Abatement of ultrafine particles and acid gases by electrostatic seawater scrubbing

We are presenting the results of experiments, performed within the activities of the Seventh European Framework Programme - DEECON, on the capture of ultrafine particles and acid gas produced by a two-strokes 40kW marine engine with a technology named Electrostatic SeaWater Scrubber (ESWS). ESWS consists in a scrubber where electrostatic interactions among charged particles and charged droplets allow capturing ultrafine particles, for which the collection mechanisms active in a simple wet scrubber (phoretic, Brownian and inertial contributions) are ineffective. Moreover, due to the seawater alkalinity, an ESWS exploits appreciable acid gases absorption capacities