Liquid/liquid coalescence and separation

[Andreee]

Hello everybody,

I have a question about practical problems which are typical for operation of high-efficiency liquid/liquid coalescers (separators) equipped with coalescing cartridges (and also mats, mesh pads, corrugated plates etc.). I am a design and development engineer, and for sure lack of experience and practical knowledge in this field. What are the main problems, weak points of this type equipment, how often cartridges need to be replaced etc. Do you operate with manual or automatic draining mode?

I am also going to visit a couple of sites to discuss issues with operators directly - please advise me some locations and application description, where the coalescers are used in operation.

I will appreciate any information.

Kind regards,
Andrzej

 

[shahyar]

They are prone to clogging. If your liquid has some suspension paerticles, it is not a good option.
Coalescing relys on "surface" properties of coalescer and could be changed in time.

 

[gr2vessels]

Coalescer filter elements are mostly made of relative soft materials, therefore they tend to deteriorate rapidly with the relative small content of hard particles suspended in the liquid (or gas ditto). Water cloggs rapidly the diesel oil filter/coalescer.
Oil refineries and gas plants are heavy users of coalescers, large diesel engines have coalescer filters on the fuel line.
If you can get your hands on Shell DEP 31.22.05.12-Gen., you don't need anything else.
cheers,
gr2vessels