Two styles of Initted 'wire mesh entrainment separators,or demisters were investigated to determine maximun useful air flow rates over a wide range of liquid entrainnant loadings. The demisters studiod were six-inch thickniess and constructed of 0.011 inch diameter stainless steel wire.

The expression widely used to determine allowable design velocity for gas through demisters is:

V=K/((d1, dv)/ dv)           (1)

where
V = Maximum Degree gas velocity, feet per second,
K = is a constant for the system,
d= density of entrained liquid phase, pounds per cubic foot,
dv = density of gaseous phaae, pounds per cubic foot.

In this work the factor K in. the above equation is correlated with the liquid entrainment loading imposed upon the demister for the sysam air-water by the expression:

K= (log G -B) /m           (2)

where
G is the mass liquid entertainment loading rate, pounds per hour per square foot,
K is the proporticnality constant to be used for a given condition of liquid load in equation 1
B and m are constants for each demister style and for either flood or load points as shown in Table No. II.

The air velocity at flooding is established as the air velocity beyond which reentrainment occurred above the demister. The load point is of more practical significance with respect to actual design and is at an air velocity less than that for the flood point.

The load point for the style 421 demister is from 20 to 45 percent below that for the style 931 demister over the range of liquid loadings studied. The flood point for the style 421 demister is at a higher air velocity than that for the style 931 demister in the low liquid entrainment loading range . Beyond a G equal to 25 pounds per hour per square foot, however, the flood point of the denser 421 demister falls below that for the 931 unit.