IBP2626_10

A SYSTEM FOR THE EXTRACTION OF ATMOSPHERIC

POLLUTANTS IN THE AIR INTAKE FOR THE PRESSURIZATION
OF THE ELETRIC AND CONTROL ROOMS OF LNG TERMINAL
OF GUANABARA BAY
Domenico Capulli , Ronie Attayde2, Priscila Caldas2
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Copyright 2010, Instituto Brasileiro de Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis - IBP

Este Trabalho Técnico foi preparado para apresentação na Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2010, realizada no período de 13 a
16 de setembro de 2010, no Rio de Janeiro. Este Trabalho Técnico foi selecionado para apresentação pelo Comitê Técnico do evento,
seguindo as informações contidas na sinopse submetida pelo(s) autor(es). O conteúdo do Trabalho Técnico, como apresentado, não
foi revisado pelo IBP. Os organizadores não irão traduzir ou corrigir os textos recebidos. O material conforme, apresentado, não
necessariamente reflete as opiniões do Instituto Brasileiro de Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis, seus Associados e Representantes. É
de conhecimento e aprovação do(s) autor(es) que este Trabalho Técnico seja publicado nos Anais da Rio Oil & Gas Expo and
Conference 2010.

Abstract
The need of alternatives to pipelines to receive natural gas has led to the building of a growing number of
flexible terminals, such as the pier LNG of Guanabara Bay, which has a re-gasification capacity of 14 million m³/d.
This pier has required the adoption of different engineering solutions whether for selecting materials resistant to salt
corrosion, or the adoption of the technology of multiventuri liquid centrifuging of hydrodynamic precipitators in the
desalinization of outside air for cooling and pressurizing internal environments of control of the base and the sheltered
electrical infrastructure, ensuring the patrimonial preservation, reliability and the terminal's operational safety. Saline
corrosion represents a portion of the 3,5% of Brazilian GDP lost annually through corrosion, which reaches a
classification C5 or greater, as ISO9223. This fact requires the use of more resistant materials, making it expensive to
transform technical areas that have been classified according to the risk of saline corrosion whereas, by implanting
equipment, we are maximizing operational reliability. The multiventuri liquid centrifuging technology differs from
traditional techniques of accumulative filtering by being extractive. The latter have a decreasing performance with the
saturation and limited performance of salt ions dissolved in the humid air. Precipitators are self-priming, treating marine
air through multiventuri centrifugation in direct contact with water; the air is also cooled to the wet bulb temperature of
the region and blow into the engine room which shelters the self contained type air conditioners, totalizing 47,5TR with
85% of redundancy. The adoption of this technology allows flexibility in the parameters for the establishment of
classified internal areas and in the specification of materials against atmospheric corrosion as a result of the efficient
removal of aggressive contaminants. This generates an economy in the investments and contributes to the increase in
operational security and the process of LNG.

