Washing Air: Wet Scrubber Pollutant Recovery Method

For the class demonstration:

• Duct tape
• 1/2 cup chalk dust or fireplace ash
• 3 clear, glass bottles (such as large olive oil or liquor bottles)
• 3 rubber corks with 2 holes drilled in each (the corks must fit snuggly into the bottle openings; available at hardware stores, sometimes predrilled)
• Various pipe connectors, as needed, to transition the narrow tubing to the wider vacuum cleaner nozzle (see Figure 2)
• 5 barb connectors (to connect plastic tubing to corks; the connector must fit snuggly into the holes in the corks; available at hardware stores; see Figure 3)
• 5 ft. clear plastic tubing (the tubing must fit snuggly over the barb connectors; available at hardware stores; see Figure 3)
• Water
• Paper towels
• Wet/dry shop vacuum cleaner

Figure 2. For the class demonstration, make an airtight transition from the narrow tubing to the vacuum cleaner hose.CopyrightCopyright Sharon Perez, Graduate Fellow, Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2003.