Title of Experiment: Cyclone Separator

Objective:

(a) To study the operation of cyclone separator.

(b) To estimate the overall collection efficiency and pressure drop across the cyclone
. separator
(c) To compare the results obtained experimentally with the corresponding
theoretical results.

Theory:

Cyclones have been used since the late 1800’s to remove dust from industrial gas
streams. Their simple design, low capital and maintenance costs, and adaptability to a wide
range of operating conditions have made cyclones the most widely used industrial dust
collectors. Cyclones are basically centrifugal separators, consisting of an upper barrel and
a lower conical part referred to as cone (figure on next page). The attractive feature of
cyclone is that it does not have any moving or rotating part they simply transform the
inertia force of gas particle flows to a centrifugal force by means of a vortex generated in
the cyclone body. The particle laden air stream enters tangentially at the top of the barrel
and travels downwards into the cone forming an outer vortex. The increasing air velocity
in the outer vortex results in the centrifugal force on the particles separating them from the
air stream. When the air reaches the bottom of the cone, it begins to flow radially inwards
and out the top as clean air/ gas while the particles fall into the dust collection chamber
attached to the bottom of the cyclone. The path of the gas in the separator infact involves a
double vortex with gas spiralling downwards at the outside and upward at the inside. It is
important that the top outlet projects below the gas inlet (as shown in figure) in order to
prevent short -circuiting of the gas.
Each particle in the gas is subjected to two opposing forces inside the separator
such as the outward centrifugal force that tends to throw the particle to the walls and
inward drag of the fluid on the particle. Both these forces are a function of the size of the
particle as well as its radius of rotation so that the particles of different sizes rotate at
different radii. If the particles rotate at a large radius, its probability of getting separated
from the gas is higher. The collection efficiency of cyclones varies as a function of
density, particle
size and cyclone design. Cyclone efficiency will generally increase with increase in particle
size and/or density, 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.
Cyclone efficiency will decrease with increase in parameters such as gas viscosity, cyclone
body diameter, gas exit diameter, gas inlet duct area, gas density, leakage of gas into the dust
outlet.

Cyclone Performance

The main variables describing the cyclone performance are pressure drop, efficiency and
cut diameter. Their equations are as follows:
Cut diameter: Lapple correlated collection efficiency in terms of the cut size(or diameter)
of the cyclone ‘dpc’ ,which is defined as the size of the particles collected with 50%
collection efficiency Particle larger than dpc will have collection efficiency greater than
50% while the smaller particle will be collected with lesser efficiency. The cut size is
given by :
 1
9𝜇𝑊 2
𝑑𝑝𝑐 = [ ] ------ (1)
2 𝜋 𝑁𝑒 𝑣𝑖 ( 𝜌𝑝− 𝜌)
where, 𝜇 = viscosity of gas( air), Pa S
Ne = effective number of turns a gas makes in traversing the cyclone ( 5-10 for
common cyclone )
𝑣𝑖 = inlet gas velocity(m/s) = 𝑄
𝑊×𝐻
Q = flow rate (m3/s)
W = inlet width ; H= inlet height
𝜌𝑝 = particle density(kg/m3); 𝜌 = gas density (here it is air) (kg/m3)

1 𝐿𝑐
N can be calculated as : 𝑁 = [𝐿 + ]
e 𝑒 𝐻 𝑏 2
Where, Lb = Length of cyclone body, m ; Lc = Length of cyclone cone, m (shown in
figure). Value of Ne can vary from 1 to 10.
Collection efficiency: The collection or separation efficiency is most properly defined for a
given particle size. Fractional efficiency is defined as the fraction of particles of a given
size collected in the cyclone, compared to those of that size going into cyclone. Several
equations have been developed to predict the collection efficiency in cyclones. A more
popular method of calculating cyclone fractional efficiency and overall efficiency was
developed by Lapple (1951). Factional efficiency 1 is given by equation :
𝜂 = ----- (2)
𝑗 2
1+ (𝑑𝑝 ⁄ 𝑝𝑗)
𝑐 𝑑
Where, 𝜂𝑗 = collection efficiency of particles in jth size range (0<𝜂𝑗<1 )
𝑑𝑝𝑗 = diameter of the jth particle size range ,µm

Overall efficiency is : 𝜂𝑜 = ∑ 𝜂𝑗 𝑥𝑗-------(3)

Where,
𝜂𝑜 = Overall collection efficiency for all particle sizes

𝑥𝑗 = mass fraction of particles in the jth particle size range.

