Unit- six: cyclone

Contents:

6.1 Introduction to cyclone

6.2 Design and operation

6.2.1 Collection efficiency

6.2.2. Factors affecting collection efficiency

6.3 Performance Evaluation

6.4 Advantages and Disadvantages

6.5 Application
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 Learning outcome of the chapter

The students will be able to:

 Explain working principle of cyclone

 Explain theory of cyclone

 Design a cyclone for desired efficiency

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 Cyclones separator

Introduction
 Cyclones are the most popular and effective devices used for separation
particulates from gas stream.

 It more complicated in design than settling chamber

 Their removal efficiency is much better than settling chamber.

 Centrifugal force is utilized for separate the particulate matter

 Cyclones are consists four parts, these are inlet, cyclone body, dust discharge

system, and outlet all affect the overall efficiency

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 Cyclones separator….
Collection mechanism

 The dirty gas flows tangentially into the cyclone at the top, and spiral down

near the outer radius.

 The air velocity increasing in the outer vortex results in a centrifugal force on

the particles separating them from the air stream

 The air back upward in the center core, in a second smaller diameter spiral, and

exit at the top through a central vertical pipe.

 The particle moves radials to the walls, slide down the walls, and are collected

at the bottom.
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 Collection mechanism of cyclone

 The operating efficiency of a cyclone depends on the magnitude of the

centrifugal force exerted on the particles.
 The greater the centrifugal force, the greater the spreading efficiency.
 The magnitude of the centrifugal force generated depends on particle

mass, gas velocity within the cyclone, and cyclone diameter.

𝑚𝑣2
Fc= ……………………………………………………………………1
𝑟
where F = centrifugal force
m = mass of particle
V = velocity of particle, assumed to equal inlet gas velocity
r = radius of cyclone body

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 Cyclones separator….

Fig. Schematic flow diagram of a cyclone

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 Cyclones separator….
There are three different types of cyclone
 Cyclone with a tangential entry (a)
 The axial entry cyclones, the gas enter parallel to the axis of the
cyclone body( b)
 The air enters tangentially at the bottom, forming vertex (c)

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 Factors affecting collection efficiency of cyclone

 Increasing the inlet velocity increases the centrifugal force, and the
efficiency, but it also increases the pressure drop.

 Decreasing the cyclone diameter also increases centrifugal force,

efficiency, and pressure drop.

 Increasing the gas flow rate through a given cyclone has the effect of
efficiency shown in Eq.(2).

……………………………………………………………2.

where
Pt = penetration (Pt = 1 – η)
η = particle removal efficiency
Q = volumetric gas flowrate
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 Factors affecting collection efficiency of cyclone…

 Decreasing the gas viscosity improves efficiency, because drag

force is reduced. Increasing gas to particle density difference
affects penetration as shown in Eq. 3.
…………………………………………………………………………3

 Finally, particle loading also affects efficiency.

 High dust loading causes particles to bounce into each other as

they move toward the wall, driving more particles toward the wall
and their removal

………………………………………………………………………………………….4

 where L = inlet particle concentration (loading).

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Example
 A cyclone with a flow rate of 150 m3/min has an efficiency of
80%. Estimate the efficiency if the flow rate is doubled.

Solution

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 Cyclones separator….

 The collection efficiency of cyclones varies as a function of density, particle

size and cyclone design
Cyclone efficiency will generally increase with increases
 In particle size

 Inlet duct velocity

 Cyclone body length

 Number of gas revolutions in the cyclone

 Ratio of cyclone body diameter to gas exit diameter

 Inlet dust loading

 Smoothness of the cyclone inner wall

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 Cyclones separator….

Cyclone efficiency will decrease with increases the following parameters.

 Gas viscosity

 Cyclone body diameter

 Gas exit diameter

 Gas inlet duct area

 Gas density

 Leakage of air into the dust outlet

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 Cyclones separator….
Air pollution control cyclones categorized by three such as:

Fig. Typical efficiency curves for the three types of cyclones

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 Cyclones separator….

 High-efficiency cyclone: Dia < 30 cm, high pressure drop; good

collection of small dp (< 10 µm).

 A high throughput: Dia > 1; low pressure drop, high flowrate; better
collection of dp (> 30µm).

 A conventional cyclone: intermediate with the above.

 Each of these three cyclone types have the same basic design

 Different levels of collection efficiency and operation are achieved by

varying the standard cyclone dimensions

 Operating cost increasing with efficiency

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 Design procedure cyclones separator….

 Select the cyclones categorized as: high efficiency, conventional or

high throughput design depending on the performance required.
 Estimate the particle size distribution of the solids in the screen.
 Estimate the number of cyclones needed in parallel.
 Find the cyclone diameter for a fixed inlet velocity.
 Scale the other cyclone dimension from standard (available)
 Calculate the scale up factors based on available graphs.
 Calculate the cyclone performance and overall efficiency.
 Calculate the cyclone pressure drop.
 Cost the system and optimize to make the best use of pressure drop

available.
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 Design procedure cyclones separator….

Design aspects

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 Cyclones separator….

. Lapple design values for cyclones

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 Cyclones separator….

Different Cyclone Model:

 The most commonly used cyclones design for particulates matter control in
the agricultural processing industry are:

2D2D (Shepherd and Lapple, 1939), and

1D3D (Parnell and Davis, 1979)

 The D’s in the 2D2D designation refer to the barrel diameter of the cyclone.

 The numbers preceding the D’s relate to the length of the barrel and cone
sections, respectively.

 A 2D2D cyclone has barrel and cone lengths of two times the barrel
diameter, whereas the 1D3D cyclone has a barrel length equal to the barrel
diameter and a cone length of three times the barrel diameter.

