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Study of the Oil Mist Filtration Performance: Pressure Drop Characteristics

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DOI: 10.4209/aaqr.2016.06.0258

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Aerosol and Air Quality Research, x: 1–10, xxxx

Copyright © Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research
ISSN: 1680-8584 print / 2071-1409 online
doi: 10.4209/aaqr.2016.06.0258

Study of the Oil Mist Filtration Performance: Pressure Drop Characteristics and
Filter Efficiency Model

Jie Zhang, Wuxuan Pan, Zhengwei Long*, Congcong Wang, Zhuangbo Feng
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering,
Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

ABSTRACT

Oil mists, which are colloids composed of solid core particles surrounded by oil, are commonly removed from air by
fibrous filters. However, unlike the filtration of pure solid or pure liquid particles, mist filtration is not yet fully understood.
This study performed a series of experiments to investigate filter performance throughout a clogging process and evaluated
the influence of oil content on the variance of pressure drop and filter efficiency. A model was developed for predicting
the efficiency of the colloid particles and used to explain how the variance of the oil content changed the efficiency.
Results showed that the filter became saturated, showing a constant pressure drop and efficiency, after a relatively short
period of fluctuation. The particles with higher oil content used less time to reach the equilibrium state, and had a lower
pressure drop and higher efficiency. The amounts of oil coated on the solid cores influenced both the particle diameters
and the saturation of filters. Filter efficiency can notably increase with decreasing saturation until saturation was less than
0.5, and the efficiency of particles that were most affected were those with diameters of approximately 30 nm and 500 nm.

Keywords: Oil mist; Filtration; Pressure drop; Filter efficiency; Saturation.

NOMENCLATURE GREEK SYMBOLS

Cc Cunningham correction factor (-) α Packing density (-)

