A model for the lifetime of a reactive filter

In many industrial applications, reactive filters, which remove toxic substances using chemical reactions, prove very efficient and versatile. One such example is the removal of sulphur dioxide from flue gas by converting it into liquid sulphuric acid. In this paper, we extend a model developed in Kiradjiev et al. (SIAM J Appl Math 82:591–619, 2021) for the operation of a reactive filter to consider the long-time behaviour and determine how the filter becomes clogged with liquid and becomes inefficient. We explore how the parameters that govern the operation of the filter affect its efficiency and discuss optimal filtration strategies. We also consider a distinguished asymptotic limit in terms of the key dimensionless parameters and obtain an explicit solution that compares well with the numerical solution to the full problem. Finally, we compare the results of our model with those from a simplified model for a reactive filter considered in Breward and Kiradjiev (J Eng Math, 129(14):1–28, 2021).