Plate separators for dispersed liquid-liquid systems: hydrodynamic coalescence model

Plate separators are an effective and often used apparatus for the separation of droplets from liquids, e.g. in the case of oil-water purification. The separation is accomplished by coalescing the droplets on inclined plates. A mathematical model for the coalescence of individual droplets on inclined plates of a plate separator is derived. It is based on the hydrodynamic processes of the coalescence and takes into account the mobile interfacial behaviour. The results are compared with a model of Yang and Hartland and experimental results. The application of the single-drop model to the coalescence of polydispersed drop swarms in a real plate separator and a countercurrent centrifugal extractor is demonstrated.