ABSTRACT
Entrainment may result in a loss of valuable liquid. It contaminates the desirable overhead product. Entrainment may cause downstream problems, stream pollution, and air pollution. In various types of process equipment throughput capacity is limited by entrainment. With proper entrainment separation equipment the throughput rates of existing equipment may be increased. The mechanisms by which entrainment is generated are bubble rupture, sprays, and condensation. The boiling and bubbling entrainment mechanisms found in commercial equipment are essentially the same. Bubbles of various sizes rise to the liquid surface, burst, and form both small and large droplets which are projected upward into the vapor space. Knowledge of the basic mechanisms by which entrainment separation is accomplished is essential in the selection, design, and operation of entrainment separation equipment. One or more of the following separation mechanisms are utilized: centrifugation, sedimentation, inertial impaction, interception, diffusion, venturi contacting and electrostatic precipitation.
