Appeal No. 1997-3383
Application No. 08/310,052
processing line. Specifically, in the claimed process, an
organic contaminant-containing air is passed through a packed
tower scrubber in the absence of an active filter material but
in the presence of an inert packing material which provides a
plurality of tortuous channels through the packed tower. The
process further requires spraying of a pH-adjusted water as a
wash fluid down over the packing as the contaminant-containing
air passes through the packing. Appellants explain that prior
to the present invention, scrubber units for removing organic
contaminants from commercial polyurethane foam reducing or
fabricating operations utilized materials such as activated
charcoal to take up the organic pollutants. As a result, in
the prior art, it was necessary to replace or regenerate such
materials after a period of use. The presently claimed
invention is said to involve the discovery that an organic
contaminant-containing air may be passed through a scrubber in
the absence of an active filter material, such as the prior
art activated charcoal, but in the presence of an inert
packing material, so long as the packing material provides a
plurality of tortuous channels through the tower to affect
contact between a sprayed solution which passes down over the
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