Tackle tough separations

The use of high-efficiency liquid-liquid coalescers, to improve the separation of emulsions, is discussed. Coalescers have a service life of one to two years when adequately protected by prefiltration, and despite the long life, the equipment will eventually require disposal and replacement. Liquid-liquid coalescers can be used on a number of processes to protect equipment, recover valuable streams and to meet environmental discharge limits. A higher degree of mixing in extraction processes is allowed by the coalescers, since they can break stable emulsions, thereby enhancing the mass transfer and reducing the size of equipment for extraction.