Effects of the number of layers on the separation performance of wire-mesh demisters have been studied in a horizontal flow of air laden with water droplets.
Two kinds of the demisters used are constructed by galvanized iron wires 300 μm and 850 μm in diameter respectively, which are held perpendicular to the air flow direction. Experiments have been made varing from 1 to 4 layers for each demister and varing from 1.0 to 6.0 m/s in mean air velocity, respectively. And the water droplets have been obtained in various sizes from 5 to about 150μm.
Characteristics of size distribution of water droplets at the outlet to the demisters have little effect on the number of layers in this range, but are influenced by the kind of demister. The previously published theories of water droplets trapping efficiency of the demister give considerably lower values than those obtained by the present experiments, but the difference between the both decreases as the number of layers increases. Pressure loss coefficients when the air is laden with water droplets are 2.1 to 2.5 times greater than those when it is dry independent of the number of layers.