Gas separator mist eliminator wires-liquid adhesion using the centrifugal adhesion balance

Adhesion force of pendant drop from mist eliminator wires experiments showed that the normal force, f, required to detach the drop from the wires is a weak growing function of the time, t, that the drop was pendant and resting from the wire surface prior to commencement of detachment. We attribute the increase of normal force with time, to the unsatisfied normal component of Young's equation. These time increases of the normal force seem to reach a plateau within fractions of an hour. The measurements were enabled using a novel instrument that allows inducing and measuring of normal adhesion forces at a mist eliminator wire (solid)-liquid (pendant drop) interface, in the absence of lateral force. This increasing acting normal force on drop pendant from a wire corresponds to increasing gravitational force of coalescing small droplets on the mist eliminators wires in gas separators in separation of mist from gas stream process. The mist eliminator wires-liquid adhesion force has been measured to enhance separation efficiency by enhancing the chemical and physical structure of the wire meshes. Measured adhesion force, enables us to optimize mesh pads wire material and size selection by calculating the drop mass that will disengage from wire surface under normal operating conditions and due to its gravitational force in wire mesh facility. The time effect and drop size effect on normal adhesive force has been studied for surface adhesion measurements in our solid-liquid systems. The drop shape transformation prior to commencement of detachment which is the result of an increase in normal gravitational force due to coalescence of drop, has been investigated in detail. The maximum mass of liquid pendant drop that the commercial industrial mist eliminator wires can hold has been calculated from surface adhesion force of solid-liquid systems. This novel drop's mass information and its relation to gas flow velocity, drag force, and surface adhesion force of the wire-liquid systems which has not been investigated before, enables us to be more selective and optimize the mist eliminator mesh pad wire material. This required separation mass and liquid droplet size can be manipulated by controlling the gas velocity and wire mesh material, size and structure with the help of adhesion force in wire-liquid pendant drop surface. Utilizing the surface adhesion force information for different wire materials and diameters in contact with different entrained liquid systems, can improve the separation efficiency and pressure drop of the gas separators by selecting proper material and size of mist eliminator wire meshes to control surface adhesion force and detaching drop size and mass.