Introduction

Since the industrial revolution, greases, oils, and lubricants have been used to improve
manufacturing quality, increase production output, cool tooling to increase tool life, and
provide lubrication to reduce machine tool wear and maintenance. As the demand has grown
for higher quality parts with tighter tolerances at higher output rates and all at a lower cost,
the amount of coolant and lubricant, the pressure at which coolants and lubricants are
delivered, and the speed of the machining tools have increased. With each increase in amount
used, delivery pressure and tooling speed, the quantity of mist generated has increased while
the particle size of mist has decreased. This results in manufacturing plants having ever
decreasing indoor air quality, requiring new controls to reduce airborne mist levels.
Mist can generally be defined as a small liquid particle 20 microns in diameter or
smaller. This report focuses primarily on applications that use oil-based and water-soluble
lubricants and coolants. These lubricants and coolants are employed in many applications
including metal cutting, metal forming, grinding, parts washing, and others. For example,
milling and turning operations using water-soluble metalworking fluids typically produce
mist droplets that range from 2 microns to 20 microns. The same operations using oil-based
fluids typically produce mist droplets that range from 0.5 microns to 10 microns.
Manufacturers use mist collectors on machine tools to provide cleaner air and a
better working environment for employees. Mist collectors minimize the adverse effects of
exposure to metalworking fluids, comply with indoor air quality standards, reduce
maintenance costs, reduce housekeeping costs, minimize accidents and maximize worker
effectiveness, and improve quality.
Three Common Types of Mist Collector
1. Centrifugal Mist Collector
It relies primarily on inertial separation to remove droplets from an airstream
by diverting the airstream around a collection surface inside the unit. Because the
droplets in the airstream have momentum, they continue their path and impact the
surface, ultimately coalescing with other droplets and draining. Inertial separators
typically do not have primary filters that need to be changed. However, they require
regular maintenance to clean contamination from the components. In addition,
inertial separation tends to work better on large droplets than small ones because
bigger droplets have more mass and momentum. This increases their chance of
impacting the collector surface. Inertial separators have sub-par efficiency when
droplets are smaller than 2 microns in diameter.
2. Cartridge Mist Collector
 A type of mist collector uses fibrous filter media to remove droplets.
Droplets adhere to the fibers in the filter media and coalesce with other droplets.
When a droplet is sufficiently large, gravity pulls it down the fiber to drain. The
challenge using this type of collector is balancing the need for both high efficiency
and effective draining. High filtration efficiencies can be achieved using small
fibers. However, small fibers typically require resin to hold them together, which
prevents coalesced droplets from draining effectively. Therefore, filter media using
small fibers can become easily plugged with trapped liquid. Conversely, large fibers
 have good draining characteristics but can compromise the ability of the media to
capture small mist droplets.
Such a circumstance is often mitigated by using layers of fiber media. A pre-
filter layer with large fibers, mesh or screens captures and drains large droplets
while a second or primary layer with smaller fibers accumulates most of the
remaining droplets. An optional third layer uses a HEPA or DOP filter for high-
efficiency removal of sub-micron-sized droplets. However, if any of these layers are
working poorly, the entire mist collector will be ineffective.

3. Electrostatic Precipitator
These units work by drawing mist-filled air through an ionizer that gives
each droplet either a positive or a negative charge. The charged droplets are then
captured by collection cells that use alternating high-voltage and grounded plates to
attract the charged droplets. The droplets coalesce on the plates and drain out of the
collector. Electrostatic precipitation units are advantageous because there are no
filters to replace, they consume a relatively low amount of electricity and they offer
high efficiency when fully cleaned. That said, they have fallen out of favor with
some due to their frequent, arduous maintenance routines. Their internal
components must be kept meticulously clean in order to efficiently charge and
capture droplets.

Conclusion
Mist collectors maintain clean work environments by collecting oil and/or soluble
mist generated in the process of machining and/or other abrasive operations such as the use of
lathes and chemical spraying for cleaning and anti-rusting. The selection of a mist collector
can be a daunting task. However, by understanding the differences and trade-offs between
fundamental mist and smoke collection technologies, and matching your shop’s
characteristics and goals, a good solution can be found.

References:
Landicho et al. (2019). Dust and Mist Collection. Retrieved from
https://www.scribd.com/document/440115981/Report-3-Dust-and-Mist-Collection-Landicho-
Santos-and-Virata-pdf

“BISCO Enterprise Blog” (2018). The 3 Common Types of Industrial Mist Collectors.
Retrieved from https://biscoair.com/blog/the-3-common-types-of-industrial-mist-collectors/

UNIVERSITY OF MINDANAO
 MATINA CAMPUS

A Written Report in
Introduction to Particle Technology
CHE 439

DUST AND MIST COLLECTION

Submitted To:

ENGR. CRIJAMAICA OCEÑA , CHE

Submitted By:

DARYLLE HANNAH C. JAMERO

February 17, 2020