- Vapor-liquid separator
A vapor-liquid separator is a vertical vessel used in several industrial applications to separate a vapor-liquid mixture. Gravity causes the liquid to settle to the bottom of the vessel, where it is withdrawn. [cite book|author=William D. Baasel|title=Preliminary Chemical engineering Plant Design|edition=2nd Edition|publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold|year=1990|id=ISBN 0-442-23440-6] [cite book|author=David H.F. Liu|title=Environmental Engineers' Handbook|edition=2nd Edition|publisher=
CRC Press |year=1997|id=ISBN 0-8493-9971-8] [cite journal|author=Stanley S. Grossel|year=2004 |month=June|title=Design and sizing of knock-out drums/catchtanks for emergency relief systems|journal=Plant/Operations Progress (AIChE )|volume=5|issue=3|pages=129–135|issn=0278-4513|doi=10.1002/prsb.720050304] [cite book|author=Stanley M. Walas|title=Chemical Process Equipment:Selection and Design|edition= |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann|year=1988|id=ISBN 0-409-90131-8 ] The vapor travels upward at a design velocity which minimizes the entrainment of any liquid droplets in the vapor as it exits the top of the vessel.The feed to a vapor-liquid separator may also be a liquid that is being partially or totally "flashed" into a vapor and liquid as it enters the separator.
A vapor-liquid separator may also be referred to as a flash drum, knock-out drum, knock-out pot, compressor suction drum or compressor inlet drum.
When used to remove suspended water droplets from streams of air, a vapor-liquid separator is often called a demister.
Where vapor-liquid separators are used
Vapor-liquid separators are very widely used in a great many indusries and applications, such as:
*Oil refineries
*Natural gas processing plants
*Petrochemical andchemical plant s
*Refrigeration systems
*Air conditioning
*Compressor systems for air or other gases
*Gas pipelines
*Steam condensate flash drums
*Geothermal power plantsee also
*
Flash evaporation
*Vapor-compression refrigeration
*Souders-Brown equation (for sizing vapor-liquid separators)
*Steam drum References
External links
* [http://www.sulzerchemtech.com/Portaldata/11/Resources/Brochures/MTC/separator_e.pdf High-Capacity Gas De-Entrainment] (scroll to page 2 of the brochure)
* [http://web.ift.uib.no/mps/mpstraus.html"Experimental Characterization of High-Pressure Natural Gas Scrubbers" by Trond Austrheim] (preprints of papers based on PhD Thesis at theUniversity of Bergen ,Norway , 2006)
* [http://www.spiraxsarco.com/resources/steam-engineering-tutorials/condensate-recovery/flash-steam.asp Flash Steam Tutorial] The benefits of recovering flash steam, how it is done and typical applications.
* [http://www.red-bag.com/cms/index.php?section=242#criteria Design Criteria for Vapor/Liquid Separators]
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