Vapor-liquid separators Wire mesh

Separator Efficiencies If vapor-liquid separation is poor, the product will be carried over into the condensate of the following effect. If solids are carried up into the wire mesh of demister-type separators, a high pressure drop and loss in At result. Recovered product yield and the capacity are then reduced, and the pollution load increases. The reduction in yield wastes all the energy previously expended to produce the lost product and increases the cost of raw material. If scaling materials are entrained, fouling is accelerated. 

Entrainment Due to Gas Bubbling/Jetting through a Liquid Entrainment generally hmits the capacity of distiUation trays and is commonly a concern in vaporizers and evaporators. Fortunately, it is readily controllable bv simple inertial entrainment capture devices such as wire mesh pads in gravity separators. 

Figure 4-16. Diagram of action of wire mesh in liquid-vapor separation. Courtesy of Metal Textile Corp., Bulletin ME 9-58.

The use of so-called coalescer chambers containing pads of plastic material,finely woven wire-mesh, coalescing membranes, metal wool, etc., is now common practice in handling either liquid or vapor streams from many settling or separating operations, but little appears.in the literature about such applications. Cyclone separators for handling liquids as well as vapors have been developed. 

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