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THE MERCER APPROACH
Mercer International is a family-founded, engineering-driven manufacturer specializing in enhanced-gravity oil-water separation systems. Since the mid 80’s, we’ve stayed focused on one mission:
Design separators that actually work in the environments our customers operate in - not the ones theorized on paper.
We began with a small team solving chronic treatment failures at industrial plants, refineries, utilities, and power generation facilities. Those early field assignments shaped how Mercer engineers still design today—anchored in physics, validated with real operating data, and constantly refined through customer feedback.
Explore When and Why We Started
OUR HISTORY
Mercer grew steadily over four decades, not through advertising and acquisitions.
From the beginning, Mercer focused on performance in the field, not theory on paper. That focus led to innovations like Chimney Zone™ quiescent chambers, field-adjustable removable coalescing plates with herringbone geometry, laminar path promoting flow-distribution baffles, and hopper-bottom solids management.
Together, these advancements redefined what an enhanced gravity separator could deliver—setting the benchmark customers now recognize as Mercer-level performance.
Dive Into The Mercer AdvantageOur full customer list illustrates the breadth of organizations that trust Mercer for mission-critical separation performance.
CLEAR DIFFERENTIATION
We Are Not a “Good Enough” Separator Company
The industry is full of equipment that only works in lab conditions, relies on optimistic sizing assumptions, or requires excessive operator intervention to stay online. That is not Mercer.
Most companies in this space bend steel and call it engineering. Mercer is not one of them. We are a process design company first and always—every system starts with the physics, not the welds.
There are no consumables to replace, no “recommended media change-outs,” and no hidden lifecycle costs. Our systems are built for decades of service, not recurring revenue.
We don’t toss around removal claims or rely on optimistic lab curves. Every guarantee is backed by long-form hand calculations and mathematical mandates that stand up to regulatory scrutiny and real-world conditions.
We refuse to manipulate micron terminology to mimic filtration claims. When we talk microns, it’s only to quantify how our designs enhance gravity separation—nothing more, nothing misleading.
If it can’t be fully cleaned, maintained, inspected, and put back into service without degradation, it has no place inside a Mercer system.
We design, build, test, and stand behind our systems. Every unit reflects 40+ years of hands-on, field-based process learning—not pass-through equipment sales.
We test for free and stand behind every performance guarantee. If testing shows Mercer’s solution won’t deliver meaningful, measurable improvement—we’ll tell you before you commit to anything.
Operators don’t get abandoned at startup. We support engineering teams and plant staff through installation, commissioning, tuning, troubleshooting, and long-term optimization.
Herringbone plates, chimney zoning, and adjustable plate packs came from solving real operational failures. That culture still drives every new design.
WHY IT MATTERS
Wastewater isn’t theoretical. It’s dynamic, solids-laden, temperature-shifted, chemically diverse, and frequently out of spec. Operators need systems that perform under real conditions without constant babysitting.
Mercer delivers separators that:
Maintain performance under variable loads
Prevent solids accumulation and fouling
Simplify operator maintenance
Reduce lifecycle cost and downtime
Provide traceable, verifiable, API 421-aligned performance
Offer predictable, repeatable separation efficiency
Because at the end of the day, a separator is only as good as what it delivers in the field, not in the brochure.
Enhanced-gravity design, engineered flow control, chimney zones to segregate oils rising from solids settling, and field-adjustable coalescer plates allow Mercer units to capture smaller droplets and perform reliably under real-world loading, without the frequent fouling seen in conventional systems.
Yes. Many customers gain significant efficiency and reliability using Mercer internals, coalescers, or flow-distribution upgrades inside existing tanks.
Yes. Our designs align with velocity, droplet size, and performance guidance outlined in API 421, and we provide data-supported recommendations for each application.
All plate packs are field-removable, cleanable, and adjustable. No hidden media, no inaccessible cavities, no disposable blocks.
Mercer designs offer tuning and adjustability to maintain performance across a range of flows, temperatures, solids loads, and chemical conditions. We help operators optimize settings long-term.
Because performance claims mean nothing without proof. We validate separation performance against your real influent characteristics — oil type, solids loading, temperature, flow variation. Once the data confirms compliance targets, we issue a formal written guarantee tied to documented performance.
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