Application of acoustic agglomeration for removing sulfuric acid mist from air stream

Abstract

Abstract The application of acoustic fields at high sound pressure levels (SPLs) for removing sulfuric acid mists from the air stream was studied. An acoustic agglomeration chamber was used to conduct the experiments. The studied SPLs ranged from 115 to 165 decibel (dB), with three inlet concentrations of acid mist at 5–10, 15–20, and 25–30 ppm. The air flow rates for conducting experiments were 20, 30, and 40 L min−1. The concentration of sulfuric acid mist was measured using US Environmental Protection Agency Method 8 at inlet and outlet of the chamber. The resonance frequencies for experiments were found to be 852, 1410, and 3530 Hz. The maximum acoustic agglomeration efficiency of 86% was obtained at optimum frequency of 852 Hz. The analysis of variance test revealed significant differences between agglomeration efficiency at three resonance frequencies (p-value