FILTECH 2023, The Filtration Event

Cologne, Germany

14.02.-16.02.2023

C. Straube, J. Meyer, A. Dittler

Fibrous coalescence filters consisting of micro glass fibers and sometimes small amounts of synthetic fibers are widely applied in gas cleaning processes to separate liquid droplets from a gas flow (e.g. oil mists). When separated on the fibers of the filter media, the deposited oil can take different shapes dependent on the oil saturation, wettability, roughness and diameter of the fibers and fiber arrangement (e.g. axisymmetric barrel-shaped droplets, axially asymmetric clam-shell droplets or oil sails between adjacent fibers). To understand the initial state of the coalescence filtration process as well as the impact of the deposited oil structures within the filter matrix on the separation efficiency, it is essential to characterize these deposited oil structures. Using X-Ray microtomography (µ-CT) and an artificial intelligence tool for segmentation, deposited oil structures can be visualized, identified and analyzed down to sizes in the micrometer region. The main emphasis of this work is to quantify and compare oil structures formed at three different filtration velocities at a defined oil saturation of the coalescence filter media by a µ-CT.