Mesh-Vane Assemblies

There are several important applica-

KNITTED WIRE MESH
tions in which mesh and vane mist
eliminators are placed in tandem.
MIST ELIMINATORS
When the mesh pad is placed up-
stream of the vane element it coa-
lesces fine mist droplets into a spray of
coarse particles which are readily re-
moved by the downstream vane ele-
ment. This is precisely the approach
used in filter-separators in which the
gas-coalescing media is placed up-
stream of mesh or vane.
The contactor section of a glycol dehydrator is
a perfect candidate for an assembly. In such
packed dehys, gas handling capacity is deter-
mined by the hydraulics of the packing, and the
mist eliminator must accommodate this flow.
This translates into a flow rate much higher than
allowable for mesh, but a vane allows too much
carryover. The solution is an assembly. In this
application, glycol losses of 0.01 to 0.001 gal/
mmscfd can be achieved.

For Vertical Gas Separators protecting down-

stream compressor equipment and operating at
moderate to high pressures, and with vessel di-
ameter almost exclusively determined by the ca-
pacity of the mist eliminator, higher capacity mist
eliminators provide for smaller shells. While
vane separators offer the capacity, their droplet
removal performance drops off at higher pres-
sures and turndown is often a concern. Again,
assemblies combine not only the operating
range of mesh and capacity of vane, but the op-
erating range of both to ensure mist removal
over broad operating ranges. As an example, if
the optimum velocity through the vane and mesh
are approximately 10 and 5.5 fps respectively,
Jonell
the assembly offers optimum performance over CANADA INC
the range of 1.6-11 fps. Shown to the right is an
assembly with multi-layer high efficiency mesh
Jonell
CANADA INC
and a downstream vane with overall thickness of 1314D 44 Avenue, NE.
8 to fit a vane housing for an 18 Sch. 60 pipe Calgary, Alberta. T2E 6L6
shell. PH: 403 313-1559
FAX: 403 280-7926
Email: sales@jonellcanada.com
General
Jonell
CANADA INC PERFORMANCE
Jonell mesh pads can be made of any material which is ductile enough to be drawn
into wire. Although Jonell Canada knits 300 stainless series mesh and maintains in-
ventory, special order for monel, inconel, alloy 20, duplex stainless, nickel and other Wire mesh mist eliminators have been used to remove entrained droplets from a vapor
materials is available upon special request. stream since the late 1940s. Droplets collide on wire surfaces and coalesce together
to form larger droplets which then drain to the bottom of the pad and rain off. The first
Mesh pads are fabricated to meet virtually any vessel geometry and orientation. step in designing a mist eliminator is to determine the cross-sectional area required by
using the Souders-Brown equation. Procedure for this is given in most references and
Jonell Canada Inc. designers can determine the size and style of mist eliminator re- is found in GPSA Section 7.
quired to meet process requirements or customer specifications.

Construction
110

Jonell mist eliminators are made of layered or coiled socks of knitted mesh which are 100
individually crimped to the proper height to maintain density and specific surface area 90

Removal Efficiency %
requirements. In alloys, standard 0.011 and 0.006 wire is used, while co-knits of vari- 80 JCI Style
ous materials are also available.
70 45
Mesh pads are made in one piece for pipe-sized flanged vessels or segmented in nu- 60 85
merous sections to facilitate handling and passage through a vessel manway. 50 115
40
Standard grids using 1 x 1/8 flatbar and nominal 1/4 rod are typically used. Grating 200
30
or expanded metal grids are also offered. For smaller mesh pads or in cases in which
overall mist eliminator height is limited, rod-only grids may be used on top and/or bot- 20
tom faces. 10

0
Intermediate Rod-only grids are sometimes used for mesh pads of thickness 10 or 1 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
greater. Droplet Size - Microns
Mesh-Pad Nomenclature
Typically the mesh density is specified, and all too often what is used is 9-lb density
mesh of 0.011 diameter wire. Removal efficiency however is not affected by mass
Common mesh pad styles correlate with those of most other vendors. For instance, density per se, but rather by the diameter of wire used and the specific surface area.
JCI equivalent to industry standard 9-lb density mesh (ACS 4CA or Otto-York 431) is The chart above lists several common mesh densities along with key parameters. Note
style 85, which happens to be the specific surface area of 0.011 wire crimped to 9-lb that 12-lb density mesh exhibits 115 sq-ft/cu-ft if made of 0.011 diameter wire, or 200
density if made of 0.006 wire. For this reason, Jonell Canada styles correspond not to mass
JCI Style Mass Wire Void
density of mesh, but rather to specific surface area of wire in the mesh.
(or Specific Surface Density Diameter Space
Area in ft2/ft3) (lb/ft3) (inches) (%)
In the graph above, from front to back, are compared the removal efficiency in a natu-
235 14 0.006 97.2
200 12 0.006 97.6
ral gas application at 350 psia of style 45, 85 115 and 200. The higher the specific sur-
120 7 0.006 98.5 face area, the better the performance. This affect is accentuated at elevated pres-
115 12 0.011 97.5 sures.
95 10 0.011 97.2
85 9 0.011 98.2 For example, at 950 psia, standard 9-lb density mesh removes 99.9% or droplets only
65 7 0.011 98.5 at ~25 m, where as 12-lb density mesh style 200 (with 0.006 wire) achieves this at
45 5 0.001 99 only 9-10 m.