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Design of an activated carbon equipped-cyclone

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Jeffrey Z. Duran & Eugene B. Caldona

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PARTICULATE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
https://doi.org/10.1080/02726351.2019.1607637

Design of an activated carbon equipped-cyclone separator and its performance

on particulate matter removal
Jeffrey Z. Durana and Eugene B. Caldonab,c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering and Architecture, Saint Louis University, Baguio City, Philippines; bGraduate
Program, School of Engineering and Architecture, Saint Louis University, Baguio City, Philippines; cDepartment of Chemical Engineering,
School of Engineering and Architecture, Saint Louis University, Baguio City, Philippines

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This study focuses on the design, fabrication, and operation of an integrated air pollution control Received 17 August 2018
(APC) device composed of a cyclone equipped with an activated carbon for effective reduction of Accepted 10 April 2019
particulate matter (PM) emissions. The effect of incorporating activated carbon into the cyclone is
KEYWORDS
mainly evaluated in terms of the pressure drop during operation and the corresponding
Activated carbon; cyclone
PM removal efficiency. Results showed that the fabricated APC device is capable of reducing the separator; particulate
PM content from emissions while maintaining a low to moderate operating pressure drop. In add- matter; pressure drop
ition, the PM reduction is statistically significant at 0.25 significance level with the co-benefit of
reducing the pressure drop four times of the original value.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

1. Introduction and suspended as an aerosol for long periods of time affect-

Particulate matter (PM) is known to be a primary compo-
nent of air pollutants, alongside O3, CO, CO2, NOx, and
SOx (Burnett et al. 1999). It is composed of complex solid
and liquid substances that vary widely in size and often des-
ignated as PM10 and PM2.5. PM10 are those having an aero-
dynamic diameter between 2.5 to 10 lm, while PM2.5 have
less than or equal to 2.5 lm (United States Environmental
Protection Agency 2016a). They mainly come from indus-
trial processes, vehicular exhausts, waste burning, tire dust,
soil and road particles, with small traces of biological plant
fragments and cigarette smoke (Marcazzan et al. 2001;
Schauer et al. 2007; Titos et al. 2014). They are dispersed
ing the quality of air and eventually human health (Kim,
Kabir, and Kabir 2015). The resultant pollution has long
been associated with chronic respiratory, cardiovascular dis-
eases, and mortality with long exposure to PM (Bari and
Kindzierski 2016; Song et al. 2016). Experimental and epi-
demiological studies have also linked urbanization with the
worsening condition of the air quality. Thus, proper control
strategies and policies must be developed to address PM
pollution (Ahmed et al. 2015; Lu et al. 2017).
Air pollution control (APC) devices come in different
forms and collect different types of pollutants, including
PM. A general rule in PM reduction is that the larger the
particles, the easier they are to separate from the gas stream

