Gas cleaning unit and method for cleaning gas

1. A gas cleaning unit for cleaning a main raw gas stream from a plant, the gas cleaning unit comprising:

a plurality of gas cleaning chambers, each gas cleaning chamber equipped with a cleaning chamber inlet;

an inlet manifold, for dividing said main raw gas stream flowing therethrough into a plurality of separate fractional raw gas streams for flow to said cleaning chamber inlets; and

a plurality of heat exchangers, each heat exchanger located downstream of the inlet manifold for exchanging heat with a respective fractional raw gas stream entering a respective cleaning chamber;

wherein each of the heat exchanges is arranged to generate a pressure drop in the fractional raw gas stream passing through that heat exchanger such that a leveling effect on flow rates of the individual fractional gas streams occurs to uniformly distribute flow of the raw gas to said gas cleaning chambers.

2. The gas cleaning unit according to claim 1 , wherein each of the heat exchangers is located at the respective cleaning chamber inlet.

3. The gas cleaning unit according to claim 1 , wherein each of said heat exchangers have an outlet arranged for discharging raw gas directly into the respective cleaning chamber.

4. The gas cleaning unit according to claim 1 , wherein each of said heat exchangers comprises a raw gas inlet chamber for receiving a fractional raw gas stream, and a plurality of mutually parallel raw gas cooling tubes that are spaced apart.

5. The gas cleaning unit according to claim 4 , wherein each raw gas cooling tube has a cooling tube inlet funnel for accelerating raw gas into the cooling tube.

6. The gas cleaning unit according to claim 4 , wherein the cooling tubes stand vertically.

7. The gas cleaning unit according to claim 1 , wherein each of said gas cleaning chambers comprises a dry scrubber having said respective heat exchanger arranged at a raw gas inlet located in a lower portion thereof.

8. The gas cleaning unit according to claim 1 , wherein said plant comprises a plurality of electrolytic cells for producing aluminium using the Hall-Héroult process, and said raw gas is flue gas generated in said Hall-Héroult process.

9. The gas cleaning unit according to claim 1 , wherein each of said cleaning chambers is provided with an inlet damper located between the respective heat exchanger and the inlet manifold.

10. The gas cleaning unit according to claim 1 , further comprising an outlet manifold for connecting all cleaning chambers to an output stack.

11. A method for cleaning a main raw gas stream, comprising:

dividing said main raw gas stream into a plurality of fractional raw gas streams; and

cooling individually each of said fractional raw gas streams using a plurality of respective heat exchangers, so as to obtain a plurality of cooled fractional raw gas streams to be individually cleaned; and

generating a pressure drop in the fractional raw gas stream passing through each heat exchanger to provide a leveling effect on flow rates of the individual fractional gas streams to uniformly distribute flow of the raw gas to gas cleaning chambers.

12. A method for cleaning a main raw gas stream, comprising:

dividing said main raw gas stream into a plurality of fractional raw gas streams;

cooling individually each of said fractional raw as streams using a plurality of respective heat exchangers, so as to obtain a plurality of cooled fractional raw gas streams to be individually cleaned; and

individually discharging each of said fractional raw gas streams directly from an outlet of the respective heat exchanger into a respective cleaning chamber.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein each of said fractional raw gas streams is cooled in a heat exchanger comprising a raw gas inlet chamber for receiving a fractional raw gas stream, and a plurality of mutually parallel raw gas cooling tubes that are spaced apart, with each raw gas cooling tube having a cooling tube inlet funnel for accelerating raw gas into the cooling tube.

14. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

introducing each of said plurality of cooled fractional raw gas streams into the lower portion of a dry scrubber.

15. The method according to claim 12 , wherein said main raw gas stream is generated by a Hall-Héroult aluminium production process.

16. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

individually controlling the flow of each of the fractional raw gas streams into the respective heat exchangers.

17. The method according to claim 11 , wherein each of said fractional raw gas streams is cooled in a heat exchanger comprising a raw gas inlet chamber for receiving a fractional raw gas stream, and a plurality of mutually parallel raw gas cooling tubes that are spaced apart, with each raw gas cooling tube having a cooling tube inlet funnel for accelerating raw gas into the cooling tube.

18. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

introducing each of said plurality of cooled fractional raw gas streams into the lower portion of a dry scrubber.

19. The method according to claim 11 , wherein said main raw gas stream is generated by a Hall-Héroult aluminium production process.

20. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

individually controlling the flow of each of the fractional raw gas streams into the respective heat exchangers.