Table for calculating overall𝑑 efficiency by Lapple method

𝑝1+𝑑𝑝2
j size range, dpj(= ) mass dpj/dpc 𝜂𝑗% mass
µm 2
fraction, 𝑥𝑗 from fraction
µm
eq.(1) collected
𝜂𝑗𝑥𝑗 %
1
2
3
.
.
.
.
Total : ∑ 𝜂𝑗𝑥𝑗 =

Pressure Drop: Pressure drop across the cyclone is of much importance in a cyclone
separator. This is an indirect measure of the energy required to move the gas through the
system. The total pressure drop in a cyclone will be due to the entry and exit losses, and
friction and kinetic energy losses in the cyclone. Normally most significant pressure drop
occurs in the body due to swirl and energy dissipation. The equation for the pressure drop
in the cyclone given by Shepherd and Lapple is :
2
∆𝑃 = 1 𝜌 𝑣 𝐻
----- (4)
𝐾 𝑊𝑖
2 𝐷𝑒
2

Where, ‘De’ is the outlet diameter and ‘K’ is constant that depends on cyclone
configuration and operating conditions. Use K= 16 for normal tangential inlet.
 Common ranges for pressure drop:
Low efficiency cyclone 2- 4 inches of water (500-1000 Pa)
Medium efficiency cyclone 4-8 inches of water (1000-2000 Pa)
High efficiency cyclone 8-10 inches of water (2000-2500 Pa)

Description:
A cyclone separator consists of induced draft blower to create the air stream. The clean
air leaves the cyclone through the pipe extended down into the cyclone and some of the air
containing fines passes through blower delivery side fitted with fine screen cloth bag to
avoid fine particles to escape into the laboratory environment. Solids are collected in the
collector fitted at the bottom of the cyclone. An orifice meter is provided to measure the
flow rate of air. Pressure drop in the cyclone is measured by a manometer. Diameter of the
orifice throat (Do) is 1.4 cm and diameter of the pipe is (Di) = 2.4 cm.
The geometric parameters of Laboratory cyclone consists of : inlet width (W) = 2.8cm;
inlet height (H) = 5cm; Diameter of cyclone (D) = 7 cm ; outlet diameter (De) = 2.2 cm ;
height of the cylindrical section (Lb) = 26cm ; height of the conical section(Lc) = 21cm ;
and diameter of outlet hopper ( Dd) = 6mm.
.
Experimental Procedure:
1. Weigh 1Kg of sand as a feed material and perform its sieve analysis.
2. Start the blower at predefined flow rate that can be regulated by a butterfly valve
provided in line.
3. Start adding the feed slowly in feed funnel.
4. Note down the pressure difference reading in the two manometers while entering the feed.
5. Collect the product from the bottom hopper of the cyclone separator.
6. Repeat the experiment at different flow rate of air.
Observations:

Initial weight of sample (feed) =-------gms

Screen analysis of feed

S.No Mesh Size Average diameter, Dpn,av Mass Retained (gm)

1.

2.

initial final weight Manometer readings across the

weight of of sample
S.No. sample Orifice cyclone

h1 (cm) h2 (cm) h1 (cm) h2 (cm)

1.
 2.

3.

Calculations:
 Experimental overall cyclone efficiency:
η = weight of sample (feed) taken/ weight of particles collected in a
collector
 Calculation of Experimental Pressure Drop :
-ΔP = g (ρm- ρ) ((h1 - h2)
 Mass flow rate of air through orifice meter (assuming the flow to be
incompressible):
. 𝐶𝑜 𝑆 𝑜 2(𝑝1 − 𝑝2)
𝑚 = √
√1− 𝛽4 𝜌
Where, (p1 – p2 ) is the pressure drop across the orifice; ‘So’ is the cross sectional
area of the throat ; β is the ratio of throat diameter to pipe diameter ; Co (the discharge
coefficient) = 0.61.

Results and discussion:

 Draw a neat schematic diagram of the experimental setup.
 Calculate the overall collection efficiency using eq.(3) and pressure drop across
cyclone using eq.(4) and compare it with that obtained experimentally.
 Draw, overall collection efficiency Vs. mass flow rate and pressure drop across
cyclone Vs mass flow rate.

References:

Bhattacharyya;C.M and Narayanan;C.M, ‘Mechanical Operations for Chemical Engineers’

2nd edition, Khanna Publishers.