 The configurations of these two cyclone designs are shown in the next fig.

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 Cyclones separator….

Fig. 1D3D and 2D2D cyclone configurations

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 Cyclones separator….

Where, Hc = inlet height Dc = outlet diameter,

Zc = cone length, Lc = cylinder length

Bc = inlet width (m) sc = length of vortex funder

De = diameter of gas exit Je = Diameter of dust outlet

 Simpson and Parnell (1995) introduced a new low-pressure cyclone,

called the 1D2D cyclone.

 The 1D2D cyclone is a better design for high-lint content trash

compared with 1D3D and 2D2D cyclones.

 1D2D cyclone design is shown for the next slide

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 Cyclones separator….

Fig. 1D2DCyclone configurations

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 Design and performance equations

a) The Number of Effective Turns (Ne)

 The first step of Cyclone design process is to calculate the number of
effective turns.

 The number of effective turns in a cyclone is the number of revolutions

the gas spins while passing through the cyclone outer vortex.

 A higher number of turns of the air stream result in a higher collection

efficiency. The lapel model for Ne calculation is as follows:

………………………………………………………………………………………...6

Where, Ne = number of turns inside the device (no units)

H = height of inlet duct (m or ft)
Lb = length of cyclone body (m or ft)
Zc = length (vertical) of cyclone cone (m or ft).
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 Design and performance equations…..

b) Cut Diameter

 The second step of the Cyclone design process is the calculation of

the cut-point diameter.

 The cut-point of a cyclone is the aerodynamic equivalent diameter

(AED) of the particle collected with 50% efficiency.

 The cut-point diameter increases, the collective efficiency decreases.

The Lapple cut-point model was developed based upon force
balance theory. The Lappel model for cut-point (Dpc) is as follows:

………………………………………………………………………….(7)

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 Design and performance equations…..

Where, dp = diameter of the smallest particle that will be collected by the cyclone

 μ = gas viscosity (kg/m. s)

 Ne = effective number of turns (5–10 for the common cyclone)

 Vi = inlet gas velocity (m/s)

 ρp=particle density (kg/m3)

 pg = Density of gas

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 Design and performance equations…..

C) Gas Residence time

 The third step cyclone process to calculate the gas residence
time in the outer vortex.
………..…………………8

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 Design and performance equations…..

 The maximum radial distance traveled by any particle is the width of the
inlet duct W.
 The centrifugal force quickly accelerates the particle to its terminal
velocity in the outward (radial) direction, with the opposing drag force
equaling the centrifugal force.
 The terminal velocity that will just allow a particle initially at distance W
away from the wall to be collected in time is

……………………………………………………………………..9

…....10

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 Design and performance equations…..

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 Design and performance equations…..

d) Fractional Efficiency (𝛈𝐟)

 The fourth step of cyclone design process is to determine the
fractional efficiency. Based upon the cut-point diameter

 Lappel then developed an empirical model for the prediction of the

collection efficiency for any particle size, which is also known as
fractional efficiency curve:

…………………………………………………….11

Where
ᶯj = collection efficiency of particle with diameter j (0 < nj < 1)
dpc = diameter of particle with 50% collection efficiency
Dpj = diameter of particle j

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 Design and performance equations…..

Fig. Lapple’s efficiency curve

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 Design and performance equations…..
E) Pressure Drop (ΔP)
 Cyclone pressure drop is another major parameter to be considered in the
process of designing a cyclone system.

 Two steps are involved in the Lapple approach to estimation of cyclone

pressure drop.

 The first step in this approach is to calculate the pressure drop in the number of
inlet velocity heads (Hv) by equation (9).

 The second step in this approach is to convert the number of inlet velocity
heads to a static pressure drop (ΔP) by equation (9).

 A new scientific approach is needed to predict cyclone pressure drop

associated with the dimensions of a cyclone

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 Design and performance equations…..

.
………………………………………....……………12

……………………………………………………...13
Where
Hv = pressure drop, expressed in number of inlet velocity Heads
ρg = gas density
= pressure drop
Vi2 = inlet gas velocity
K = constant that depends on cyclone configurations and
Operating conditions (K = 12 to 18 for a standard tangential-entry cyclone)

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 Design and performance equations…..

f) Cyclone overall Efficiency

 The overall efficiency is usually the most important consideration in industrial
process.
 Let’s us consider the mass balance of solid particle in cyclone.
 Mf, Mc and Me are the mass flow rate of the feed, mass flow rate of particle
collected and mass flow rate of escaped particles respectively.
 The mass balance of solid particle over the cyclone can be denoted by eq. 14.

Mf = Mc + Me ……………………………………………....14

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Standard Cyclone Dimension (Lapple Dimesion) Conventional Dimensions

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 Operation and Maintenance, and Improving Performance of cyclone

 The characteristics of both the gas and the particles.

 Gas operating variables include:

 Temperature
 Pressure, and
 Composition.
 Dust characteristics include:
 Size
 Size distribution
 Shape
 Density, and
 Concentration.

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 Changes in Performance Characteristics

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 Advantage and disadvantage of Cyclone

Advantage of Cyclone
 The cyclone separators are simple and inexpensive to
manufacture, and require little maintenance
 Can operate at high temperatures, pressures, high dust
concentrations
 There are no moving parts, so there are no maintenance
requirements
 Cyclones can be constructed of a wide variety of materials.
 Reasonable high efficiency for specially designed cyclones
Disadvantages of cyclone
 Poor removal of particles < 5μm
 High pressure drop → high energy use
 Require large head room

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 Applications of cyclones

Cyclones is utilized in various industries such as:

 Chemical

 Coal mining and handling

 Combustion fly ash

 Metal melting, metal working

 Metal mining

 Rock products,

 Plastics and wood products.

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