Separation and Purification Technology 171 (2016) 270–279

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Separation and Purification Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/seppur

Experimental study of the effect of underflow pipe diameter on

separation performance of a novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with
continuous underflow and reflux function
Long Ni ⇑, Jinyi Tian, Jianing Zhao
School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In order to solve or relieve the blockage and fouling problems of sewage heat exchangers which have lim-
Received 18 April 2016 ited the development of sewage source heat pumps for a long time, a novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with
Received in revised form 30 June 2016 continuous underflow and reflux function was proposed. Sand–water experiments and domestic sewage
Accepted 29 July 2016
experiments were conducted to study the effect of underflow pipe diameter on the separation perfor-
Available online 30 July 2016
mance of the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone. Experimental results suggested that separation efficiency
increased with increasing underflow pipe diameter. However, as long as the underflow pipe diameter
Keywords:
was not too small (i.e. >5 mm), the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone provided effective separation perfor-
Enhancement separation
Hydrocyclone
mance, i.e. the separation efficiency of 94.3–97.2% for the foulant (<4 mm) in the untreated domestic
Continuous underflow sewage, and 99.96–100% for the sand (75–250 lm). Compared with the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone
Foulant with 0 mm underflow pipe diameter (i.e. a closed pipe), which was similar to the conventional hydrocy-
Sewage source heat pump clone with a closed ‘‘grit pot” under its underflow orifice, the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with contin-
uous underflow and reflux function showed higher separation efficiency (41.6–46.2%) and slightly higher
energy consumption (0.86–1.29 kPa), which could be ignored. In addition, a new concept of separation
efficiency (i.e. the comprehensive separation efficiency), which takes into account both separation effi-
ciency and split ratio, was proposed in this paper. Experimental results suggested that only when the
ratio of the underflow pipe diameter to the vortex finder diameter was between 12.5% and 25.0%, did
the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone have a high comprehensive separation efficiency for foulant
(<4 mm), i.e. it had high separation efficiency (92.6–94.3%) and a low split ratio (1.32–2.54%) at the same
time. With the increase of the underflow pipe diameter, the split ratio increased quickly and energy con-
sumption increased slightly, whereas the concentration in overflow decreased slightly.
Ó 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction difficulty of backwashing. One of the most popular anti-blockage

In recent years, sewage source heat pumps have been applied
extensively around the world [1,2] as an energy-saving devices
for heating and cooling of buildings. However, its development
has been limited by the blockage and fouling problems of the sew-
age heat exchanger. To address these problems, a number of anti-
blockage prototypes and patents have appeared in China [3–6].
Nevertheless, most of them use the ‘‘mechanical filtration and
backwashing” as their working principle, resulting in some inevita-
ble problems arising when in use.
For example, as the mesh size of the filter is decreased, the pres-
sure required for backwashing increases. This means that decreas-
ing the mesh–filter size increases the energy consumption and the
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: nilonggn@163.com (L. Ni).
devices used in untreated sewage source heat pumps in China is
the filter block device [3,4], and some common issues have
appeared with its application. Firstly, the filter could only remove
the foulant consistent with its mesh size (3 mm or 4 mm [3]),
although foulant that is <3 mm accounts for approximately 90%
of the total foulant in urban sewage [7], and is the main source
of fouling of sewage heat exchangers [8,9]. Secondly, mixing of
water streams always occurred because the inlet and outlet sew-
age could not be completely sealed. This resulted in a waste of heat
energy. Experimental results suggested that the device had 41.9%
of spur track bypass and 21.5% of return flow bypass [4]. In fact,
for untreated urban sewage source heat pumps, the mass flow rate
of foulant was too large. For example, for an untreated sewage
source heat pump for a building with 10,000 m2 area, the mass
flow rate of filtering foulant was up to 115 kg/h in the cooling