1. Introduction
Sodium Chloride, a good used is Ancient times as a means of remunerating work – thus the word salary- is
nowadays, just as the old chimneys that symbolized the progress of a society, an antithesis of wealth. It is responsible
for economic losses reaching up to USS 10 billion /year in Brazil and affecting one fifth of the global steel production,
due to its corrosive power. This type of corrosion when present in the soil acts on buildings, modifying electric
conductivity as observed in phenomena taking place in Dubbo /New South Wales in Australia, where the whole city is
hard at work to stop its destruction by salt. Our study presents a technological solution to preserve and guarantee the
technical operational facilities on marine terminals (off shore) for petrochemical processing that is, places where salt
corrosion is particularly powerful as a result of the high concentration of sodium chloride in marine waters around the
world . The application we are demonstrating is part of a strategy developed by Petrobras– the fourth largest energy
company in the world - to deploy intermodal logistics operations for natural gas, overcoming statistical limitations of
gas pipelines in supplying natural gas, through the establishment of a flexible liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in
Guanabara Bay near D'Agua Island. This terminal, with a re-gasification capacity of 14 million m3 /day, is part of
Plangas, expected to provide an availability of 121 million m3 a day in the form of gas as received from LNG tankers
by 2011.
This enterprise is characterized by the adoption of differentiated engineering solutions, from the cutting of the
artificial pier, through the rigorous selection of saline corrosion resistant materials through the adoption of an
______________________________
1
Chemical Engineering – CAPMETAL TECNOLOGIA AMBIENTAL
2
Graduating in Chemical Engineering UFF
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infrastructure in AISI316 stainless steel, to the innovative use of the spin liquid multiventuri precipitations of
hydrodynamic technology in purifying the air intake for the external cooling and pressurization of the environment of
the control terminal, as a barrier for removing the salt contamination that attacks components and reduces the terminal’s
reliability and operational safety.
Several environmental factors influence the gas composition of the air basin of Guanabara Bay, for example,
the typical salinity of the Atlantic Ocean, pollution, temperature, proximity to marine outfalls, industrial areas (clusters)
or urban centers. Several cities and towns surround the Bay: Rio de Janeiro, Duque de Caxias, São Gonçalo, Niterói,
Petrópolis, amongst others. It has an area of approximately 380 km2, a water surface of 330 km2 and is characterized by
high salinity and temperature. Its average salinity in the period 1980-1993 as measured by Kjerfve et al. (1997) is in the
range of 29.5+/- 4.8‰ (parts per thousand). The salinity decreases from the entry to the ocean 36‰ to the bottom of the
Bay 28‰ in response to freshwater discharge on the internal margins, a region of outflow from the Baixada Fluminense
watershed. There are reports that coastal salinity can reach a territorial penetration above 5 km, depending on the
prevalence of winds and on the topography.
Salinity in ocean surface waters ranges from 32 to 37.5‰, and this degree of variation is not enough to change
the rate of corrosion; on the other hand, pH in oceans varies between 7.5 and 8.3 with tamponade complex carbonates.
This variation in pH does not affect the corrosion rate for most of alloys either, with the exception of aluminum. Table 1
shows the great variation on the concentration of dissolved salts in isolated seas and oceans of the world, and this broad
spectrum severely affects the variation of corrosion rates. The Atlantic Ocean is one of the wealthiest in dissolved ions.

Table 1. Total of dissolved solids in isolated seas and oceans.

Total of dissolved solids

Seas and Oceans
(ppm)
Baltic Sea 8000
Caspian Sea 13000
Black Sea 22000
Indian Sea 32500
Atlantic Ocean 37000
Mediterranean Sea 41000
Arabia Sea (Kuwait) 39000 – 47000
Dead Sea 260000

Atmospheric corrosion in marine or harsh industrial environments leads to a reduction of operational reliability
and, most importantly, to the reduction of the useful life of equipment and electrical components, responsible for a large
portion of the costs arising from deterioration of metallic materials by chemical oxidation. When selecting materials for
building contacts and electrical devices, one searches for the best values in the electrical conductivity of alloys. In
contrast, this choice favors the corrosion rates in more severe ionic corrosion by the presence of electrolyte with cathion
of sodium (swells) or sulfates in the typical atmosphere in the petroleum industry. The use of copper, silver and
aluminum alloys as electrical transmission elements maximizes the efficiency of electron transfer, also contributing to
high rates of thermal transfer, since both properties have similar behavior and therefore typical heat loss of cables and
electrical devices are quickly dissipated to the environment as perceptible heat.

Figure 1. Pitting corrosion by the action of salt ions in duct pressurization at the pumping station in RJ.

To ensure greater operational reliability of devices and electrical equipment, sheltered installations of electrical
substations are projected, with the adoption of systems for treating and pressurizing air in order to prevent the access of
corrosive atmospheres to the environment. The isolation of facilities and the pressurization with air that has been
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purified and freed from corrosive agents is an appropriate procedure, given the results to be observed in Figure 1 of
severe pitting corrosion of the pressurization ductwork of the sewage pumping station at the seaside. The deficient
filtration system had no effect on the severity and celerity of the attack on alloys, in the publication of the ICZ - Institute
for Nonferrous Metals, for zinc alloys, with a 42% reduction in the rate of thickness loss after eight years of testing
alternating between a sheltered and an outdoor installation.
The adoption of sheltered electrical substations in industrial environments and near the coastal region through
adjoining buildings has been common practice for decades, with pressurization by ventilation with mechanical
filtration. The calculation of air flow is based on a typical number of renewals of the total internal volume of the
environment, with a typical value of 12 renewals/hour for electric cabins and 2cfm/ft 2 for battery charging rooms
according to A.S.L. Mesquitas (1988) and ASHRAE (1977), respectively. For a long time lived internal temperatures of
40°C in electrical substations were considered acceptable; however, these levels have proven to be harmful and
incompatible with new generations of electric equipment, with the technology of integrated circuits and programmable
logic controllers. Another aggravating factor has been the growth in the number of equipment in increasingly smaller
areas. Finally, the diffusion in the use of frequency variators in the control of processes with high values of dissipated
thermal energy when they reduce the frequency of the electrical current supplying processing equipment. Table 2 shows
the energy dissipated by electrical devices in order to guide the calculation of the air flow required by the ventilation
systems of electrical substations on the basis of the thermal load of the environment.