D Particle diffusion coefficient (m2 s–1) µ Air dynamic viscosity (N·s m–2)
Eint Single fiber efficiency for interception (-) λ Free path for air (nm)
Eimp Single fiber efficiency for impaction (-) ρf Fiber density (kg m–3)
Ediff Single fiber efficiency for diffusion (-) ρp Particle density (kg m–3)
Ef Combined single fiber efficiency (-)
Ee Overall capture efficiency (-) INTRODUCTION
k Boltzmann's constant (J K–1)
Ku Kuwabara hydrodynamic factor (-) Oil mists exist in the air of numerous places, such as in
mf Fiber mass (kg) machining factories, in areas exposed to automobile exhaust,
Pe Peclet number (-) and in kitchens (Dennekamp et al., 2001; Popovicheva et
R Ratio of particle diameter to the fiber diameter (-) al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2016). The particles of oil mists can
Se Saturation (-) be called colloid particles; they usually form as a certain
Stk Stokes number (-) amount of oil coated on a solid core (Bredin et al. 2012).
T Absolute temperature (K) Much research has reported that a high level of exposure to
u′ Interstitial velocity (m s–1) oil mists may cause adverse health effects (Calvert et al.,
V Filter volume (m3) 1998; Hsu et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2015). An effective and
Z Filter thickness (m) widely used method to remove particles is filtration. Whereas
filtration for solid particles had been intensively investigated
(Thomas et al., 2001; Chen et al., 2015), fewer studies have
been conducted on the filtration of oil mist. Because the oil
mist filtration often show notable difference in performance to
that of the solid particles (Boundy et al., 2000; Tekasakul
*
Corresponding author. et al., 2008), understanding the loading behavior of the
Tel.: 86-151-2245-8261; Fax: 86-22-2740-9500 filer media is necessary.
E-mail address: longzw@tju.edu.cn In general, the loading process of an oil mist can be
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2 Zhang et al., Aerosol and Air Quality Research, x: 1–10, xxxx
divided into three stages: initial stage, transitional stage,
and quasiequilibrium stage. Experimentally, Sun and Chen
(2002) published an investigation on the filtration loading
characteristics of oil mists at the initial stage. Hsiao and
Chen (2015) developed previous research (Sun and Chen,
2002) by illustrating that filter pressure and efficiency
values tend to vary in the transitional stage. However, few
publications have addressed filter performance over an
entire filtration processes; the last stage of filtration, by and
large, has not been investigated. Because a filtration system
can be expected to remain in its quasiequilibrium stage over
a long life span (Mead-Hunter et al., 2013), it is crucial to
investigate the pressure and efficiency of filters in the
quasiequilibrium stage. In addition, theoretical study on the
oil mist filtration was very limited. To our knowledge, the
efficiency model for oil mists (colloid particles) has not been
developed yet. However, because the filter performance of
the oil mists show similarity to that of the pure liquid
particles when the contained oil is more than 50% (Hsiao
and Chen, 2015), we could expect to build a new model
based on the existing model for pure liquid particles with
some modifications on parameters represent the difference
of oil mist filtration to pure liquid filtration. Hsiao and Chen
(2015) revealed the performance of a filtration system for
colloid particles can be different because of the presence of
solid cores. Mead-Hunter et al. (2012) suggested the solid
core ratio could change the viscosity of an oil mist and
could affect the saturation of a filter, altering the efficiency
of that filter. Although the model for the pure liquid particles
can predict changes in the efficiency of a filter caused by
changes in the saturation of pure liquid particles, because the
change of saturation caused by the presence of solid cores in
an oil mist is different from changes of saturation in a pure
liquid mist, that model is not applicable here. To calculate
the efficiency of a filter that processes a mist containing
solid particles, further research should be conducted.
The efficiency of a filtration system could vary constantly
in numerous practical situations. To maintain the filter
performing steadily at high efficiency, the influences of the
variation of major factors on the filter performance should
be studied. Researchers have shown that one of the reasons
Fig. 1. Schematic of the experimental system.
for the variation of efficiency is the changes of the oil content
(Mead-Hunter et al., 2012). A variation of oil content
simultaneously alters both the major size and the filter
saturation of an oil mist. Numerous investigators (Thomas
et al., 2001; Contal et al., 2004) have studied the influence
of a single variable on the efficiency of a filter because the
widely studied change of the efficiency for solid particle or
pure liquid particle is usually due to the change of a single
variable. In contrast, few researchers have estimated the
influences of phenomena with multiple variables varied
simultaneously, such as the situation for oil mists.
Therefore, the aims of this study were to understand the
performance of mist filtration over an entire filtration process,
develop a model and evaluate the influence of oil content
on pressure drop and filter efficiency. It is hoped that our
study would contribute to effective removal of oil mists.
METHODS
Experimental Set-up
The schematic of our apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. The
filtration chamber was made of polymethyl methacrylate; it
measured 1000 mm × 28 mm × 28 mm in length, width,
and height. A Sinclair-Lamer monodisperse aerosol generator
(MAG 3000, PALAS, Germany) generated oil-coated
particles, with sodium chloride as the cores and di-2-
ethylhexyl sebacate (DEHS) as the oil. The particles were
transported by filtered nitrogen to the filtration chamber at a
flow rate of 3.5 L min–1, which was controlled by a rotameter
integrated in the generator. After passing through a test filter,
the particles were filtered and exhausted by a vacuum pump
(VT 4.4, Berker, Germany), also at a flow rate of 3.5 L min–1,
controlled by a mass flow meter. Additionally, because it
was likely that liquid would drain from the surface of the
fibrous filter after that filter became saturated, a thin tube
was connected close to the rear of the filter; that tube
guided the drained liquid to a tightly attached vessel.
The experimental measurements were expected to obtain
the real-time pressure drop, the real-time aerosol distribution,
and the saturation. A differential pressure transducer (TRD-
FD3051DP2A22AB4M5, Tianjin Redzonce Instrument,
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Zhang et al., Aerosol and Air Quality Research, x: 1–10, xxxx 3