CONTACT Eugene B. Caldona ebcaldona@slu.edu.ph Graduate Program, School of Engineering and Architecture, Saint Louis University, A. Bonifacio
Street, Baguio City 2600, Philippines.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/upst.
ß 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 J. Z. DURAN AND E. B. CALDONA
(de Nevers 2000). Settling chambers, also known as gravity
collectors, rely on the gravitational effects as the main col-
lection mechanism. These are large, long, horizontal, and
rectangular chambers, with uniform inlet flow. Settling
chambers are used as pre-cleaners, removing large and abra-
sive particles with PM size greater than 10 lm (United
States Environmental Protection Agency 2018a). Removal
efficiency could approach 100% for particles larger than
100 lm, and 75% for particles with size between 50 to
100 lm, when baffles are installed inside the chamber as
guide for the gas stream (Nasiri and Abdolzadeh 2017).
Fabric filters, equipped with bags that collect specks of dust,
utilize permeable media to sieve particulates from an incom-
ing gas (United States Environmental Protection Agency
2018b). Though they perform a good job in capturing fine
and coarse particles, the filters are susceptible to heat attack
and intense humidity and are thus not robust. Electrostatic
forces are also employed in electrostatic precipitators
and electrified filter bed that attract and remove particles
from a gas stream by electrostatic charging (United States
Environmental Protection Agency 2016b, 2018c). Inclusion
of baffles particularly for electrostatic precipitators can
improve flow distribution and collection efficiency (Sayem
et al. 2015). Wet scrubbers, on the other hand, utilize water
spray that counterflows with the incoming gas, thereby,
washing down the particle impurities from it (Peng et al.
2017). These APCs are comprised of multiple stages that
require auxiliary components for the removal of a wide var-
iety of pollutants (Vehlow 2015). Often the operational cost
is greatly affected by the energy consumption of these auxil-
iaries. Combination of energy efficient processing equipment
and application of appropriate end-of-pipe technology are
thought to largely cut down the expenses (Zhang et al. 2014;
Zhang, Worrell, and Crijns-Graus 2015). Thus, using an
effective APC that consumes less power is worth an option
for applications where air quality is to be maintained with-
out investing a relatively large capital.
A cyclone is a gas cleaning device that employs centrifugal
force, which spins a gas stream into a swirling action to
remove particles from it. It requires low capital and mainten-
ance costs, while the operational cost comes from the energy
required to overcome the pressure created in the system
(Funk, Holt, and Whitelock 2014). The linear to rotational
shifting of the gas movement causes the larger particles to
collide with the inner walls of the cyclone and are thus sepa-
rated from the bulk stream (Wark and Warner 1981). High-
efficiency cyclones can effectively remove at least 5-lm-sized
particles, though 10 lm or larger particles are generally
favored for a typical operation. Often times, the parameters
used to indicate a cyclone’s particulate removal performance
are the inlet velocity and the pressure drop. The inlet
velocity of the gas stream is motivated by the pressure gener-
ated from a piece of external equipment, such as a blower.
The pressure drop, on the other hand, refers to the differ-
ence between the inlet and the outlet pressure of a