Table 2. Typical heat dissipation losses of appliances and electrical equipment.

Average Thermal
Electrical Device
Dissipation loss

Electrical panels 13,8kV 700W/column

Power capacitors 7% of power

1200W/column
Charge distribution center CDC
2,4kV
Motor control centers MCC 210W/ column Demand factor 0,7
in 480V 300W/ column Demand factor 1,0

Variable frequency 2% of Power Further dissipation as %

of frequency reduction
Transformers 5% of power

Historically, the state of the art in the treatment of salt air intake is restricted to class G3 and F2 sequential
filtering according to NBR16401 (2009), with cumulative technology of residues collected by structures with means
restricting the flow causing a retention of up to 95% particulate solids. This is followed by a coalescing filter of mist
condensation, with the condensed residues trapped in mist eliminators. This arrangement is an air treatment unit that
displays a gradual loss of pressure (60-190 mm.ca), with filter replacement becoming necessary every eight months
(6.000 hours) on average for regions with a median presence of particulate matter. This period is reduced to a third of
the cycle in an environment with a high load of pollutants in the atmosphere as found in siderurgies, refineries and
mining. As a result, saturated disposable elements are generated that must be discharged as solid waste. Besides, the
inefficiency of the technology of using sequential filters means that there will always be a percentage of pollutants (>
5%) continuously absorbed by the environment and responsible for the continued oxidation of the components, as
shown by Capulli et al.(2009). These authors verified that the electrical substation of Pituba of COELBA-BA presented
ordinary crashes as a result of the corrosion of silver and copper alloys in the contacts of controllers and circuit
breakers. The adoption of multiventuri liquid centrifuging technology dispensed with the use of filters as well as the
consequent generation of waste, eliminating these occurrences and increasing the reliability and operational availability
of the substation. There were also performance gains since the air supply is cooled to the temperature conditions of the
region’s wet bulb, optimizing the performance of electric equipment that operate at temperatures below 30 ° C, even at
full-load operation.

2. Multiventuri liquid centrifuging technology

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In practice, the external saline environment or with residual air pollutants such as oxides, sulfur and nitrogen,
particles of iron ore and coke, chloride ions, hydrogen sulfide and sooty material, typical of the manufacturing process
in petrochemical, mining, paper and pulp, siderurgy and refinery units, determine the need for containment in order to
protect equipment and electrical devices, which in turn require large volumes of air to remove the heat dissipated by its
operation. Therefore, it is necessary to use technology capable of removing the physical-chemical contaminants and the
dissipated energy. To this end, we will be demonstrating the use of the multiventuri liquid centrifuging technology of
hydrodynamic precipitators, with a large tradition of use in the control of pollutants from stationary sources of emission
in industrial processes and in the treatment of exhaust gases.

Figure 2. Detail of the core technology of multiventuri liquid centrifuging of hydrodynamic precipitators.

