New Internal Duct-Mounted Drag Separator

The MaxiSpin™ is a new and revolutionary mist separator developed by Clark Solutions.

Unlike traditional equipment, it uses the steam transport duct itself to remove sugar droplets carried from the cookers and evaporators.

Its design makes it the perfect equipment to handle the large flow variations and entrained liquid loads typical of juice cooking processes.

With a large flow area and a small spray nozzle installed upstream, the MaxiSpin™ minimizes fouling issues common to blades in centrifugal and vane-type separators.

Figure 1 – Steam lines passing through MaxiSpin

Based on CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) studies and over a decade of experience with HeliFlow® axial flow cyclones—the most advanced centrifugal separator for Oil & Gas—Clark Solutions developed a product with similar features adapted for installation inside the piping that connects the Cooker and the Venturi:

Figure 2 – Installation of MaxiSpin™ in the steam outlet piping of the cooker

To enable separation, the MaxiSpin™ mist eliminator forces the steam flow and entrained liquid droplets into rotation. Due to their higher density, the droplets have greater inertia than the gas and cannot follow the rotation, coalescing on the pipe walls, from where they are drained through a special device.

Figure 3 – Steam velocity profile along the MaxiSpin

The MaxiSpin™ is designed to work with:

Wide steam flow variation

Limited installation space

High-fouling liquids

The MaxiSpin™ collects over 99% of entrained particles of critical diameter from start to end of the cooking cycle:

Figure 4 – GIFs comparing droplet capture of 30 µm at maximum and minimum flow in a cooker

The MaxiSpin™ mist eliminator is the best choice for cookers, as it is highly efficient, non-fouling, easy to install, and minimizes pressure drop across the entire steam flow range.