D. Abbaspour - Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran
R. Rahimi - Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran

With this article, pressure drop was predicted in a mist pad by CFD and compared with the available experimental data and empirical model. A CFD study was made to determine the pressure drop of wire mesh mist eliminator as a function of broad ranges of inlet velocity 1-7 m/s. The simulation was carried out in an industrial scale layered type demister pad made of stainless steel wires. These variables were measured as a function of vapor velocity (17 m/s), packing density (200 kg/m 3 ), pad thickness (200 mm), wire diameter (0.31 mm), and distance b e t w e e n m e s h w i r e s o f (5 mm). The numerical solutions were carried out using spreadsheet and commercial CFD code Fluent 6.0. The CFD simulations predict excellently the wire mesh mist eliminator pressure drop under inlet velocity with a maximum deviation of 14% from the Frashband’s refinery data and 21% from empirical formula. The efficiency of the demister is at highest at the gas inlet velocity of 6 m/s.

Demister pad; CFD; Pressure drop; Inlet velocity, efficiency