When I hear foam, the first thing that comes to mind is my salt water fish tank and the protein skimmer below it doing the dirty work of pulling all the fish waste from the water colum. In this case, the foam is good. It operates on the principle of air-water interaction and the hydrophobic nature of organic compounds. Air is pushed into the water, creating tiny bubbles. All those tiny bubbles provide a large surface area for the organic molecules to adhere to them. The bubbles rise to the top with those molecules and are collected into a cup at the top of the skimmer. Check out the photo below.
This is a purpose-built foam generating process that is a huge benefit for every saltwater reef tank.
However, the same thing can happen during industrial processes and, in most cases, becomes a problem to fix rather than a benefit. Foam is undesirable because it can overflow vessels, create slippery and unsafe working conditions, interfere with processing, damage materials, and cause tanks to drain and dry slowly. Controlling foam can be accomplished by spraying liquid onto the pool, vessel, or reservoir’s surface, and allowing the spray’s droplets to impact the foam bubbles, causing them to break.
While breaking this foam sounds easy, “Just spray some water on it” in the process, it can be a challenge to get the correct size of droplets to break the foam. Droplets that are too small often cannot pop the bubbles, and if the droplets are too large they can break through them and create more agitation which creates more foam. You want a sweet spot where they are large enough to pop the foam bubbles while small enough to not create more foam.
Here is a real customer case, where BETE Application Engineers were able to assist the customer with an array of MaxiPass nozzles to knock foam down in a wastewater tank.
Industry: Petroleum Processing
Application: Foam Control
Product Description: MP Nozzle Array
Situation: A customer had processed condensate wastewater in a petroleum processing facility. The wastewater was in a square tank that measured 10’ x 11’ by 9’ (3 m x 3.4 m x 2.7 m) deep.
As the wastewater entered the tank, foam was generated, which was undesirable in this process. The customer had about 25 gpm (94.6 L/min) available to use to control the foam. In
In addition, the customer was looking for a turnkey system that could be installed as soon as it
arrived on site.
BETE’s solution: BETE Applications Engineers first determined that a 3 x 3 array of BETE
MP187M nozzles operating at 10 PSI (0.69 bar) would give the desired flow of 25 gpm total and
knock down the foam that was being generated. The next step was to review the customer’s piping
specifications in order to come up with both a nozzle header design and a feed header design.
Using one feed header and three nozzle headers, the customer simply had to bolt and gasket the
flanges, hook the inlet up to a water source, and they will be ready to go!
Whether you’re looking to optimize your industrial processes, improve efficiency, or tackle specific application challenges, the right liquid nozzle or compressed air product can make all the difference. EXAIR and BETE offer industry-leading solutions designed to meet your unique needs with precision and reliability. From air-atomizing nozzles to liquid-only nozzles, our innovative products deliver top performance across a wide range of industries. Ready to take your operations to the next level? Reach out to EXAIR or BETE today to find the perfect solution for your application!
Jordan Shouse, CCASS
Application Engineer
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Protein Skimmer photo courtesy of Stacina via Flickr Creative Commons License