The multiventuri liquid centrifuging technology was developed in Brazil by Giuseppe Capulli (1929-2008) as
from 1967, aiming at providing effective and high performance tools in the control of air pollutants, materialized in the
hydrodynamic precipitators which are self-priming. These precipitators bring together the centrifugal force with the
multiventuri effect to achieve a high contact factor between two fluids in different physical states: gas and liquid. This
technology is founded on principles of fluid mechanics, mass and energy transfer as well as absorption and
condensation phenomena, promoted by the centrifugal acceleration force of the liquid phase, with the multiventuri
subdivision embodied in a piece of equipment capable of promoting biphasic chemical reactions that ensure mass
transfer to the surrounding liquid, which behaves as a solvent, absorbing the contaminants contained in the flow of
gaseous pollutants contained in the external atmosphere, such as flue gas or saline atmosphere. Thus, the process of
biphasic centrifuging does not use filters, and the removal of solid material suspended in the air stream is achieved
through hydraulic extraction and through chemical reaction, including the addition of gaseous contaminants in the
liquid re-circulating fluid that consists of an aqueous solution capable of transforming gaseous pollutants by absorption
through chemical reaction or condensation.
The core technology of hydrodynamic precipitators, operating through multiventuri liquid centrifuging is based
on the theory of convergence of the amplitude of fluid molecular vibration as a result of their physical state and
temperature, with the synergy of mechanical contact, as noted in Figure 2 where the rotor of simultaneous centrifugation
of fluids in liquid and gaseous phases can be visualized, with the flow lines of the mixture of fluids in its hundreds of
subdivisions as they cross the multiventuri perforations contained within the perimeter of the rotor. In the functional
sequence of the technology, the fluids ejected by the rotor of centrifugation receive an additional liquid attack external to
the rotor, which contributes to the carrying of contaminants. The resulting mixture is ejected to the opposite lobe which
has the function of separating the phases though cyclonic acceleration and through the great difference in density
(1:1000) between the air and the liquid, the latter returning to the tank of re-circulating liquid and the treated air is blowd
into the ductwork supplying air conditioners, and from these to the ductwork of distribution to treated environments.
This is a reverse application when compared to those used historically, in other words, instead of receiving
streams of contaminated gas from industrial processes for purification and discharge into a naturally balanced
environment, we are capturing the external air and modulating its composition with the removal of aggressive pollutants
to the infrastructure of equipments and instruments and/or harmful to the health of occupants of the confined
environment. Typifying this application we have the atmospheres of pulp and paper plants with chloride ions,
combustion gases and/or sulfurous and nitric atmospheres with the petrochemical and chemical plants, particulate matter
in mining, siderurgy, coal and coke yard, hydrogen sulfide in units of effluent treatment or close of swamps, mangroves
and salty sea air containing sodium chloride in all coastal areas of influence within a radius of up to 8 km, depending on
winds and topography.
The maximization of condensation rates of vaporized substances contained in the process air depends on the
difference in temperature, with direct connection to the molecular state of the fluids, and to the efficiency of contact
between the gases and the condensation liquid and solubilization of contaminants.

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2.1. Application of the technology in the purification of the air at the LNG terminal of Guanabara Bay

The performance of the installation in COELBA with over 20 years of operation, coupled with its recognition
as a BADCT technology ("Best Available Demonstrated Control Technology"), that is, the best available control
technologies, encouraged us to develop and apply the multiventuri centrifuging technology to the air intake in offshore
installations and in industrial environments in order to pressurize confined environments by modifying the specification
of the conceptual design of the air handling system and cooling at the LNG terminal of Guanabara Bay, by specifying
the hydrodynamic precipitator as the equipment responsible for the aspiration of sea air, centrifugation with fresh water
and establishment of the air flow in the engine room sheltering the self contained type air conditioners that acclimatize
the whole control infrastructure and accommodation of the flexible terminal.
Our study describes the application and the evaluation of the hydrodynamic precipitator in the control system
of saline atmosphere with a view to asset preservation and the insurance of operational reliability of electronic
components susceptible to the attack by salt corrosion, specifically those housed in the control block and electrical
infrastructure, considering that the external ones might consist of stainless construction or painted specifically to naval
use.
Figure 3 allows us to visualize the layout of the flexible terminal that carries the berth for mooring ships, the
flexible arms, the SRU (storage re-gasification unit). The central block consists of three stories that shelter the electric
installations with the transformers and cloakrooms on the first floor, the communication facilities (TCOM) and the
control room of the terminal with all the infrastructure automation, control and security, on the second floor and a third
floor with the engine rooms of the system of acclimatization and treatment of the external air flowing into the building.
This control tower is the unit that houses the electronic equipments that must be protected from corrosive agents and/or
external pollutants through the pressurization of the environment with air that has been acclimatized and made free of
corrosive agents.

