Decontamination of process streams

1. A method of substantially removing contaminants from a process stream comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of reticulated elements in a vessel, the vessel being located upstream of a process unit in which a substantially decontaminated process stream can be processed and the reticulated elements having a pore distribution range of about 4 to 800 pores per linear inch;

randomly packing the plurality of reticulated elements within the vessel, whereby the plurality of reticulated elements provides enhanced filtration of contaminants within a process stream on a surface of at least a portion of the plurality of reticulated elements; and

contacting the contaminated process stream with the plurality of reticulated elements to substantially remove contaminants from the contaminated process stream in a non-reactive manner while allowing the contaminated process stream to pass unimpeded through the plurality of reticulated elements, thereby producing a substantially decontaminated process stream; and

sending the substantially decontaminated process stream to a downstream process unit for further processing.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of sending the substantially decontaminated process stream to a downstream process unit includes sending the substantially decontaminated process stream to a downstream process unit selected from the group consisting of a chemical reactor, a distillation column, a tail gas treater, an incinerator, a tank, a vessel, a heat exchanger, a furnace, a packaging facility, a pipeline, a catalytic process unit, an extractor, a scrubber, a boiler, a reboiler, a separator, a cooling tower, and a condenser.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of providing a plurality of reticulated elements includes providing a plurality of reticulated elements that comprise a material selected from the group consisting of a ceramic material, a metallic material, a plasma deposition material, a polymeric material, a carbonaceous material, and a chemical vapor deposition material.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reticulated elements are formed from a material selected from the group consisting of a foam material and a monolithic material.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of providing a plurality of reticulated elements includes providing a filter media within the same vessel as the plurality of reticulated elements.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the step of providing the filter media includes providing the filter media in a layer downstream of the plurality of reticulated elements.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of providing the conventional filter media in a layer includes utilizing the conventional filter media as an indicator to signal a pressure drop increase across the conventional filter media, the pressure drop increase being indicative of exhaustion of the filtering capacity of both the plurality of reticulated elements and the conventional filter media.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of providing a plurality of reticulated elements includes providing reticulated elements that have a shape selected from the group consisting of substantially spherical shaped balls, raschig rings, saddle shaped pieces, cubes, rectangular shaped pieces, trapezoidal shaped pieces, dodecahedral shaped pieces, conical shaped pieces, rhomboidal shaped pieces, briquette shaped pieces, cylinders, hollow cylinders, and disks.

9. A method of removing contaminants from a process stream comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of reticulated elements in a vessel, the vessel being located upstream of a process unit in which a substantially decontaminated process stream can be processed and the reticulated elements having a pore distribution range of about 4 to 800 pores per linear inch;

randomly packing the plurality of reticulated elements within the vessel whereby the plurality of reticulated elements provides enhanced filtration of contaminants within a process stream on a surface of the plurality of reticulated elements;

providing filter media in a layer downstream of the plurality of reticulated elements, the filter media acting as an indicator to signal a pressure drop increase across the conventional filter media, the pressure drop increase being indicative of exhaustion of the filtering capacity of both the plurality of reticulated elements and the filter media;

contacting the contaminated process stream with the plurality of reticulated elements and the filter media to remove contaminants from the contaminated process stream in a non-reactive manner while allowing the contaminated process stream to pass unimpeded through the plurality of reticulated elements thereby producing a substantially decontaminated process stream; and

sending the substantially decontaminated process stream to a downstream process unit for further processing.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the step of providing a plurality of reticulated elements includes providing a plurality of reticulated elements that comprise a material selected from the group consisting of a ceramic material, a metallic material, a plasma deposition material, a polymeric material, a carbonaceous material, and a chemical vapor deposition material.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the filter media are selected from the group consisting of graded rings, support, catalyst, and combinations thereof.