross
section of the tube via flat jet nozzles which are arranged on the circumference. In the event of a malfunction or fault, an emergency water system has
to provide the nozzle systems with water for production of the liquid film and quenching of the gas in order to protect downstream-arranged equipment
against thermal damage.
Special features:
o

wide range of applications

compact construction

designed for high temperatures with high concentrations of noxious substances

optimized liquid repumping, large load range

moderate part-load behaviour

available for any load in the suitable materials

relatively insensitive against pollution

simple geometry with high operational reliability

optimized maintenance expenditure

available incl. safety system

additional protection by means of emergency water system

flexibly, combining and expandable

Principles of quenching by quencher

There are hydrolyzed probes and stem loop structured probes among commonly used probes which make use of quenching
by quencher. Principles of quenching by quencher is being explained in this column by citing the two as examples.

Hydrolyzed Probe
While double-chain structure is formed after hybridization, fluorescent material is being quenched but once probes are
decomposed by exonuclease activity of polymerase, quenching effect is cancelled and fluorescent light is emitted.
Stem Loop Structured Probe
When probes having self-hairpin structure hybridize to the targets, fluorescent light is emitted when quenching effect is
cancelled by elongation from the hair-pin structure.
That means "FRET quenching" of hydrolyzed probes would occur even if fluorescent material and quencher are about 40
base apart, but "Collisional quenching" of stem loop structured probes would not occur unless the two are extremely
adjacent each other.

There are differences in quenching effect between hydrolyzed probes and stem loop structured probes. The length of the
both probes is 20 - 40mer and this difference does not come from difference of chain length.
If referring to the basic principles, quenching by hydrolyzed probe is called "FRET quenching" based on dipole dipole
structure and on the other hand, quenching by stem loop structure is called "Collisional quenching" based on electron
exchange structure,
thus quenching is taking place in the two probes by different system.
That means "FRET quenching" of hydrolyzed probes would occur even if fluorescent material and quencher are about 40
base apart, but "Collisional quenching" of stem loop structured probes would not occur unless the two are extremely
adjacent each other.
That means "FRET quenching" of hydrolyzed probes would occur even if fluorescent material and quencher are about 40
base apart, but "Collisional quenching" of stem loop structured probes would not occur unless the two are extremely
adjacent each other.
By the above mechanism, fluorescent light will not be emitted unless probes are discomposed in the case of hydrolyzed
probes and in the case of stem loop structure , it will switch on luminescent light by forming hairpin structure and it will
switch off luminescent light by canceling hairpin structure.
< Principles of hydrolyzed probe >

< Principle of Stem Loop Structure Probe>

Quenchijg

Introduction
The quench tower and system serves the following functions:

Adiabatic saturation of the incoming gas

Partial cleaning of the gas
Provide residence for the condensation of metallic vapours to facilitate their subsequent
removal in downstream equipment

The tower may be designed to provide a liquid reservoir for operation of the pumps and
holdup of the liquid on shutdown of the system
The traditional quench tower design consisted of an open vessel in which liquid is sprayed to
contact the gas. The gas typically enters the bottom of the tower through a side nozzle and
flows upwards, counter-current to liquid that has been sprayed from the top of the tower. By the
time the gas has reached the top gas outlet, it has been cooled to its adiabatic saturation
temperature. A variation of this design is to have the gas entering the top of the tower and
contacting the liquid co-currently as it travels down through the tower.
A packed tower has also be used as quench tower. The packing provides additional gas-liquid
contact by the film of liquid that forms on the surface of the packing. The use of a packed tower
may further enhance the removal of solids.
A variation of the co-current design is to design the tower as a low pressure drop venturi. Liquid
is fed into the tower above the throat of the venturi section and through sprays located below
the throat. The turbulent contact between the gas and liquid in the throat quenches and cools
the gas and provides some degree of cleaning, however, the design is not meant to remove the
vry fine sub-micron particles.
Quench towers have also been designed using the reverse jet scrubbing principle. The gas
enters the top of the reverse jet scrubber barrel and flows downwards where it contacts a liquid
that has been sprayed from the bottom. At some point in the barrel the momentum of the liquid
is cancelled and a zone of intense mixing and turbulence is created. Highly efficient cooling and
cleaning of the gas is achieved.
Once the gas is cooled it proceeds into the next stages of the gas cleaning system. One of the
key functions of the quench system is the cooling of the gas which allows a change in the
materials of construction from bricklined carbon steel to plastics and FRP.
Gas Retention Time