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2016.07.047
1383-5866/Ó 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 L. Ni et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 171 (2016) 270–279
Nomenclature
Du underflow pipe diameter
Do vortex finder diameter
Du =Do ratio of underflow pipe diameter to vortex finder diam-
eter
E separation efficiency (%)
E0 reduced separation efficiency (%)
E00 comprehensive separation efficiency
mi feed foulant flow rate (kg/h)
mo foulant flow rate in the overflow (kg/h)
mu foulant flow rate in the underflow (kg/h)
ci feed foulant concentration (kg/m3)
co foulant concentration in the overflow (kg/m3)
Qi feed sewage flow rate (m3/h)
Qo sewage flow rate in the overflow (m3/h)
Qu sewage flow rate in the underflow (m3/h)
F split ratio (%)
Eh separation efficiency of the heavy foulant (%)
El separation efficiency of the light foulant (%)
c concentration (kg/m3)
co;h heavy foulant concentration in the overflow (kg/m3)
co;l light foulant concentration in the overflow (kg/m3)
ci;h feed heavy foulant concentration (kg/m3)
ci;l feed light foulant concentration (kg/m3)
phase and 76 kg/h in the heating phase [3]. Accordingly, it is very
easy for a conventional filter to happen overload.
Hydrocyclones have been used for more than 100 years and
offer many advantages, such as absence of moving parts, high sep-
aration efficiency, low split ratio, and small volumes [10]. Conse-
quently, hydrocyclones have been used widely in the chemical
industry [11], the mining industry [12], the food industry [13],
the biological industry [14], etc. The concept of separation
efficiency has been expanded from solid–liquid separation to
solid–solid separation, liquid–liquid separation, gas–liquid separa-
tion, gas–solid separation, gas–liquid–solid separation, gas–liquid–
liquid separation, etc. [10]. Therefore, a novel de-foulant
hydrocyclone with continuous underflow and reflux function was
proposed for use in sewage source heat pumps [15]. In fact, com-
paried with the closed ‘‘grit pot” under the underflow orifice of a
conventional hydrocyclone, in which the solid re-entrainment
from the ‘‘grit pot” is certain [16–18], the continuous underflow
can improve the separation efficiency of hydrocyclones [10].
Furthermore, compared with the hydrocyclone with continuous
underflow, in which the underflow orifice is always open to the
atmosphere and the vortex generates a negative-pressure region
which draws the air in and a centric axial air core forms [19–21],
the reflux function can also ameliorate the separation efficiency
by eliminating the air core with water seal [22–24].
In an effort to enhance the separation efficiency and expand the
scope of applications, researchers have continually optimized the
structure [25], operating parameters [26], and geometric parame-
ters [27] of hydrocyclones. To date, these studies have aimed to
optimize underflow pipe diameter (Du ) [28] or the ratio of under-
flow pipe diameter to the vortex finder diameter (Du =Do ) [21],
but have been narrowed here to conventional hydrocyclones with
a closed ‘‘grit pot” under underflow orifice [21,29,30]. Further
investigations are required to optimize Du or Du =Do of solid–liquid
hydrocyclones with continuous underflow and reflux function.
Therefore, to fully understand the effect of underflow pipe
diameter on separation performance of the novel de-foulant
hydrocyclone with continuous underflow and reflux function, a
test rig was set up and sand–water experiments and domestic
sewage experiments were conducted.
271
m mass flow rate of the foulant (kg/h)
Q flow rate (kg/m3)
DP energy consumption (kPa)
DP 1 pressure drop between the feed pressure and the vortex
finder outlet pressure (kPa)
DP 2 pressure drop between the feed pressure and the under-
flow orifice pressure (kPa)
Subscripts
i inlet
o vortex finder outlet
u underflow orifice
x position of the sewage sample
y foulant type
h heavy foulant
l light foulant
Definitions
Sewage source heat pump a heat pump that uses sewage as the
heat source/sink and consisting of a compressor, throt-
tle mechanism, sewage heat exchanger and user-side
heat exchanger
2. Experimental set-up
2.1. Experimental unit
To investigate the effect of underflow pipe diameter on various
performance parameters of the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone, an