flowing stream. This parameter accounts for the energy
losses and can be calculated through mathematical models
(Avci and Karagoz 2003), experimentations, and optimization
methods (El-Batsh 2013). Thus, the pressure drop must be
kept to a minimum.
Modifications of the cyclone separator dimensions and
their subsequent effects on the performance have been
investigated. The dimension is reported in terms of the
cylinder diameter which can be related to the height (e.g.
the dimensions of a 1D3D cyclone have a vertical height
equal to one-cylinder diameter, and a cone height equivalent
to three-cylinder diameter). Inlet velocity decreases with
increasing inlet dimensions, with an optimum ratio of inlet
width to inlet height in the range of 0.5 to 0.7 (Elsayed and
Lacor 2011). On another note, 46% reduction on the pres-
sure loss is apparent for 25% reduction on the inlet velocity
(Funk et al. 2015). Installation of evas
e, a diffuser located at
the discharge ducts or pipe, is seen to have reduced the
pressure drop by almost 12%. Moreover, the shape of the
evas
e may conform to the preference of the designer and
the user, whether it is radial rain hat design or rectangular
spin caps (Funk 2015). Also, it is possible to predict the per-
formance of standard cyclones using numerical methods
with two conditions. First is that the Reynolds number of
the gas stream must be in the order of 105 to 106, and
second, the ratio between the exit pipe diameter to cyclone
diameter should be 0.7 (El-Batsh 2013).
Incorporating a filter to the outlet of the cyclone may
help collect the remaining particulates with smaller aero-
dynamic diameters. Common filters, such as diesel- and gas-
oline-particulate filter (DPF and GPF, respectively), assure
high particulate removal efficiency from internal combustion
engine exhausts (Guan et al. 2015). PM collection may also
be done through adsorption. Recent studies show that cer-
amic foam and zeolites are potential alternatives to commer-
cial filters. Developed ceramic foam filters, such as Al2O3
foams, allow the collection of PM because of the microstruc-
ture voids inherent in the material (Ciambelli et al. 2007).
Zeolites were also found to be capable of straining small
particles in their microscopic pores and channels. However,
in their natural state, they are prone to rupture. Zeolites,
alongside with gypsum as a binder, were not only found to
significantly reduce the PM emissions from diesel-run
vehicles, but also offer excellent thermal stability during
engine operations (Mu~ noz-Boado and Caldona 2017).
Activated carbon is an adsorbent derived from agricultural
by-products and wastes (Ayg€ un, Yenisoy-Karakaş, and Duman
2003; Ioannidou and Zabaniotou 2007; Danmaliki and Saleh
2016), utilized for removing various pollutants in industrial
and commercial applications. Its adsorptive capacity is influ-
enced by several factors, such as impregnation ratio, carbon-
ization time, and temperature to which it is subjected during
production (Saygılı and G€ uzel 2016). It is widely used in the
treatment of contaminated water and gases. Activated carbon
is used for both adsorption and filtration of organic micro-
pollutants (OMP) in advanced wastewater treatment and
water reuse systems (Shanmuganathan et al. 2015; Altmann
et al. 2016). It is also applied in gas streams to collect various
chemical elements in different forms. Granular activated car-
bon (GAC) and single wall carbon nanotubes were observed
to be efficient in removing toluene, at 150 and 240 mg g
1,

