Wet desulfurization of flue gas was investigated with Ca(OH)2 slurry as absorbent in a water-sparged aerocyclone(WSA)

new and high efficiency gas-liquid mass transfer equipment.The results show that the removal efficiency of SO2 increases with the inlet gas velocity

first increases linearly with liquid jet velocity uL

and then remains almost constant when uL is equal to or greater than 0.29 m·s-1.The removal efficiency of SO2 decreases as SO2 concentration in the flue gas increases

and presents a maximum value with the increase of liquid reflux ratio and Ca(OH)2 concentration in the absorbent slurry.The removal efficiency of SO2 can reach 88.9%-97.7% under the following conditions:flue gas flow rate of 24-72 m3·h-1

absorbent recirculation flow rate of 0.4-0.8 m3·h-1

Ca(OH)2 concentration in absorbent of 7500 g·m-3

and SO2 concentration in flue gas of 1891-6373 mg·m-3.No fouling and blocking were found in the WSA because of the self-cleaning ability of the cyclone gas and liquid jet.The mass transfer mechanism in the WSA was also investigated.The results show that the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient KGa and the interfacial area a increase with the increase of inlet gas velocity uG

the overall mass transfer coefficient KG increases with uG slowly.KGa and KG increase quickly with liquid jet velocity uL when uL≤0.26 m·s-1 and then increase slowly

and a increases almost linearly with the increase of uL.As Ca(OH)2 concentration cL increases

KGa and KG increase first and then decrease.The empirical formulae fit the experimental data well and could be used to predict the mass transfer characteristics for wet desulfurization in WSA.Under the experimental conditions

the mass transfer in wet desulfurization in the WSA is controlled by both gas film and liquid film

mainly by liquid film.