China) was used to record the pressure changes between the
flows upstream and downstream from the filter. To measure
the particle distribution, an aerodynamic particle sizer (APS)
(Model 3321, TSI, USA) was applied to measure all particles
with diameters between 0.5 µm and 10 µm before and after
the test filters. Because the particle concentration was
expected to be higher than the upper limit of the APS, a
dilutor (Model 3302A, TSI, USA) was applied to dilute the
aerosol 100 times before it entered the APS. In addition,
the saturation was measured by weighing the filters before
and after the experiment with an electronic balance (HR-
120, AND, Japan).
Filter Characterization
Fibrous filters are widely used in oil mist filtration. This
study used medium-high efficiency glass fiber filters; their
properties are shown in Table 1.
In Table 1, the fiber diameter was statistically determined
from numerous fiber images taken with a Scanning
Electron Microscope (SEM). The packing density can be
calculated by the following formula (Mullins et al., 2014):
the diameter of the condensation core was measured by an
Aerosol Generator and Monitor system (Mode 1500, MSP
corp., USA). Because the diameter of the condensation
core was constant, the diameter of the coated oil could be
calculated by subtracting the diameter of the condensation
core from the diameter of the oil mist particle, and thus the
volumetric ratios were obtained. Additionally, in order to
investigate the variance of saturation with an increasing
ratio of solid components, a saturation value for pure liquid
particles was needed as a basic value. We obtained that
value by running the generator under a high temperature of
210°C, which resulted in the generation of particles with a
considerably low ratio (0.5‰) of solids. We assumed the
particles with such a low ratio of solids as pure liquid
particles. Besides this special case, this study run other five
cases with different evaporation temperatures listed in
Table 2.
As can be seen in Table 2, the particles were determined
to be monodisperse aerosol with δ < 1.15. Moreover, as the
temperature increased, the CMD increased and the
volumetric ratio decreased.

mf
 (1)
Vf
where mf is the fiber mass, kg; V is the filter volume, m3;
ρf is the fiber density, kg m–3. The thickness and the basic
mass were provided by the manufacturer.
The Oil Mist
The oil mists in these experiments were generated by
evaporation and condensation of the DEHS on the sodium
chloride cores. The particle size and viscosity were changed
by varying the evaporation temperatures. The higher the
temperature was, the more vapor was evaporated, and the
more oil condensed on the solid core, which produced oil
mists with larger particles and lower viscosities. This study
represented oil content by the volumetric ratio of sodium
chloride to DEHS. To determine the volumetric ratio of
sodium chloride to DEHS, a special case was constructed
in which no oil was evaporated. In this situation, the generated
condensation core consisted only of sodium chloride and
Experimental Proceedings
Our investigation studied filter performance over all
stages of an entire filtration process with different evaporation
temperatures. The following filtration procedure was
performed identically for each temperature setting.
Before the commencement of the experiment, the filter,
the connecting tube, and the vessel were weighed; these
weights were recorded as the original values. The upstream
aerosol was diluted five times with cleaned compressed air
and then measured five times by the APS with the dilutor
for 3 min. It was found that the upstream particle distributions
were constant, so the APS measurements upstream of the
filter were only taken before and after the experiment.
Immediately after the generation, the valve for compressed
air was closed and the valve for the APS was switched on to
measure the downstream particle distribution. The particle
distribution was monitored at 4 min intervals and the pressure
drop was recorded every 1 min. The measurements were
stopped when the time for the particle distribution and the
pressure drop was at least twice the time that the filtration
processes took to reach the quasi-equilibrium state (the

Table 1. Characteristics of the test filter.