respectively (Gangupomu, Sattler, and Ramirez 2016). The lev-
els of NOx and SOx were also seen to be significantly reduced
through the use of activated carbon fibers (ACF) (Yang and
Kaneko 2002; Gaur, Asthana, and Verma 2006). In addition,
sulfur treated ACFs were found to be more effective in mer-
cury removal than their raw and untreated counterparts
(Yao, Velpari, and Economy 2014). Benzene, toluene, and
xylene (BTX), considered as volatile organic compounds
(VOCs), can be effectively mitigated using activated carbon
(Agranovski, Moustafa, and Braddock 2005; Saha, Mirando,
and Levchenko 2018) which can be repeatedly used for
adsorption after undergoing cyclic thermal regeneration
(Shah, Pre, and Alappat 2014). It has been found that acti-
vated carbon is also effective in capturing PM such that the
PM content of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) can be
reduced to as much as 60%. However, 15 adsorption and
regeneration cycles are required to achieve such performance
(Lee and Ghosh 2002). Conversely, installation of activated
carbon for indoor air quality plays a key role in supplying
breathable air (in building spaces) and maintains it to a safe
level (Haghighat et al. 2008; Muller, Yu, and Zhu 2015). In
its fiber form, activated carbon is known to significantly
remove PM alongside with other pollutants in a gas stream,
such as VOCs, mercury, and ozone (Hayashi et al. 2000;
B
enesse, Le Coq, and Solliec 2006; Tamai et al. 2006).
The aim of this work is to present the capability of an acti-
vated carbon-equipped cyclone in reducing PM emissions. The
resultant pressure drop will be calculated using the model of
Avci and Karagoz (Karagoz and Avci 2005), as it presents a suit-
able option for different cyclone designs. Furthermore, the PM
reduction efficiency and operational pressure drop of the cyc-
lone with activated carbon will be assessed in comparison with
the performance of the cyclone alone. Thus, our study will focus
mainly on the fabrication and operation of the APC device and
not too much on the economic and design optimization aspects
which are saved for future exploration.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Design and fabrication of cyclone separator
The geometry of the cyclone is based on a 2D2D design (also
known as Shepherd and Lapple design) both being simple and
economic in its configuration (Shepherd and Lapple 1940;
Ibhadode, Ogedengbe, and Rosen 2017). The cyclone separ-
ator in this study mainly consists of three components: the
body, the motor-pulley assembly, and the impeller. The cyc-
lone body was constructed with galvanized iron sheet metal,
1 mm in thickness. The design of the cyclone is modified,
such that the gas outlet is located at the side of the cyclone
rather than at the top, as shown in Figure 1, alongside the cor-
responding dimensions. This is to accommodate the installa-
tion of the impeller and motor-pulley assembly at the top of
the cyclone. This set-up is done to simplify the cyclone with-
out requiring external equipment (i.e. fan or blower) to create
the pressure, thus making the design more compact.
The motor-pulley assembly was taken from a Creston
Professional FW – 2513 Drill Press model with power rating
of 350 watts and 5 spindle speeds. The impeller base was
PARTICULATE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 3
constructed from an 21.59-cm stainless steel disk, while the
impeller blades from aluminum channels, 10.16 cm in length,
bent at the middle at 80–85 . The impeller blades were fixed
to the base using rivets. The impeller shaft was made from
steel with a diameter of 7.9 mm and length of 20.32 cm.
2.2. Fabrication of activated carbon canister
The activated carbon used is coconut husk-based and was
locally procured from Earth Multi-mineral Venture Company,
Philippines. The granular activated carbon was enclosed in an
improvised meshed canister constructed from fine aluminum
wire mesh and 3.175 mm thick aluminum flat bar as its
frame, as shown in Figure 2. The diameter of the canister,
with 98.425 mm diameter and 222.25 mm length, was
adjusted during the fabrication process to fit inside the open-
ing of the cyclone separator outlet. In addition, the canister
was given an annular construction with an inner diameter of
38.1 mm to let the gas stream flow through the center of the
canister during the operation. A total of 20 activated carbon
canisters were produced in the study.
2.3. Data collection and analysis
Three diesel engine vehicles were subjected for preliminary
testing to determine the inlet velocity that will yield the
highest PM reduction. The inlet velocities (m s
1) were col-
lected at different spindle speeds, particularly at 740, 1530,
and 3140 revolutions per minute (rpm). Together with the
cyclone geometry and surface roughness, the inlet velocity is
an important parameter as it helps determine the pressure
drop when using the mathematical model of Karagoz and
Avci (Karagoz and Avci 2005). The inlet velocity was meas-
ured using Lutron AM-4206 Digital Anemometer.
Different diesel engine vehicles were used in the experi-
ment, which comprised of two set-up configurations: vehicu-
lar emissions subject to treatment using (1) cyclone alone, and
(2) cyclone with activated carbon. Vehicular emissions were
monitored using OPUS 50 Smoke Analyzer, which indicates
the amount of PM in terms of both light absorption coeffi-
cient (m
1) and percentage opacity. The former was used as
the prevailing criteria for the performance of the APC. The
probe of the smoke analyzer was inserted at the outlet of the
cyclone, through which the relatively clean gas exits. It is to be
noted that an activated carbon canister was placed at the out-
let before the probe was put in place for the second set-up.
2.4. Statistical treatment of gathered data
The PM reduction was interpreted from the light absorp-
tion coefficient results before and after the treatments were
done. The Shapiro–Wilk test (Shapiro and Wilk 1965) was
employed to determine if the gathered data are normally
distributed, which, if proven normal, could be evaluated
for a paired t-test. The t-statistic values are the determin-
ing factor whether a significant difference exists between
the cyclone with or without the activated carbon. All tests
are subject to a confidence level of 95%.
4 J. Z. DURAN AND E. B. CALDONA