Figure 3. LNG terminal in Guanabara Bay, with detail of the pressurized and air conditioned control block (ducts in
blue).

While developing the executive project of ventilation and air conditioning of the LNG terminal at Guanabara
Bay, it was found that external air quality recorded the effective presence of sodium chloride ions according to the study
by Nasser et al (2003). We found the characterization through variograms and covariograms of the correlation between
the distribution of salinity along the Guanabara Bay with images acquired from the satellite Landsat5-TM, as shown in
Figure 4, where we have concentrations of 32‰ in the region around the Island D'Agua. These correlations reached
values of 30‰ in the same band detected by Kjerfve et al. (1997), characterizing the environment as aggressive to
ferrous and nonferrous alloys typical of electronic circuits and electrical components, classified as C5 as ISO 9223. In
our field measurements, the water sample collected at Round Island, the LPG base of Petrobras that provides technical
support to the pier of LNG terminal, reached values of 24‰, when using a conductivity Minipa model MS-100.

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Figure 4. Spatial distribution of salinity across 25 areas calculated by the regression equation.

To meet this requirement, a hydrodynamic precipitator was implanted with the function of aspirating the sea
air, centrifuging with water and blowing into the engine room which shelters the self-contained type air conditioner
with air condensation, totalizing 47,5TR with 85% of redundancy. The technological reasoning lies in the migration of
the gradient of ionic concentration of sodium chloride from the more to the less concentrated medium, allowing its
extraction from the air stream without using the cumulative filtering processes that presents serious problems of
saturation, deliquescence and operational maintenance; this last parameter of relevance given the enhanced features of
the facility that has a minimum number of operators assigned to carry out the central tasks of the terminal, any extra
requirement of manpower to meet ancillary systems or accessories to operate the terminal proving to be a heavy burden;
on top of it all, we have the reduction of the thermal load of energy balance, as the liquid centrifugation besides
removing the corrosive contaminants reduces the air temperature to the temperature of the region’s wet bulb.

Figura 5. Typical graphic of the solubility of salts such as sodium chloride in water.

In this installation, through the hydrodynamic precipitator CA5 of Figure 6, 5.390 m³/h of external air are
admitted, to a design value of 4.880m³/h, according to our measurement using a Minipa palette anemometer, model
MDA-II. After processing in the hydrodynamic precipitator, cooling to the wet bulb (25.8 ° C) and the removal of salt
ions, the treated air is distributed to three engine rooms that shelter the self-contained conditioners in the following way:
(1) 3.217 m³/h (2.870 m³/h designed) for the VAC1machine room containing two air-conditioners of 20TR (a reserve)

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and therefore meeting the needs of the first floor which shelters the electrical panels, transformers, battery room; (2)
554 m³/h (650 m³/h designed) for the VAC2 engine room containing two air-conditioners of 20TR (a reserve) that serve
the second floor with the control room and TI/TCOM compartments; (3) 1.322 m³/h (1.360 m³/h designed) for the
VAC3 engine room with one air-conditioner of 7,5TR thus meeting the needs of operational support offices and locker
rooms. From the flow balance there is a 100% purge from the batteries room due to safety reasons given the risk of
hydrogen liberation by these components. As a result, 84% of the air is re-circulated generating energy gains through a
simple adjustment of temperature and humidity without generating cycles of adding salt ions to the air, as the extraction
by liquid centrifugation achieves a 100% performance in the removal of salinity, due to the high solubility of sodium
chloride in water, as shown in Figure 5, allowing the removal of up to 36g/l before starting the typical precipitation of
supersaturated solution. In measurements of salinity in the coil trays, the salinity values were 0%. To sum up, we have
got a synergistic technology of simultaneous extraction of contaminants from the air which presents a stable and non
obstructive performance, with the automatic and cyclic purge of contaminants starting from the electrical conductivity
measured in the liquid. In our field evaluation, we verified the presence of secondary pollution with typical
carbonaceous residues from combustion gases probably generated by the operation of ships carrying LNG to berth and
the re-gasification ship anchored as a terminal processing unit at the suction inlet of the hydrodynamic precipitator. This
pollutant adheres to surfaces and if we did not have the debugging by the precipitator, it would be impregnating - in
addition to salt corrosion - sophisticated electrical and electronic equipment such as the Mooring panel of bathymetric
and sea undulation monitoring, chromatographic panels, hydraulic arms panels, telecommunication racks as well as gas
detection panels.