Filter Filter Fiber diameter Packing Length × Height Thickness Basic Mass Face velocity
material wettability (µm) density (mm) × (mm) (mm) (g m–2) (cm s–1)
Glass fiber Oleophilic 2.0 0.09 20 × 20 0.35 80 10.1

Table 2. Particle number distributions and volumetric ratios of the oil-coated particles (NaCl to DEHS).
Evaporating temperature Count median diameter (CMD) Geometric standard deviation The volume ratio of NaCl to
(°C) (μm) (δ) DEHS
140 0.583 1.12 0.003
150 0.673 1.13 0.002
160 0.898 1.11 0.0008
170 1.110 1.12 0.0004
180 1.290 1.10 0.0002
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drainage rate had been constant). But the experiments were Stk
continued for an additional period of time, equal to twice the Eimp  J (5)
4 Ku 2
time the system required to reach the quasiequilibrium state to
allow observation of any re-entrainment that might occur. where J can be defined as (R < 0.4):
The face velocity of the filter was maintained at 10.1 cm s–1
during the experimental process. At the conclusion of the J = (29.6 – 28α0.62)R2 – 27.5R2.8 (6)
experiment, the filter was weighed again, and the real
saturation value was obtained by dividing the difference of when R > 0.4, J = 2. The Stk in Eq. (6) is the Stokes number
the weight by the assumed maximum saturation mass and can be defined as:
(Mead-Hunter et al., 2013):
 p d p2 u ' Cc
m mc Stk  (7)
S c  (2) 18 d f
mmax V oil
where ρp is the particle density, kg m–3; u′ is the interstitial
where mc is the weight change of the filter, kg; mmax is the velocity, m s–1; µ is the dynamic viscosity, N·s m–2; Cc is
maximum oil mist holding capacity of the filter, kg; ρoil is the Cunningham correction factor, which is described as:
the oil mist density, kg m–3. To examine the mass balance,
the weight of drained liquid was measured by weighing the 2   1.1d p 
tube and the vessel. The experiment was repeated 3 times. Cc  1  1.257  0.4 exp   (8)
In addition, this study applied SEM to identify the d p   2  
particle morphologies at different stages of filtration. Three
experiments were conducted to run the process to the three where λ is the free path for air at 101 kPa and 293 K
different stages, and the filter medium was immediately (66 nm).
removed for scanning when the expected condition was The single fiber efficiency for diffusion, Ediff, is (Hinds,
reached. 1999):
2
Theoretical Model of Filter Efficiency Ediff  2 Pe

