Liquid-Driven Dispersion Intensification Device for Marine Desulfurization: Performance Evaluation

Sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions from marine exhaust cause serious environmental and health problems. To address onboard space constraints, we developed a novel liquid-driven dispersion intensification device (LDID). The device was optimized by a decolorization experiment, identifying the ideal blade configuration containing 12 Pelton blades and 12 flat blades. Desulfurization performance was evaluated under open seawater desulfurization (OSD) and closed alkaline desulfurization (CAD). Both OSD and CAD could meet the International Maritime Organization (IMO) global SO 2 emission limit, with CAD further meeting the emission control areas (ECAs) limit. An artificial neural network was used to predict the mass transfer coefficient ( K y a ) with a deviation from experimental results of less than ±5%. LDID provided 10–20 times higher K y a, 10–40% higher desulfurization efficiency, and a 4-fold or even lower reduction in reactor volume compared to conventional spray towers, demonstrating strong potential for compact and efficient marine exhaust treatment.