Figure 6. Hydrodynamic precipitator in the capture and desalination of sea air to be blowd into air conditioners, in
detail: salt deposited on top of the precipitator and sooty residue of combustion gases from ships.

The reliability of air quality is guaranteed by the permanent extraction of contaminants, independently from
the use of filters, from the intake of external air. The hydrodynamic precipitator operates autonomously, aspirating
external air (“booster function"), extracting chloride and sodium ions by diffusion in the concentration gradient and
blowing air into the two air conditioning rooms. The re-circulating liquid is pumped from the equipment internal tank
into the multiventuri rotor where both fluids interact to achieve the transfer of mass and energy. This fluid runs until the
electrical conductivity reaches a predetermined (set-up) value. At this point, a pump partially draining the saturated
liquid operates. The automatic replacement takes place through level control, since the hydrodynamic precipitator is
permanently connected to an industrial water supply. The typical electrical conductivities for various salts can be seen
in Table 3, among which we can find sodium, a cathion that, for this application, has as a set-up the value of 210μS/cm²
(20°C), corresponding to a maximum concentration of 1% sodium chloride in the water.

Table 3. Salt concentration in an aqueous medium x electrical conductivity in uS / cm ² (20 ° C)

Weight (%) NaCL NaOH HCL H2SO4 HNO3 HF

0,0001 2,2 6,2 11.7 8,8 6,8 10
0,0003 6,5 18,4 35.0 26,1 20 30
0,011 21,4 61,1 116 85,6 67 99
0,003 64 182 340 251 199 260
0,01 210 603 1.140 805 657 680
0,03 617 1.780 3.390 2.180 1.950 1.490
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0,1 1.990 5.820 11.100 6.350 6.380 2.420

0,3 5.690 16.200 32.200 15.800 18.900 5.100
1,0 17.600 53.200 103.000 48.500 60.000 11.700
3,0 48.600 144.000 283.000 141.000 172.000 34.700
5,0 78.300 223.000 432.000 237.000 275.000 62.000
10,0 140.000 358.000 709.000 427.000 498.000 118.000
20,0 226.000 414.000 850.000 709.000 763.000 232.300
30,0 Saturated 292.000 732.000 828.000 861.000 390.000
40,0 Saturated 191.000 Saturated 770.000 820.000 ---------
50,0 Saturated 150.000 Saturated 620.000 717.000 ---------
75,0 Saturated Saturated Saturated 182.000 340.000 ---------
100,0 Saturated Saturated Saturated 10.000 50.000

The system operates in reduced levels of salt concentration to maintain a high solubilization kinetics, a true
“hunger” of the re-circulating water for salt ions, in others words, a high gradient of saline diffusion in water. As a
result, we have a liquid filter operating autonomously and without specific operational requirements and, above all,
without generating disposable elements such as class IIA residues, as the saline liquid is drained directly into the sea
where the contaminating emission originated, in perfect harmony of sustainability and reduced operational cost. In our
field evaluation over 12 months of use, the efficacy of the hydrodynamic precipitator was confirmed, as no salt ions
were detected on the coil trays of the air conditioners. On the other hand, the aggressive nature of the saline external
environment was also confirmed as evident in Figure 7 displaying the fireproof doors of the engine rooms and
outbreaks of corrosion on engines and on the surface of the hydrodynamic precipitator, built with AISI316 but very
likely having received ferrous contamination during assemblage. As a result of this finding, one might conclude that the
intake of outside air must be achieved through ducts and not in plenum as shown in Figure 6, to avoid corrosion of the
components of the equipment itself.

Figure 7. Outbreaks of oxidation on the flat surface of the hydrodynamic precipitator by iron contamination during
assemblage and corrosion on the fireproof door of the engine rooms of the cooling system at the terminal.