Figure 1. Modified 2D2D cyclone separator with the corresponding dimensions and actual view.

3. Results and discussion
3.1. Inlet velocity and PM reduction at different
spindle speeds
The preliminary tests were done at three spindle speeds,
namely 740, 1530, and 3140 rpm, which yielded inlet veloc-
ities of 1.92, 3.71, and 7.35 m s
1, respectively. As shown
in Figure 3, it is noted that the inlet velocity with the least
light absorption coefficient (m
1) is at 7.35 m s
1. It was
observed that the light absorption coefficient, which is the
measure for the PM content of the exhaust, decreased as the
inlet velocity increased. This trend was supported by the use
of linear regression as indicated by the coefficient of deter-
mination, denoted as R2. The R2 values present the degree

Figure 2. Activated carbon canister with annular structure.
Vehicle No. 1 (2008)
6
Light absorption coefficient (m−1)
2
1
0 R² = 0.5769
0 1
−1
Figure 3. Inlet velocity (m s ) vs light absorption coefficient (m
1) for three diesel-run vehicles.

1
of relationship between two variables, which means that
changing the value of the x-axis greatly affects y-axis in a
proportional manner if the R2 value is close to 1, otherwise
variable x has very minimal or no effect at all on variable y
if R2 value is near zero (Taylor 1990). Thus, the values from
0.5769 to 0.7631 from Figure 3 indicate that there is a mod-
erate to strong correlation between the inlet velocity and the
light absorption coefficient.
3.2. Pressure drop across the cyclone
The calculation of the pressure drop was done to deter-
mine the operational pressure difference in the cyclone
with the greatest efficiency of removing PM from the gas
stream. Based on the model of Karagoz and Avci (Karagoz
and Avci 2005) the inlet is established for rectangular-
shaped inlets, however, the fabricated cyclone in this study
had a circular profile. To accommodate the change in the
inlet profile, a square inlet with the same area as that of
the circular form was assumed for computational purposes.
In the aforementioned model, the pressure drop is com-
puted with the aid of the inlet velocity, cyclone geometry,
PARTICULATE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 5
Vehicle No. 2 (2002) Vehicle No. 3 (1997)
R² = 0.7631
R² = 0.7361
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Inlet velocity induced by the cyclone (ms−1)
and surface roughness. The inlet velocity, 7.35 m s
1, is
taken from the preliminary test. The coefficient a is gener-
ally associated with the cyclone geometric ratios. The
scaled friction factor R0 is linked with both the surface
roughness and cyclone dimensions. In addition, R0
requires several variables: the friction coefficient, f, which
is taken from the Moody chart (Hong et al. 2016) provided
that the material type and the diameter of the pipe from
which the gas stream is passing through are known; the
vortex length, Lv, which is related to the cone and the out-
let pipes; and hydraulic diameter, Dh, which is the inlet
diameter equivalent if in case the inlet is not circular. The
values of the geometric ratios, R0, a, and K are summar-
ized in Table 1, and is used for both the first (cyclone
alone) and second (cyclone with activated carbon) set-ups.
The operational pressure drop is computed to be 288.34 Pa
for the fabricated cyclone, depicted in Table 2. Remarkably,
the addition of the activated carbon at the outlet had the co-
benefit of a decrease in the inlet velocity even if it was operat-
ing at the maximum spindle speed of 3140 rpm, thus, decreas-
ing the pressure drop to 161.52 Pa. In recent literature, a
decrease in the pressure drop is in conjunction with the result
6 J. Z. DURAN AND E. B. CALDONA

Table 1. Pressure drop coefficient computation for the cyclone.

Part of the cyclone Code Geometric ratios Preliminary calculations
Barrel diameter D1 A/ D1 0.3544 D3m 3.5719
Height of cylinder C B/ D1 0.3544 a 0.8992
Diameter of the inlet A and B D2 / D1 0.4000 Dd 0.8430
Diameter of the outlet D2 D3/ D1 0.3544 b 1.1813
Diameter of exit cylinder D3 H/ D1 0.4000 ad 1.3412
Height of the cyclone L C/ D1 2.0000 Lv 90.4503
Height of outlet to the top H LO/ D1 4.0000 R 0.5088
C/ L 0.5000
D3/D1 0.3544
D1/L0 0.2500
B/H 0.8860 Pressure Drop Coefficient
f (from Moody Chart) 0.0225 K 8.2559
Code in conformity with Avci and Karagoz model.

