Performance of iodide vapour absorption in the venturi scrubber working in self-priming mode

Abstract

The self-priming venturi scrubber is the key component of filtered containment venting systems for the removal of radioactive products during severe accidents in nuclear power plants. This paper is focused on the absorption performance of iodide vapour in the venturi scrubber, based on experiment and mathematical calculation. The results indicate that the absorption efficiency is closely related to solution flow rate, gas flow rate and temperature, but is not sensitive to iodide inlet concentration. When solution flow rate is low, the absorption efficiency increases rapidly with increasing the solution flow rate, and when the solution is excessive, the absorption efficiency remains around 99% stably; the influence of gas flow rate on absorption efficiency is mainly reflected in the variation of gas and liquid contacting time; when the solution flow rate is low, the increase of gas flow rate will led to an obvious decrease in absorption efficiency; temperature is not important when gas flow rate in constant but becomes effective for improving the absorption efficiency when gas velocity is constant. The proposed mathematical model can predict the iodide absorption process well in the range of experimental conditions. Especially, in the condition of lower gas flow rate and higher solution flow rate, the prediction accuracy is more satisfactory; however the accuracy of prediction will decrease at higher gas flow rates and lower solution flow rates because of neglecting the transverse exchange between gas and liquid phase.