How to safely and quickly remove carbon dioxide and carbonic acid from the circulating water of a vacuum pump? Improve vacuum pumping efficiency
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I have a question for fellow sailors. The current situation is as follows: the pump used is a water ring vacuum pump, which is employed to remove the gas from within the container (CO2 makes up the majority of this gas, but there is also a small amount of air; the purpose is mainly to remove the air). In order to improve the efficiency of vacuum extraction, the temperature of the circulating water has been reduced, but the desired result has not yet been achieved. There is a strong odor of carbon dioxide at the circulating water buffer tank. The pH of the circulating water is 6; I’m wondering if there’s any way to make its pH neutral – could this improve the efficiency of vacuum extraction? Actually, it’s equivalent to two questions: Can removing carbonic acid from the circulating water improve the vacuum pumping efficiency? How to remove it safely and quickly?
For your situation, to improve the suction capacity, it is recommended that: 1). The inhalation temperature can be reduced； 2). Use a liquid with a lower saturated vapor pressure as the working fluid ； 3). If nothing else works, an atmospheric ejector can be installed ； Additionally: Since the gas itself contains CO2, CO2 will definitely dissolve in the working fluid water during the process, and as it’s a closed-loop system, I don’t think it’s feasible to remove the CO2.
Thank you for your reply, Haiyou. 1. Lower the intake temperature? Is it to lower the temperature of the gas in the container being sampled? 2. What are some other liquids with lower saturated vapor pressures? 3. My description of the problem wasn’t comprehensive enough; removing CO2 from the container isn’t the goal – what’s intended is to remove the air mixed in, mainly oxygen. Let me rephrase my question: does circulating water with a pH of 6 and high carbonate content have a higher oxygen solubility, or does normal cooling water have a higher one? If the cooling water works well, it cannot flow continuously, as that would result in excessive water consumption. Therefore, if neutral water has a high solubility for oxygen, we consider adding NaOH or something similar to the circulating water tank to remove carbonic acid, thereby making the water neutral and improving its ability to absorb oxygen. That’s the idea.