Foam control

Foam is a dispersion of gas (usually air) in a liquid. Air/gas can be entrained via agitaion at the surface or be created by biological or chemical reactions or processes.

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.

How does foam control work?

Controlling foam can be accomplished by spraying liquid onto the surface of the pool, vessel, or reservoir, and allowing the droplets of the spray to impact the foam bubbles, causing them to break.

It is important to choose the right type of spray nozzle for the specific process. Depending on the type of foam, etc., droplets of a certain size range and flow rate/m² are required to achieve the most effective foam elimination. See picture.

Factors to consider for optimised foam control

There are several factors that are important to optimise the process. Our experienced staff and engineers are happy to help you with calculations and provide the right solution.

Required coverage?
Static or moving fluid
- If the contents of a tank vessel are rotating, or the fluid is traveling in a trough or weir, a line of nozzles across the vessel can be used as the entire surface of the tank will pass under the line of nozzles after a complete rotation
Available nozzle mounting locations
Foam thickness and rate of build-up (required drop size for break-up and mitigation)
- If the droplets are too small and have too little momentum, they will bounce off the bubble surface with no effect.
- Similarly, if the droplets are too large and have too much momentum, they will crash through the bubble and impact the liquid below, causing more foam to be generated.
Nozzle clog resistance
- As the foam control fluid is commonly recirculated, containing solids or waste particles, selection of the nozzle regarding clog resistance is important.
Available liquid pressure drop (∆P) across the nozzle = supply pressure at nozzle inlet - process pressure outside nozzle
- Typical operating pressures range from 0.3-1.4 bar to produce a suitable droplet size and velocity for effective foam mitigation.

Project review and proposed solution

To deliver the optimal solution, it is important to go through in detail various factors that affect product choice, type of solution, investment objective, and other requirements at an early stage of the project.

Robin Ryberg Spray nozzles & systems, Tank cleaning I look forward to providing product advice and solutions! Let's meet via a video call or a site visit. You can also phone or email us, of course.

Linda Caporicci Column internals, Droplet separation, Spray nozzles & systems, Other products I look forward to providing product advice and solutions! Let's meet via a video call or a site visit. You can also phone or email us, of course.

Hans Linder Spray nozzles & systems, Tank cleaning, Safety showers, Tank storage equipment I look forward to providing product advice and solutions! Let's meet via a video call or a site visit. You can also phone or email us, of course.

Alexander Bergman Droplet separation, Column internals, Spray nozzles & systems, Tank cleaning I look forward to providing product advice and solutions! Let's meet via a video call or a site visit. You can also phone or email us, of course.

Sol Millerv Dust control, Spray nozzles & systems, Tank cleaning I look forward to providing product advice and solutions! Let's meet via a video call or a site visit. You can also phone or email us, of course.

A start-up meeting is important to find out about various factors that will affect choice of equipment and solution in order to achieve the most efficient and sustainable solution. We are happy to set up the start-up meeting as a web meeting or a site visit, depending on your preference. All details and information from the start-up meeting we will summarise and go through with you to make sure we agree on project scope and objective.

Next step, we present a proposed solution, focusing on function, lifespan, quality, choice of material, operating and maintenance costs, and environmental impact. Our goal is to deliver a sustainable solution that creates added value to your company,