Table 2. Pressure drop across varying impeller speed and inlet velocity. Table 3. Light absorption coefficient (m
1) using cyclone and activated car-
Impeller Average inlet Pressure bon-equipped cyclone.
Test no. speed (RPM) velocity (m s
1) drop (Pa) First set-up Second set-up
1 740 1.92 19.68 with cyclone
2 1530 3.71 73.47 without cyclone with cyclone without cyclone separator and
3 3140 7.35 288.34 separator separator separator activated carbon
4 3140 5.501 161.52 (m
1) (m
1) (m
1) (m
1)
With activated carbon.
1 0.39 0.185 0.61 0.14
2 0.93 0.31 2.2575 0.375
3 1.1825 0.34 2.5 0.44
of adding a cover or restriction (i.e. evas
e) after the mechan- 4 1.4375 0.81 2.685 1.015
ical separation wherein the pressure drop can be further 5 1.5 0.825 3.895 1.52
reduced (Funk 2015). It is to be noted that at a higher speed, 6 4 1.25 4.23 1.735
7 5.36 1.38 5.2225 2.575
the collection efficiency of the cyclone also increases.
However, it also creates a higher pressure drop, thus increas-
ing the energy losses in the system. Table 4. Summary of test for normality.
Set-up Intervention p-values significant
First Without cyclone separator .06719 yes
3.3. PM reduction using the cyclone and With cyclone separator .35395 yes
activated carbon Second Without cyclone separator .91417 yes
With cyclone separator and .57878 yes
Table 3 summarizes the light absorption coefficients using activated carbon
the cyclone alone and the cyclone with activated carbon. For
the first set-up, the effect of the cyclone on the PM content (Tamai et al. 2006). Furthermore, physical adsorption is
of the exhaust was evaluated with the use of the opacimeter. affected by bonding interactions (i.e. van der Waals forces)
The first set of vehicles (7 diesel vehicles) were subjected to between the PM and the GAC (Kandasamy et al. 2009).
treatment done only by the cyclone. The reduction in PM Adsorption is affected by the surface area of the adsorbent
by the cyclone can be seen by the decrease in light absorp- and the size diameter of the PM, where larger particles have a
tion coefficient. The particle separation is due to the PM hit- greater tendency to be removed from the stream. Given the
ting the inner walls of the cyclone, then eventually falling to proper activation condition during production, activated car-
the bottom part of the cyclone. Moreover, the aforemen- bon can have a surface area of around 1093 to 2696 m2 g
1
tioned mechanism is brought about by the pressure created (Saygılı and G€
uzel 2016; Teo et al. 2016), which is capable of
by the impeller operating at 3140 rpm. In the cyclone, swirl collecting PM in the range of 0.0560–0.0604 lm (Rathore
and turbulent actions are induced. The swirl creates the cen- et al. 2010).
trifugal action responsible for the mechanical separation,
while the turbulence scatters the solid particles inside the
3.4. Statistical analysis
cyclone, enhancing the probability of exiting the outlet
(Elsayed and Lacor 2011). Table 4 presents a summary of the results for the test of
The second set-up involves the effect of adding GAC to the normality. It was found that the results of the two set-ups
cyclone. It is revealed that there is a further decrease in light (cyclone alone and activated carbon-equipped cyclone) are
absorption coefficient, thus indicating lesser PM content owing normally distributed based on the descriptive statistics and
to the adsorptive property of the activated carbon. GAC is Shapiro-Wilk test (Shapiro and Wilk 1965). Prior to the
capable of removing pollutants by the mechanism of adsorp- tests, the data were arranged from lowest to highest values.
tion. This is attributed to the macro-, meso-, and micro-pores Under the descriptive statistics, the median indicates nor-
inherent in the material, in which the voids and spaces collect- mality when the mean average of the data is close to the
ing the PM are classified as larger than 0.05 lm, between median. In addition, the skewness and kurtosis values mani-
0.002 to 0.05 lm, and smaller than 0.002 lm, respectively fest normality when it is close to zero. With respect to the

