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Vapor-liquid separator

A vapor-liquid separator is a vertical vessel used in several industrial applications to separate a vapor-liquid mixture. Gravity causes the liquid to settle to the bottom of the vessel, where it is withdrawn.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] The vapor travels upward at a design velocity which minimizes the entrainment of any liquid droplets in the vapor as it exits the top of the vessel.

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The feed to a vapor-liquid separator may also be a liquid that is being partially or totally flashed into a vapor and liquid as it enters the separator.

A vapor-liquid separator may also be referred to as a flash drum, knock-out drum, knock-out pot, compressor suction drum or compressor inlet drum.

When used to remove suspended water droplets from streams of air, a vapor-liquid separator is often called a demister.

Where vapor-liquid separators are used

Vapor-liquid separators are very widely used in a great many indusries and applications, such as:

Oil refineries
Natural gas processing plants
Petrochemical and chemical plants
Refrigeration systems
Air conditioning
Compressor systems for air or other gases
Gas pipelines
Steam condensate flash drums

References

^ William D. Baasel (1990). Preliminary Chemical engineering Plant Design, 2nd Edition, Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0-442-23440-6.
^ David H.F. Liu (1997). Environmental Engineers' Handbook, 2nd Edition, CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-9971-8.
^ Stanley S. Grossel (June 2004). "Design and sizing of knock-out drums/catchtanks for emergency relief systems". Plant/Operations Progress (AIChE) 5 (3): 129-135. ISSN 0278-4513.
^ Stanley M. Walas (1988). Chemical Process Equipment:Selection and Design. Butterworth- Heinemann. ISBN 0-409-90131-8.