experimental unit was built as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The exper-
imental unit mainly consisted of a novel de-foulant hydrocyclone,
a screw water pump, a sewage tank and an agitator (Table 1). The
novel de-foulant hydrocyclone integrated a reflux device (RD),
which consisted of the blowdown pipe, reflux pipe and outlet pipe,
into a hydrocyclone. For the convenience of discharging the foulant
and avoiding blockage, the blowdown pipe was of a diverging type
from top to bottom, and the angle between the blowdown pipe and
the reflux pipe was 45°. The sewage, after being stirred and pres-
surized, flowed into the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone tangen-
tially. The separated foulant flowed downward into the
blowdown pipe, and the decontaminated sewage flowed upward
out of the vortex finder. Afterward, the overflow flowed back to
the reflux pipe and flushed away the foulant flowing from the
blowdown pipe. Finally, they flowed together back to the sewage
tank to create a cycle. In the practical application of the sewage
source heat pump, as shown in Fig. 3, the sewage after being
decontaminated by the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone first flowed
into the sewage heat exchanger for use in the sewage source heat
pump unit. After being heated or cooled, the sewage returned to
the reflux pipe. In order to investigate the effect of underflow pipe
diameter on separation performance, the underflow pipe diameter
was made variable. It could be set at 0, 5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm,
20 mm or 25 mm. The diameter of vortex finder was 40 mm, and
its length was 265 mm. The feed pressure was 0.40 MPa and the
feed flow rate was about 4.0 m3/h.
2.2. Data acquisition
To measure the amount of foulant in feed flow and in the over-
flow, two sampling points were built into the experimental unit of
the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone. Specific measurement methods
272 L. Ni et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 171 (2016) 270–279
Fig. 1. Schematic of the experimental unit of the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone.
Fig. 2. Photo of the experimental unit of the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone.
used were as follows: (1) First, a plastic measuring cup was used to
sample. After standing for 5 min, graduations on the plastic mea-
suring cup were used to measure the volume of the samples. (2)
The samples were poured slowly into the vacuum filtration system
and filtered. The vacuum filtration system, as shown in Fig. 4, con-
sisted of a 200-mesh stainless steel filter screen (SSFS), a medical
rubber, a suction flask, a vacuum pump, and a Buchner funnel.
(3) After filtration, the sewage filtrate was poured back into the
sewage tank, and the SSFS with foulant was put into the petri dish
Table 1
Detailed specifications of the experimental equipment.
Name Specification
Sewage tank Shape: Cylindrical; Diameter: 990 mm; Height:
1300 mm
Agitator Speed: 155 rpm; Motor power: 1.5 kW; Impeller form:
pushing type (double layer)
Screw water Speed: 125–1000 r/min; Flow rate: 1–5 m3/h; Head:
pump 60 m H2O
Frequency Power: 380 V 50/60 Hz; Output power: 3.7 kW/5.5 kW
conversion
box
with corresponding number. Next, both the petri dish and the SSFS
with foulant were dried together in an electric blast drying oven at
105 °C for more than 12 h and the total mass of the SSFS and petri
dishes with and without dry foulant were measured. To reduce the
experimental error, three samples were collected from the same
sampling point, at the beginning, middle and end of each experi-
ment. Average values of them were recorded as the final results.
The foulant concentration in samples was calculated based on
the above data. In addition, some measuring instruments, listed
in Table 2, were used to monitor and obtain the experimental data.
2.3. Material and methods
In order to investigate the separation performance of novel
de-foulant hydrocyclones with different underflow pipe diameters,
several sand–water experiments and domestic sewage experi-
ments were conducted. The sandy water consisted of 0.570 m3
tap water and 7.045 kg dry sand (75–250 lm) (Fig. 5(a)), whereas
 L. Ni et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 171 (2016) 270–279 273