Table 5. Summary of t-test results.
Comparison of before and after Comparison of before and after
results (First set-up) results (Second set-up)
t-test: Paired two sample for means t-test: Paired two sample for means
value
Significance level .05 Significance level
t Stat 2.596523 t Stat
p one-tail .020426 p one-tail
t Critical one-tail 1.94318 t Critical one-tail
p two-tail .040852 p two-tail
t Critical two-tail 2.446912 t Critical two-tail
data, all of the descriptive statistic results were able to mani-
fest normality. The Shapiro-Wilk test was then employed in
support of the statistical results. The null hypothesis that
“the data is normally distributed” was then set for the ana-
lysis (Zaiontz 2018). Since p-values for all of the tests are
greater than .05, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected.
Thus, the data are normally distributed.
A paired t-test was employed to separately investigate the
significant difference between the first and the second set-
up, with the results presented in Table 5. The effect of the
first set-up showed a PM reduction as evidenced by the
decrease in light absorption coefficient. It was further sup-
ported by the paired t-test results of p-value and t-statistic.
In statistics, the null hypothesis (i.e. there is no significant
difference between the emissions before and after the cyc-
lone was placed) can be rejected if the p-value is less than
the significance level, usually with a value of 0.05. In this
case, the p-value from the t-test is 0.040852, thus the null
hypothesis is rejected. The t-statistic value, on the other
hand, must be greater than the t-critical to be able to state
that there is a significant difference between the before and
after results. In support to the p-value, t-statistic also dem-
onstrates that there is a significant difference, with a value
of 2.596523 as compared to the t-critical of 2.446912. The
intervention of the activated carbon-equipped cyclone also
established a significant difference in reducing PM from the
exhaust. The same table relates the percentage reduction on
PM of the first and second set-up in determining the effect
of the activated carbon in the cyclone. At a significance level
of 0.25, it was found that there was a significant effect in
PM reduction by incorporating activated carbon as denoted
by the p- and t-critical values.
4. Conclusion and recommendation
In this research work, an activated carbon-equipped cyclone
capable of reducing PM was successfully designed and con-
structed. Exhausts from diesel engine vehicles treated with
the constructed APC device were found to have decreased
in PM content, as evidenced by the decrease in light absorp-
tion coefficient. This decrease was further verified to be stat-
istically significant even if the cyclone alone was used. In
addition to this, the inclusion of the activated carbon into
the cyclone was also found to be significant at a significance
level of 0.25.
PARTICULATE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 7
Significant difference between first and second set-up
t-test result of the PM reduction percentages
value value significant
.05 Significance level .25
5.359634 t Stat
1.27609
.000864 p one-tail .124547 yes
1.94318 t Critical one-tail .717558 yes
.001729 p two-tail .249095 yes
2.446912 t Critical two-tail 1.273349 yes
The pressure drop of the cyclone was found to be low to
moderate in range, in comparison with the constructed
cyclones from previous works with relatively same operating
parameters. Remarkably, the addition of the activated carbon
has reduced the pressure drop by around a fourth of the
operational pressure drop. Thus, it can, therefore, be claimed
that the constructed activated carbon-equipped cyclone has
potential uses in industrial applications. For future research
and work, the effects of configuring the cyclone geometry
and operating parameters using computational fluid dynam-
ics (CFD) must be analyzed further, as the cyclone geometry
plays an important role in the pressure drop and particle
removal efficiency. It is also recommended to vary the
amount of the activated carbon used for adsorption and fur-
ther investigate its effect in PM reduction.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Carlos G. Carrera, Herbert M. Dela
Cruz, Jamaica Myla C. Ferrer, Jon Rondall U. Lucas, Carlo Jon
V. Romero, Joerell B. Rosete, Rencel Fil O. Torres, and Derwin
A. Vicente for their valuable assistance during the execution of the study.
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