The gas retention time must be sufficient to allow the metallic vapours to be condensed into fine
particles which will facilitate their removal in downstream equipment. The gas retention time
based on the inlet gas flow is typically a minimum of 3.0 seconds.
Liquid System
The liquid circulating system of the quench tower consists of one or more circulating pumps, a
liquid reservoir, piping system, controls and spray nozzles. Liquid is fed into the quench tower
through a series of spray nozzles and/or feeder pipes. The spray nozzles are designed to
provide full coverage across the quench tower cross-section and to finely atomize the liquid to
provide intimate contact between the gas and liquid.
The liquid fed into the tower falls to the bottom of the tower which is often used as the liquid
reservoir. Alternatively, the liquid may drain from the tower into a separate pump tank. Liquid
level in the reservoir is typically maintained by controlling the bleed stream from the quench
system. Liquid is pumped from the reservoir by one or more operating pumps. The pumps are
typically horizontal centrifugal pumps with materials of construction suitable for the liquid
conditions. One or more pumps are installed a standby pumps in case one of the duty pumps
should fail.
The quench process results in the net evaporation of liquid into the gas. To maintain liquid in
the system, liquid is added from the gas cooling system in which liquid is condensed from the
gas. The acid concentration and the levels of impurities is controlled by the amount of make-up
water that is added to the gas cleaning system. The more make-up water that is added, the
lower the acid concentration and level of impurities in the quench system. The bleed from the
quench system is usually sent to the weak acid stripper before being sent to the effluent
treatment syetem.
The quench system is usually operated with a weak acid concentration fo less than 10%
H2SO4. In some instances, the system is operated at higher acid concentrations up to 30%
H2SO4. This is done to reduce the weak acid effluent flow to the treatment system to reduce the
size of the equipment. The stronger weak acid also has the potential to be treated for reuse as
dilution in the acid system.
Emergency Quench Water
In the event of a reduction or failure of the circulating liquid flow, the gas temperature exiting the
Quench Tower will rise quickly. The high temperature may result in damage to the downstream
FRP ducting and equipment. When the temperature exits the Quench Tower is too high, the
flow of emergency water is started. At the same time a plant shutdown is initiated. The flow of
emergency water will continue until the gas exit temperature drops to a safe level.
The source of emergency water must be an uninterruptable supply of water. The supply can be
from a water main such as a firemain. An elevated head tank having sufficient volume for the
expected duration of the high temperature can be used.

The flow of emergency water is dependent on the design of the spray system for the quench
tower. Emergency water may be fed into the quench tower through a set of dedicated nozzles
or some of the spray nozzles may serve a dual function of emergency water and normal
process spray nozzles. The flow and pressure of emergency water should be sufficient to cool
the gas and the nozzles selected to provide adequate coverage across the tower.
The duration that the emergency water is required to be on will depend on how long it will take
to safety shutdown the plant to prevent the ingress of hot gas into the the quench tower.
Materials of Construction
The materials of construction for a quench system must be selected carefully to avoid operating
and maintenance problems. The system is subject to hot gas, weak acid and regions where the
conditions vary from wet to dry and hot to cold. The use of specialty alloys and brick linings are
typical. Click here for more details on materials of construction.
In a counter-current tower design, the area the sees the most severe conditions is the gas inlet.
Here the gas is still hot but is quickly quench as it enters the tower. The design of the inlet
nozzle should prevent the formation of eddies that would cause weak acid to be drawn up the
gas inlet where it can attack the unprotected carbon steel ducting. When gas flow is stopped,
liquid circulation over the tower usually is left on. Weak acid can migrate up the inlet gas duct
and condense on the inside surface of the carbon steel duct. Weak acid is extremely corrosive
to carbon steel. When the gas flow is resumed, the region is then exposed to higher
temperatures which can further increase corrosion.
In a co-current tower design, the gas inlet is also the most vulnerable to corrosion and attack.
Spray nozzles are sometimes exposed directly to the hot gas. Materials must be selected to
withstand both high temperatures and corrosion from the weak acid.

Quenching (scrubber)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In pollution scrubbers, sometimes hot exhaust gas is quenched, or cooled by water sprays, before
entering the scrubber proper. Hot gases (those above ambient temperature) are often cooled to near
the saturation level. If not cooled, the hot gas stream can evaporate a large portion of the scrubbing
liquor, adversely affecting collection efficiency and damaging scrubber internal parts. If the gases
entering the scrubber are too hot, some liquid droplets may evaporate before they have a chance to
contact pollutants in the exhaust stream, and others may evaporate after contact, causing captured
particles to become reentrained. In some cases, quenching can actually save money. Cooling the
gases reduces the temperature and, therefore, the volume of gases, permitting the use of less
expensive construction materials and a smaller scrubber vessel and fan.

Contents

[hide]

1 Design

2 Sizing

3 Recirculation

4 References

Design[edit]
A quenching system can be as simple as spraying liquid into the duct just preceding the main
scrubbing vessel, or it can be a separate chamber (or tower) with its own spray system identical to
a spray tower. Quenchers are designed using the same principles as scrubbers. Increasing the gasliquid contact in them increases their operational efficiency.

Sizing[edit]
Small liquid droplets cool the exhaust stream more quickly than large droplets because they
evaporate more easily. Therefore, less liquid is required. However, in most scrubbing systems,
approximately one-and-a-half to two and- a-half times the theoretical evaporation demand is
required to ensure proper cooling. Evaporation also depends on time; it does not occur
instantaneously. Therefore, the quencher should be sized to allow for an adequate exhaust stream
residence time. Normal residence times range from 0.15 to 0.25 seconds for gases under 540C
(1000F) to 0.2 to 0.3 seconds for gases hotter than 540C.
[1]

[2]

Recirculation[edit]
Quenching with recirculated scrubber liquor could potentially reduce overall scrubber performance,
since recycled liquid usually contains a high level of suspended and dissolved solids. As the liquid
droplets evaporate, these solids could become re-entrained in the exhaust gas stream. To help
reduce this problem, clean makeup water can be added directly to the quench system rather than
adding all makeup water to a common sump.
[3]

References [edit]
1.

Jump up^ Industrial Gas Cleaning Institute 1975

2.

Jump up^ Schifftner 1979

3.

Jump up^ US EPA Air Pollution Training Institute developed in collaboration with North Carolina State
University, College of Engineering (NCSU)