3
(9)
Filter efficiency is an important parameter for evaluation
of filter performance. For the oil mist filtration, most filters
operate at quasi-equilibrium state (Mead-Hunter et al., 2013), where Pe is the Peclet number:
so we need to build an efficiency model for this state. Filter
efficiency models include single fiber efficiency and overall d f u0
Pe  (10)
filter efficiency. For single fiber efficiency, Mead-Hunter D
et al. (2012) showed that the capture efficiencies for oil
mists can be calculated according to traditional single fiber where D is the particle diffusion coefficient, (m2 s–1):
efficiency equations, but for the overall filter efficiency, a
new model should be developed. kTCc
D (11)
To derive the overall filter efficiency, we need to 3 d p
understand the single fiber efficiency models. The single fiber
efficiency theory is base on the basic capture mechanism of where k is the Boltzmann's constant (1.38 × 10–23 J K–1),
interception, impaction and diffusion. The single fiber and T is the absolute temperature, 293K.
efficiency for interception, Eint, is (Raynor and Leith, 2000): The combined single fiber efficiency, Ef, is then determined
from:
Eint 
1 R 
2
2
Ef = 1 – (1 – Eint)(1 – Eimp)(1 – Ediff) (12)
 1    
 2 ln(1  R )  1      1    1  R  
Ku  1 R   2 2  Finally, to determine the overall capture efficiency, the
(3) equation for oil mist can be modified based on the pure
liquid filtration model (Payet et al., 1992). Because a
where R is the ratio of particle diameter to the fiber difference exists in the saturation formula (Mead-Hunter et
diameter (dp/df); Ku is Kuwabara hydrodynamic factor, and al., 2012), we improved the model.
can be calculated by the following expression: According to the results of Gilet et al. (2010), the critical
volume of a pure liquid pool before it drops can be
ln  3 2 calculated from the force balance:
Ku      (4)
2 4 4
X
 Cv  d f v
The single fiber efficiency for impaction, Eimp, is (Stechkina V W (13)
et al., 1969): g
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Zhang et al., Aerosol and Air Quality Research, x: 1–10, xxxx
where Cv is a proportionality factor that may depend on
surface tension among other factors, and can be calculated as:
  '   1 
Cv  cv (14)
df
where cv is a coefficient and is taken as 1, and λ is the
capillary number (m). In Eq. (13), χ can be approximately
taken as 15 (De Gennes, 1985), X/W is the length–width ratio
of the liquid pool (because liquids tend to be spherical, this
ratio was 0.5), v is the drainage velocity (m s–1), ρ is the
density of the particle (kg m–3), g is the acceleration of gravity
(m s–2). Because Kampa et al. (2014) have found that the
state of liquids within a filter matrix span the whole thickness
of the filter with quasicontinuous channels between them, we
assumed that all the fibers through the thickness of the filter
operated as a unified layer, with all liquid pools distributed at
intersections when the filtration reached its quasiequilibrium
state. Also, for simplification, we assumed the fibrous filter
was constructed only with horizontal and vertical fibers.
For the oil mists, the solid core could increase the viscosity
of the mists and thus change the saturation. We assumed
the increase of the viscosity increased the collective volume of
the liquid bridges at the intersections but the number of the
liquid bridges at the intersections was constant. Based on
these assumptions and Eq. (13), we can see that the saturation
only depends on the viscosity and drainage velocity. At
quasiequilibrium state, the oil mists on the fiber were at the
initial drainage velocity. Because the ratio variation of the
solid core in the oil mist didn’t influent the initial velocity,
we assumed the velocity value was the same for oil mists
with different ratio of solid core (Mead-Hunter et al., 2012).
Thus, the efficiency model for oil mist is:
 4 E f  (1  Se (  /  ')(1   )) Z 
Ee  1  exp    (15)
  1   (1  Se (  /  ')(1   ))  d f 
where Se is the saturation of pure liquid, Z is the filter
thickness, µ is the dynamic viscosity of the oil mist, µ′ is
the viscosity of the pure liquid, and the relationship between
Fig. 2. Changes in pressure drop and filter efficiency during clogging.
5
these two viscosities is (Murshed et al., 2008):
1.6
  
 (16)
 0.64 
where ϕ is the particle volume fraction.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Filter Pressure Drop and Efficiency of Oil Mist
The filter performance can be evaluated from the pressure
drop and efficiency. Fig. 2 shows the changes in pressure
drop and efficiency for the entire clogging process; Fig. 3
shows the corresponding particle morphologies at the
microscopic scale. The case shown here used an evaporation
temperature of 150°C (the particle size could be seen in
Table 2); other cases had similar results and are not shown
here.
Fig. 2 reveals that the three stages of the filtration were
evident from the change rates of the curves:
● The first stage was the initial stage, in which the pressure
drop increased slowly and the efficiency dropped at a slow
rate. Correspondingly, Fig. 3(a) shows that the captured
particles induced the formation of droplet chains along
the fibers. These collected droplets were not sufficient to
interfere with the airflow, which explained the small
variance of pressure and efficiency at this stage.
● The second stage was the transitional stage. After a short
period of slow changes, the pressure showed a sudden
exponential growth and the efficiency experienced a
significant fluctuation. A microscopic interpretation is
that the droplets that were collected formed thin films
around the fibers, but those films were almost immediately
broken up through Plateau-Rayleigh instability, so the
liquids were reallocated and the droplets coalesced to
form liquid bridges at the intersections of the fibers, as
shown in Fig. 3(b) (Mead-Hunter et al., 2014). Because
the liquid bridges significantly increased in flow resistance,
the pressure drop increased rapidly. Moreover, the
interstitial velocity was increased during this stage with
the reduction of free sections to the air flow, which in
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6 Zhang et al., Aerosol and Air Quality Research, x: 1–10, xxxx

