Pilot Plant

Pilot plant equipment for air pollution control trials

ERG has a number of pilot plants available for hire for air pollution control trials and gas cleaning system development. We use these pilot units to demonstrate the effectiveness of a selected technology route for your application, optimise the air pollution control package arrangement and provide temporary treatment of smaller gas flows while the full‑scale equipment is procured and installed.

Pilot plant applications and support

Each pilot plant is provided with installation and operating instructions, and it is typical for us also to support the hire by:

Carrying out initial process engineering.
Attending site to conduct the pilot trials and manage the performance testing.
Completing the trial report with records of the set‑up and testing completed, together with recommendations for scale‑up of the air pollution control system or VOC abatement system.

ERG’s current pilot plants are detailed below.

1. Packed towers and carbon filter pilot plant

2-stage packed tower scrubber with recirculation pumps, chemical dosing and heat exchange for sub cooling, fan, reheater, and carbon filter. Each scrubber and the carbon filter are on separate skids and can be supplied as independent modules to suit the application.

PVC/GRP construction maximum temperature 40 ^oC
Maximum air flowrate 2,500 m³/hr
Gas scrubber for soluble acid/basic contaminants
Carbon filter for VOC/odour polishing

2. Large V-tex^® scrubber pilot plant

1.0 m diameter single-stage V-tex^® scrubber and skid-mounted pump, heat exchanger, and instrumentation. The basic scrubber, pump, pipework, and frame are shown in the photo, with fan, instrumentation, and controls added to client requirements for each specific application.

316SS V-tex^® scrubber unit suitable for gas flows of up to 1,000 m³/hr
Stainless steel (part carbon steel) pipework and pump rated 20 m³/hr
Spiral heat exchanger
Typically used for applications with high-temperature flue gas or syngas, or lower-temperature biogas where tars and condensing water vapour are to be removed from the gas

3. Small V-tex^® scrubber pilot plant

250 mm diameter two-stage V-tex^® scrubber and skid-mounted pump. Can be used as a skid-mounted complete unit, or the vessel is demountable for fitting above an IBC with the pump and skid at grade.

316SS V-tex^® scrubber unit suitable for gas flows of up to 80 m³/hr
Stainless steel pipework and pump rated 1.5 m³/hr
Typically used for mass-transfer trial work using slurries and/or for gases containing tars

4. Pilot Plant – venturi scrubber & carbon filter

Skid-mounted Venturi scrubber, fan & heater, and carbon filter with a design flowrate of up to 1,000 m³/hr for the scrubbing of particulate, soluble acid gas contaminants (HCl, H₂S, SO₂, etc) or ammonia, and VOCs.

Pallet skid mounted modules
PP/GRP quench/venturi unit and sump tank
Magdrive PP pump
304SS fan 1,100 Am³/hr
SS316 2kW gas reheater
PP/GRP carbon filter fitted with discharge stack
Interconnecting ductwork
Control panel