Coalescence filtration is used in a variety of process industries to remove liquid mists from gas flows. Non–woven materials are widely used due to their high separation efficiency and low cost. The operating conditions of these filters are dependent on the internal structure of the filter material. Inhomogeneities, arising from the manufacturing process, not only affect the flow of air through the filter but also determine which areas are preferentially wetted, and in turn modify the airflow through the blocked regions.

This study uses three–dimensional (3D) micro–computer–tomography imaging to analyze, in a non–destructive manner, the internal structure of a commercial coalescence filter, made of oleophilic glass fibres in dry and wetted state. Using image processing software, a post–processing routine is developed to identify filter parameters based on coarse spatially–resolved images. Afterwards, the dry–filter images are compared with wetted–filter images to establish that inhomogeneous local solidity is responsible for inhomogeneous wetting in an oleophilic filter.

聚结过滤用于各种加工工业，以去除气流中的液雾。非织造材料因其分离效率高、成本低而被广泛使用。这些过滤器的操作条件取决于过滤材料的内部结构。制造过程中产生的不均匀性不仅会影响空气通过过滤器的流动，还会决定哪些区域被优先润湿，进而改变通过阻塞区域的气流。

本研究使用三维 (3D) 微型计算机断层扫描成像以非破坏性方式分析商用聚结过滤器的内部结构，该过滤器由干燥和润湿状态的亲油玻璃纤维制成。使用图像处理软件，开发了后处理程序，以根据粗略的空间分辨图像识别滤波器参数。然后，将干过滤器图像与湿过滤器图像进行比较，以确定不均匀的局部固体是导致亲油过滤器中不均匀润湿的原因。