Fig. 3. Schematic of a practical project of the sewage source heat pump with the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone.

the sewage was collected from the sewerage in a residential dis-

trict of Jiangong District in Harbin City in China. The sewage was
filtered through screens with a mesh size of 4 mm before the
experiments were performed. Therefore, the foulant used in the
experiments (Fig. 5(b)) consisted only of foulant with a size of
<4 mm, which coincides with the majority of the foulant in domes-
tic sewage [7,9] and represents the main source of the fouling on
sewage heat exchangers [8,9]. In addition, the foulant (Fig. 5(b))
included decaying plant leaves and stems, sludge, paper, hair, fiber,
feces, and other materials.

3. Results and discussion

Fig. 4. Details of the vacuum filtration system.

3.1. Separation efficiency

Table 2
Detailed specifications of the measuring instruments. Generally speaking, separation efficiency is the ratio of the mass
flow rate of foulant in underflow to the mass flow rate of feed fou-
Name Specification
lant. It is defined by Eq. (1) [10].
Intelligent differential pressure Range: 60 kPa; Accuracy: ±0.1%


transmitter mu mi  mo co Q o
Electromagnetic flowmeter Range: 1–5 m3/h; Accuracy: ±0.5% E¼  100% ¼  100% ¼ 1  100% ð1Þ
Pressure gauge Range: 1.0 MPa; Accuracy: ±1.6%
mi mi ci Q i
Plastic measuring cup Range: 1000 mL; Division value: 50 mL
The flux in hydrocyclones is split in two and as a consequence,
Vacuum pump Ultimate vacuum: 10–30 Pa; Pumping
rate: 2 m3/h hydrocyclones act like flow divisors, meaning that a certain
Suction flask 2500 mL ‘‘guaranteed” efficiency is always achieved (Fig. 6(b)). In other
Electronic balance Range: 10–220 g; Division value: 0.1 mg words, the hydrocyclone with continuous underflow functions
as a flow divider and separates out the discrete phase. The

Fig. 5. Photo of experimental materials: (a) sand (75–250 lm); (b) foulant (<4 mm).
274 L. Ni et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 171 (2016) 270–279

co , Qo ci , Qo 0, Qo

Separator Separator Separator

ci , Qi ci , Qi ci , Qi

cu , Qu ci , Qu cu , Qu

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 6. Analysis of separation efficiency: (a) actual separation process; (b) separation process only under the effect of the dead flux; (c) separation process when the
concentration in overflow was 0.

‘‘guaranteed” efficiency of separation could then be achieved at a (2) As shown in Fig. 6(c), when co ¼ 0, for 8Q o , E ¼ 1, E0 ¼ 1,
ratio as high as that of the volumetric ratio of underflow to feed E00 ¼ 1  F. Hence, when Q o ! 0 and F ! 1, E0  1, it
flow, which is also known as the split ratio calculated from Eq. becomes meaningless; whereas when E0 ¼ 0, a value can
(2) [10]. be determined.