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 3. Microscopic morphologies of the oil-coated particles during (a) initial stage, (b) transition stage, (c) quasiequilibrium
stage.

turn was expected to increase the filter efficiency because
of impaction. However, it should be noted that there
must have been a point at which the efficiency reached
its lowest value; we assumed it occurred when the films
were formed around the fibers. When the films broke up
and the reallocation began, the filter efficiency started to
increase.
● The final stage was the quasiequilibrium stage, in which
pressure drop and efficiency were constant. The oil mists
were reallocated within the filter and the filter became
saturated (Fig. 3(c)). Aerosol began to drain from the
surface of the filter at the same rate at which it was
captured. In addition, we observed that re-entrainment of
the collected particles collected was not notable.
Pressure Drop for Oil Mist of Different Oil Contents
The changes of pressure drop could vary with different
loading particles contained in different oils. Fig. 4 plots the
real-time pressure drops under five different evaporation
temperatures with particles of 0.583–1.290 µm in diameter.
All five cases had the same filter velocity and the particle
concentrations were similar.
It can be seen from Fig. 4 that although the pressure
drop curves had the same shape, the times required for the
filters to reach the saturation points (approximately 5 h–20
min) and the pressures of the quasi-equilibrium states
(6833 Pa–6494 Pa) decreased with the increase of the oil
content (volumetric ratio). A possible reason for the shorter
time is that particles with larger portions of oil have more
opportunities to encounter each other, so they more easily
coalesced at the intersections of fibers. Moreover, particles
with relatively large ratios of oil could make up mists with
relatively low viscosities (Krieger and Dougherty, 1959;
Lee et al., 2008); with a mist of low viscosity, a relatively
low volume of oil mist could be captured and thus the time
required to reach quasiequilibrium could be shorter and the
pressure drop could be lower. In general, the pressure drop
curves indicate that the higher the oil content was, the more
rapidly the filter reached its stable state.
Particle Efficiency for Oil Mist of Different Oil Content
This study also examined the variations of the filter
efficiency for the five cases and found that the shapes of
the curves were similar to the efficiency curve in Fig. 2 and
that the time for the filter to be saturated coincided with the
time for the pressure drop to reach saturation. Yet, differences
existed in the ratio of the quasiequilibrium efficiency to the
initial efficiency, as shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 5 reveals that the efficiency ratio became higher
when the oil content increased. For oil mist filtration, particle
diameter and saturation are two important parameters that
determine the filter efficiency. If the saturation is constant,

Fig. 4. Changes of pressure drop for different oil content levels (represented by the volumetric ratio of solid core to the oil).
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Zhang et al., Aerosol and Air Quality Research, x: 1–10, xxxx 7

Fig. 5. Ratio of initial and final filter efficiency of different oil content levels (represented by the volumetric ratio of solid
core to the oil).

