Gas Washing Bottles / Bubblers

A gas washing bottle treats a gas by bubbling it through a liquid. Gas enters through a tube that reaches near the bottom of the bottle, breaks into bubbles as it leaves the tip, rises through the liquid, and exits via an outlet at the top — and in the process the liquid can scrub out impurities, dry or humidify the gas, or absorb a component for analysis.

Fitting a sintered (fritted) glass disc at the inlet breaks the gas into much finer bubbles, greatly increasing the gas-liquid contact and the efficiency of washing or absorption. The classic form is the Dreschel bottle.

Gas scrubbing and washing, drying or humidifying gas streams, gas absorption and trapping for analysis, treating reaction off-gases, and analytical sampling trains, in research, synthesis and environmental labs.

A borosilicate 3.3 bottle with a ground-glass head carrying an inlet tube (reaching near the base) and an outlet tube, matched to the bottle by a ground joint. The inlet ends in an open tip or a sintered glass frit for fine bubbles. Amber glass is available for light-sensitive absorbents.

Fill with the appropriate washing or absorbing liquid below the outlet, connect the inlet to the gas source and the outlet onward, and check the gas flows in the right direction — reversing inlet and outlet can suck liquid back. Watch for suck-back if the gas supply stops, and choose a frit only where fine bubbles are needed, as it raises back-pressure. Keep the head with its matched bottle.

The bottle and head are formed from borosilicate 3.3, with the head's tubes and ground joint produced and ground to match the bottle, then annealed. Sintered discs are fused into the inlet where specified. Joint fit, tube placement and (for fritted versions) frit porosity are the key checks.