Vorsana

High g Vortex Separation of Flue Gas

At room temperature (300 K), according to the kinetic theory of gases, carbon dioxide (CO₂, molar mass 44 g/mol) has a root-mean-squared velocity (v_rms) of 412 m/s, while nitrogen (N_2, molar mass 28 g/mol) is 25% faster at 517 m/s, and sulfur dioxide (SO_2, molar mass 64 g/mol) is 17% slower at 342 m/s. Water vapor (H₂O, molar mass 18 g/mol) is the fastest fraction of all at 645 m/s. At higher temperatures, the v_rms of all fractions will be higher.

Assume a vortex radius (r) = 1 mm (0.001 m) –> Radial acceleration = (v_rms)²/0.001

  CO₂ radial acceleration = ((412)^2)/0.001 = 169,744,000 m/s² = 17.3 million g

N₂ radial acceleration = ((517)^2)/0.001 = 267,289,000 m/s² = 27.2 million g

SO₂ radial acceleration = ((342)^2)/0.001 = 116,964,000 m/s² = 11.9 million g

H₂O radial acceleration = ((645)^2)/0.001 = 416,025,000 m/s² = 42.4 million g

The radial acceleration of the light fractions is much higher, due to their higher speed. Very high g is available for separation because the vortex radius in the fractal turbulence toward the periphery of the shear reactor is small. The vortices have a tangential velocity due to the forcing of the counter-rotating impellers, but compared to the Maxwellian molecule speeds this addition is relatively small. The impellers serve to organize the turbulence (much the same as in the Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube, only dynamic instead of static) so the Maxwellian differences can manifest as macro-scale separation effects.

Centripetal force on each molecule of each fraction is the same, 1.24 x 10^-17 newtons. But due to their different mass, the light fractions are concentrated at the vortex cores while heavy fractions concentrate at the vortex periphery. This is very useful for scrubbing applications because the heavy fractions (SO₂, NOx, and aerosols) are what you want to scrub out, and as the vortex peripheries grind together in the turbulence, the heavy fractions mix with the scrubbing liquid and aggregate into a sludge.

This is even more true for fly ash, mercury, and other aerosols, which are much denser than gas. These solids and liquids grind together at vortex peripheries and aggregate. So even very small particulate matter can be scrubbed out.

Because the light fractions (the nitrogen ballast and water vapor, which are 80% of the volume of flue gas) are continuously extracted through the fractal turbulence due to the suction of a steam ejector acting at the impeller axis of rotation, what emerges at the periphery of the scrubber is a concentrated stream of CO₂ which has been scrubbed of SOx, NOx, and aerosols. This is mechanical carbon capture.

These separation effects happen naturally all the time, and occur in the vortex tube during the very brief (milliseconds) residence time that the gas mixture is in the tube. Until now there has been no way to collect this natural separation effect in turbulent vortices, because the turbulence was not organized.