Venting air and guarding against splashing

[Colby Lippincott]

Hello everyone,
I am working on a project for work, and I have a small problem I'm sure someone could find a solution to. I have a tank of isopropyl alcohol that I am pumping air into. The air bubbles up to the top of the tank and creates lots of agitation in the alcohol, which splashes around at the top. The air must then be released without letting the alcohol out. Right now I have two 1/2" NPT mufflers on the top to let the air out, which does let some air out but not enough to fully release the pressure in the tank. I was wondering if there is something similar to a muffler, but with much larger holes to allow air to pass through easier. Or some other valve that could allow air to pass through without letting the alcohol splash out.
Thanks!
Colby

 

[anorlunda]

You need a variation of an ancient marine invention, the dorade box.

 

[Colby Lippincott]

Awesome, that's exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!

 

[Colby Lippincott]

Ok I tried the dorade box out, and unfortunately it doesn't work for compressed air. The air just pushes the alcohol out anyways. Does anyone else have ideas?

 

[anorlunda]

You may need to add a pump to the scupper. Liquid blown out into the box needs to be pumped back into the tank.

Other than that, a google search for "air water separator" returns 1.45 million hits.

Good luck.

Edit: here's one for use with compressed air. It is a variation on the dorade box.
http://www.xebecinc.com/compressed-air-and-gas-filtration-water-separator.php