REMOVING A GASEOUS COMPONENT FROM A FLUID

摘要

A method of removing a selected gaseous component from a stream of fluid containing a plurality of gaseous components is provided. The stream is induced to flow at supersonic velocity through a conduit so as to decrease the temperature of the fluid to below a selected temperature at which one of condensation and solidification of the selected component occurs thereby forming particles of the selected component, the conduit being provided with swirl imparting means to impart a swirling motion to the stream of fluid thereby inducing the particles to flow to a radially outer section of a collecting zone in the stream. A shock wave is created in the stream so as to decrease the axial velocity of the fluid to subsonic velocity, and the particles are extracted into an outlet stream from said radially outer section of the collecting zone, wherein the shock wave is created downstream the swirl imparting means and upstream the collecting zone.