• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.10
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• pp.2230-2237
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• 2020

Self-priming venturi scrubber is one of the most effective devices used to collect aerosols and soluble gas pollutants from gaseous stream during severe accident in a nuclear power plant. The present study focuses on investigation of dust particle removal efficiency of the venturi scrubber both experimentally and theoretically. Venturi scrubber captures the dust particles in tiny water droplets flowing into it. Inertial impaction is the main mechanism of particles collection in venturi scrubber. The water injected into venturi throat is in the form of jets through multiple holes present at venturi throat. In this study, aerosols removal efficiency of self-priming venturi scrubber was experimentally measured for different operating conditions. Alumina (Al₂O₃) particles with 0.4-㎛ diameter and 3950 kg/㎥ density were treated as aerosols. Removal efficiency was calculated for different gas flow rates i.e. 3-6 ㎥/h and liquid flow rates i.e. 0.009-0.025 ㎥/h. Experimental results depict that aerosols removal efficiency increases with the increase in throat velocity and liquid head. While at lower air flow rate of 3 ㎥/h, removal efficiency decreases with the increase in liquid head. A theoretical model of venturi scrubber was also employed and experimental results were compared with mathematical model. Experimental results are found to be in good agreement with theoretical results.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.203-210
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• 2013

The objective of this conducted research is to study the iodine removal efficiency in a self-priming venturi scrubber for submerged and non-submerged operating conditions experimentally and theoretically. The alkaline solution is used as an absorbent, which is prepared by dissolving sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium thiosulphate ($Na2S_2O_3$) in water to remove the gaseous iodine ($I_2$) from the gas. Iodine removal efficiency is examined at various gas flow rates and inlet concentrations of iodine for submerged and non-submerged operating conditions. In the non-submerged venturi scrubber, only the droplets take part in iodine removal efficiency. However, in a submerged venturi scrubber condition, the iodine gas is absorbed from gas to droplets inside the venturi scrubber and from bubbles to surrounding liquid at the outlet of a venturi scrubber. Experimentally, it is observed that the iodine removal efficiency is greater in the submerged venturi scrubber as compare to a non-submerged venturi scrubber condition. The highest iodine removal efficiency of $0.99{\pm}0.001$ has been achieved in a submerged self-priming venturi scrubber condition. A mathematical correlation is used to predict the theoretical iodine removal efficiency in submerged and non-submerged conditions, and it is compared against the experimental results. The Wilkinson et al. correlation is used to predict the bubble diameter theoretically whereas the Nukiyama and Tanasawa correlation is used for droplet diameter. The mass transfer coefficient for the gas phase is calculated from the Steinberger and Treybal correlation. The calculated results for a submerged venturi scrubber agree well with experimental results but underpredicts in the case of the non-submerged venturi scrubber.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.665-672
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• 2018

A venturi scrubber is an important element of Filtered Containment Venting System (FCVS) for the removal of aerosols in contaminated air. The present work involves computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study of dust particle removal efficiency of a venturi scrubber operating in self-priming mode using ANSYS CFX. Titanium oxide ($TiO_2$) particles having sizes of 1 micron have been taken as dust particles. CFD methodology to simulate the venturi scrubber has been first developed. The cascade atomization and breakup (CAB) model has been used to predict deformation of water droplets, whereas the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach has been used to handle multiphase flow involving air, dust, and water. The developed methodology has been applied to simulate venturi scrubber geometry taken from the literature. Dust particle removal efficiency has been calculated for forced feed operation of venturi scrubber and found to be in good agreement with the results available in the literature. In the second part, venturi scrubber along with a tank has been modeled in CFX, and transient simulations have been performed to study self-priming phenomenon. Self-priming has been observed by plotting the velocity vector fields of water. Suction of water in the venturi scrubber occurred due to the difference between static pressure in the venturi scrubber and the hydrostatic pressure of water inside the tank. Dust particle removal efficiency has been calculated for inlet air velocities of 1 m/s and 3 m/s. It has been observed that removal efficiency is higher in case of higher inlet air velocity.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3310-3316
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• 2022

Owing to the rising concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants (NPP), it is essential to study the venturi scrubber in detail, which is a key component of the filtered containment venting system (FCVS). FCVS alleviates the pressurein containment byfiltering and venting out the contaminated air. Themain objective of this research was to perform a CFD investigation of different configurations of a circular, non-submerged, self-priming venturi scrubber to estimate and improve the performance in the removal of elemental iodine from the air. For benchmarking, a mass transfer model which is based on two-film theory was selected and validated by experimental data where an alkaline solution was considered as the scrubbing solution. This mass transfer model was modified and implemented on a unique formation of two self-priming venturi scrubbers in series. Euler-Euler method was used for two-phase modeling and the realizable K-ε model was used for capturing the turbulence. The obtained results showed a remarkable improvement in the removal of radioactive iodine from the air using a series combination of venturi scrubbers. The removal efficiency was improved at every single data point.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.169-179
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• 2023

Filtered containment system is a passive safety system that controls the over-pressurization of containment in case of a design-based accidents by venting high pressure gaseous mixture, consisting of air, steam and radioactive particulate and gases like iodine, via a scrubbing system. An indigenous lab scale facility was developed for research on iodine removal by venturi scrubber by simulating the accidental scenario. A mixture of 0.2 % sodium thiosulphate and 0.5 % sodium hydroxide, was used in scrubbing column. A modified mathematical model was presented for iodine removal in venturi scrubber. Improvement in model was made by addition of important parameters like jet penetration length, bubble rise velocity and gas holdup which were not considered previously. Experiments were performed by varying hydrodynamic parameters like liquid level height and gas flow rates to see their effect on removal efficiency of iodine. Gas holdup was also measured for various liquid level heights and gas flowrates. Removal efficiency increased with increase in liquid level height and gas flowrate up to an optimum point beyond that efficiency was decreased. Experimental results of removal efficiency were compared with the predicted results, and they were found to be in good agreement. Maximum removal efficiency of 99.8% was obtained.