So there's a lot of information on the forum about scrubbers. There's also lots of posts about what people fill their scrubbers with, most seem to favor the use of stuff that they can find easily like bioballs, marbles, cut PVC, etc.
I am finding that I'm spending too much time looking for the alternative route, when the answer has already been hashed out in industry, and just costs a few bucks more...or less.
I'm going to do a 50 gallon drum, with sprayer at the top, so figure about 30 gallons of balls, or 4 cu ft.
Bioballs, $75/cu ft (Dr's Foster & Smith, $50/5 gallon)
Tri-Pack 1" polypropylene balls, $45/cu ft (Tri-Mer Corp, 10 cu ft min order)
Cut PVC, I can get a whole bunch of it from the local recycle place for next to nothing, but then I've got to cut it. Thinking about loading my van up with used PVC, and filling a 1' square box with 1" long pieces makes me think that it would cost more than $45/cu ft, even if the material is less.
Now, bioballs still have greater surface area, but they also have much lower void space, which means that the pressure drop across thru the scrubber increases. A suitable poly blower is still $1800 for the average hood.
I am finding that I'm spending too much time looking for the alternative route, when the answer has already been hashed out in industry, and just costs a few bucks more...or less.
I'm going to do a 50 gallon drum, with sprayer at the top, so figure about 30 gallons of balls, or 4 cu ft.
Bioballs, $75/cu ft (Dr's Foster & Smith, $50/5 gallon)
Tri-Pack 1" polypropylene balls, $45/cu ft (Tri-Mer Corp, 10 cu ft min order)
Cut PVC, I can get a whole bunch of it from the local recycle place for next to nothing, but then I've got to cut it. Thinking about loading my van up with used PVC, and filling a 1' square box with 1" long pieces makes me think that it would cost more than $45/cu ft, even if the material is less.
Now, bioballs still have greater surface area, but they also have much lower void space, which means that the pressure drop across thru the scrubber increases. A suitable poly blower is still $1800 for the average hood.