After leaving the initial distribution baffle the liquid enters a settling zone in which gravity separation causes entrained gas bubbles to rise to the oil/gas interface and join the continuous gas phase. Oil and water droplets rise or fall to join their respective continuous phases. To meet the process guarantees it is sometimes necessary to fit coalescing media which maximizes the liquid/liquid separation by reducing the effective distance that the dispersed phase droplets need to travel before encountering a coalescing surface.