2.2 Technological Derivatives in Applications of Controlled Temperature and Humidity

In this process of evaporative cooling, once the system is analyzed as a block in which the perceptible heat of
the external air is absorbed by the enthalpy of vaporization (latent heat) of the liquid in the multiventuri liquid
centrifuging, the re-incorporation through the removal of perceptible heat dissipated by the electric power equipment
follows, with the occurrence of an isenthalpic exchange, as field values show that the temperature and humidity of the
purge are equivalent, having used the psychometric characteristics of the air as carrier gas for energy transport and
transfer.
When applied in control and instrument rooms, where there is an intensive use of programmable logic
controllers (PLC) with reduced values of dissipated perceptible heat, the technology of multiventuri liquid centrifuging
of hydrodynamic precipitators operates together with the system of air acclimatization in a refrigerator cycle, in order to
ensure environmental quality with controlled humidity and temperature at levels below those attainable by evaporative
cooling. This arrangement operates harmoniously, allowing for the use of the technology in installations with variable
electrical charge, through the use of frequency variators acting on the engine of the centrifugal pump in order to
measure the amount of water injected into the multiventuri liquid centrifuging, allowing for the control of temperature
and humidity. As an optional application, as shown in Figure 7, we have the incorporation of a pH analyzer and
controller that promotes the neutralization “in situ” of acid fractions such as those found in refineries sulfur courtyards

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or else near power houses operating with petroleum coke and presenting emissions of acid ions that must be neutralized
in accordance with classic reactions of acid + base  salt + water, preventing the entry of acid fractions into
environments treated with the cooling system.
Both operations have been carried out with similar results to those obtained at the flexible LNG terminal of
Guanabara Bay, where the air is free from salt ions and blown at the wet bulb temperature of 25 ° C, stabilizing the
internal temperature of substations with power between 27°C - 31°C for systems without refrigeration cycle and
temperatures adjusted according to project requirements.

Figure 8. Hydrodynamic precipitator in the air intake in an industrial environment with acids, featuring neutralization
"in situ" of sulfur oxides.

The evolution of the application of multiventuri liquid centrifuging technology depends on the adoption of
refrigeration systems incorporated into hydrodynamic precipitators in order to achieve the cleaning and cooling of the
air in a single stage, free from obstructive filters.

3. Conclusion
Our study has prioritized the development of new applications for the multiventuri liquid centrifuging
technology, allowing for the rapid development and consolidation of the use of hydrodynamic precipitators in the
debugging and cooling air blown into sheltered electrical installations, ensuring asset preservation in these installations
and their operational reliability. The process also contributes to the optimization of the performance of these electrical
devices, resulting in the achievement of their best performance. The applications at COELBA-BA with over 20 years of
use and at the Petrobras LNG terminal at Guanabara Bay have shown the effectiveness of the technology in establishing
barriers for the declassification of areas through saline corrosion, reducing investments through ensuring an indoor
environment free from corrosive elements and with mild temperatures throughout the year, with minimum consumption
if compared to the energy consumption of conventional cooling systems.

4. Acknowledgments
We record our thanks, in memoriam, to the scientist Giuseppe Capulli whose legacy of perseverance, tenacity
and creativity in the development of technological innovation aiming at the welfare of mankind through environmental
preservation and improvements in the quality of life.

5. References
NASSER, V.L., FILHO O.C.R., NOBRE M.M.M., O uso do sensoriamento remoto e geoestatística aplicados a
modelagem de dados de salinidade do sistema estuarino da Baia de Guanabara. Anais XI SBSR, Belo Horizonte,
INPE p.1609-1616, 2003.
BRUSAMARELLO, V., BIANCHI, A. L., RIEDER, E. S., BALBINOT, A.,WENTZ, M., KONIG, D., RADKE, C.,
Investigação e comparação dos principais processos de corrosão em diferentes subestações de energia elétrica do
estado do RS. 17° CBECIMat - Congresso Brasileiro de Engenharia e Ciência dos Materiais, Foz do Iguaçu, PR,
2006.
KJERFVE, B., Ribeiro, C. H. A., Dias, G. T. M., Filipo,A. M., Quaresma, V. S., Continental Shelf Research, v.17, n.
13, p 1609-1643,1997.

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ICZ, Instituto de metais não ferrosos, www.portaldagalvanizacao.com.br (Manual da Galvanização – Taxa de corrosão
do zinco em função de exposição em condições abrigadas e não-abrigadas).
ASHRAE, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Guiden e Databook, 1977.
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