the efficiency increases for mists with larger particles; the
dominant capture mechanism for these particles is impaction,
because the retained droplets increase the flow resistance,
leading to an increase in interstitial velocity, whereas for
smaller particles governed by diffusion, the filter efficiency
could decrease over time. However, if the saturation changes,
larger particles do not necessarily cause higher filter
efficiency, because the total quantity of captured droplets
might decrease. For our cases, the changes of oil content in
the particles altered both particle diameters and saturations;
the results suggest that the particle diameter was the major
influencing factor. It should be noted that the particle
diameter was tested in a relatively narrow range from
0.583 to 1.290 nm. To generalize the influence of the oil
content on efficiency, we used a mathematical model to
explain it in a broader range. We first validated the model
using the experimental efficiencies which were measured
when the filter reached saturated state, as shown in Fig. 6.
Note that the saturation value for pure liquid particles was
0.57 as specified in Eq. (15).
Fig. 6 illustrates that the results from the theoretical
model and the experiment agreed with each other. However,
there was a systematic deviation. For the particles smaller
than around 0.7 µm, the results from calculation were smaller;
for the particles larger than around 0.7 µm, the theoretical
results were larger. We assume that reason could be the
PALAS 3000 generator generated monodisperse particle
rather than mono-sized particle. For example, there were
some smaller particles mixed in the particles that the peak
size of these particles was 0.898 µm. As the efficiency for
the smaller particles was lower than that of the particles of
0.898 µm in diameter, the experimental efficiency would
be lower than the calculation efficiency at exactly 0.898 µm.
The reason for the lower experimental efficiency of particles
of 1.110 and 1.290 µm was the same as the particles of
0.898 µm. Similarly, for the particles of 0.583 and 0.673 µm,
the experimental efficiencies were higher was because of
the existing of larger particles. But because deviations were
small, we assumed our model was useful for predicting the
efficiency of oil mists.
Using this model, we further evaluated the influence of
the oil content on the filter efficiency. In order to reveal how
the filter efficiency can be affected by the oil content, we
used Figs. 7 and 8 to show the change of the filter efficiency
with different particle sizes and filter saturation values, and
to show the changes in efficiency with the same two factors.

Fig. 6. Comparison of the calculated and experimental filter efficiency.

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8 Zhang et al., Aerosol and Air Quality Research, x: 1–10, xxxx

Fig. 7. Influences of particle size and saturation on the filter efficiency (S is the saturation of oil mist).

Fig. 8. Variance of filter efficiency with change of saturation (S is the saturation of oil mist).
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Zhang et al., Aerosol and Air Quality Research, x: 1–10, xxxx
Fig. 7 illustrates that the higher the saturation was, the
lower the filter efficiency was. When the saturation increased
over 0.5, the decrease of the filter efficiency for particles of
the same size over the whole particle size range become
notable. This result indicates that a critical value for saturation
existed; above that value, saturation played an important role
in influencing the filter efficiency. Moreover, with increasing
saturation, the point of rapid decrease in efficiency moved
forward from the size range where the efficiency was low
(80 nm) to the size range where the efficiency was high
(30 nm and 500 nm) (Fig. 8). Because a higher saturation
could have much lower filter efficiency, these results indicated
that the change of oil content could most affect particles in
the size ranges near 30 nm and 500 nm. For particles larger
than 600 nm, the filter efficiency was not affected much,
which also explained our previous experimental results. In
general, all the results indicated that when the saturation
was increased above 0.5 by decreasing the oil content, the
filter efficiency was affected more notably, especially for
the particles whose sizes were near 30 nm and 500 nm.
CONCLUSIONS
This study investigated filter performance with oil mist
over an entire filtration process. We developed a model for
mist filtration and studied the influence factors. Results
showed that the mist filtration tended to reach a
quasiequilibrium state with a constant pressure and filter
efficiency after a relatively short period of fluctuation. The
clogging process tended to be accelerated if the amount of
oil coated on the solid particle cores increased. Also, the
pressure decreased and filter efficiency increased with
increased oil content. The model explained the relationship
between the oil content and the filter efficiency. Two of the
major influencing factors were particle size and filter
saturation. Calculation results indicated that decreasing
filter efficiency became notable when the saturation was
higher than 0.5, especially for particles with sizes near 30
nm and 500 nm.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The research presented in this paper was financially
supported by the National Key Research and Development
Plan from the Ministry of Science and Technology of
China through Grant No. 2016YFC0700500.
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Received for review, June 23, 2016
Revised, January 9, 2017
Accepted, January 9, 2017