Qu Q
F¼  100% ¼ 1  o  100% ð2Þ Overall, for the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone, Eq. (4)
Qi Qi
(E00 ¼ E  F) reflects two aspects: (1) separation efficiency; (2) the
Therefore, when determining the separation performance of the amount of available sewage (which also means the amount of
hydrocyclones with continuous underflow, it is desirable to exam- energy consumption of bypass and the amount of available low-
ine the net separation effect, i.e. to subtract the contribution of the grade heat energy in sewage). However, if the split ratio, F, is too
dead flux. This gives rise to a number of possible new definitions of low, then E00  E0 .
efficiency. Among them, the most widely used formula is Eq. (3), In the next part of this discussion, the consistency of the three
taken from Kelsall [31], which defines the so-called ‘‘reduced sep- kinds of separation efficiency, E, E0 , E00 for the novel de-foulant
aration efficiency”. hydrocyclone is discussed with reference to the experimental data.
EF
E0 ¼ ð3Þ
1F
3.2. Effect of underflow pipe diameter on total separation performance
Using Eq. (3): (1) for Fig. 6(b), i.e. when co ¼ ci , E ¼ F, and E0 ¼ 0,
the required solution is obtained. (2) However, for Fig. 6(c), i.e.
Fig. 7 shows the effects of underflow pipe diameter on three
when co ¼ 0, for 8Q o , E ¼ 1, and E0 ¼ 1, and when Q o ! 0, (i.e. kinds of separation efficiency and split ratio. Whether sandy water
F ! 1, and E0  1), separation does not occur. The hydrocyclone or domestic sewage were being studied, the effects of underflow
is merely a pipeline without branching, and it has no output. pipe diameter on the three kinds of separation efficiency (i.e. the
Therefore, the results, calculated using Eq. (2), become separation efficiency, reduced separation efficiency, and compre-
meaningless. hensive separation efficiency proposed above) were all significant.
In deriving the net separation efficiency from Eq. (3), the contri- When the underflow pipe diameter was greater than 10 mm, the
bution of dead flux was subtracted not only in the calculation of separation efficiency was high and stable, i.e. the separation
the mass flow rate of the discrete phase in underflow, but also in
the calculation of the volume flow rate of feed flow. Considering
the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone was used as the pre-treatment
and anti-blockage device of the sewage source heat pump to recov-
ery the low-grade heat energy in urban sewage, it needed to
achieve high separation efficiency and low split ratio (which means
low energy consumption of bypass and huge amount of available
low-grade heat energy in sewage) at the same time. Accordingly,
in this paper, a new reduced separation efficiency named ‘‘compre-
hensive separation efficiency”, which is more suitable to the novel
de-foulant hydrocyclone, is proposed as following:


cu Q u  ci Q u cu  ci Q u cu cu
E00 ¼ ¼  ¼ 1 F ¼ FF ¼EF
ci Q i ci Qi ci ci

The comprehensive separation efficiency is defined by Eq. (4).

00
E ¼EF ð4Þ
The rationale behind Eq. (4) follows:

(1) As illustrated in Fig. 6(b), when co ¼ ci , E ¼ F–0, it becomes

meaningless; whereas when E0 ¼ 0, E00 ¼ 0, a value can be Fig. 7. Effects of underflow pipe diameter on three kinds of separation efficiency
determined. and split ratio.
 L. Ni et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 171 (2016) 270–279
efficiency was 99.96–100.00% for sandy water, and 94.32–97.22%
for domestic sewage. When the underflow pipe diameter was
decreased from 5 mm to 0, the separation efficiency decreased
quickly, especially the separation efficiency for domestic sewage.
In addition, when the underflow pipe diameter was kept constant,
the separation efficiency for sandy water was higher than that for
sewage. The reason was that the sand (75–250 lm) density was
greater than the foulant (<4 mm) density, making the sand easier
to separate by the centrifugal force and harder for the so-called
‘‘entrainment of coarse particles in overflow” to appear. The state-
ment ‘‘entrainment of coarse particles in overflow” means that
under the effect of collision of particles or the re-entrainment of
the inner and upward vortex, some coarse/heavy particles, which
have been separated by the centrifugal force, may return in the
overflow instead of exiting with the underflow, and as a result,
the separation efficiency decreases.
In general, the underflow pipe diameter was proportional to the
separation efficiency (Figs. 7 and 8), whereas the influence on sep-
aration efficiency was reduced as the underflow pipe diameter
increased (Fig. 7). This suggested that the separation efficiency
was high and stable, as long as the underflow pipe diameter was
not too small (P5 mm, as for the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone
studied here). Under the same conditions, the novel de-foulant
hydrocyclones with continuous underflow and reflux function
had higher separation efficiency compared to the novel de-
foulant hydrocyclone with 0 mm underflow pipe diameter, and
which was quite similar to the conventional hydrocyclone with a
closed ‘‘grit pot” under the underflow orifice (Figs. 7 and 8). This
was in accord with the work of Ladislav Svarovsky [10]. The reason
was that the decrease of underflow pipe diameter increased the
‘‘entrainment of coarse particles in overflow” (Fig. 8). Placing the
hydrocyclones in series can also improve the separation efficiency,
however, the increase in energy consumption and the additional
engine room area associated with increasing the number of hydro-
cyclones in series might not be a cost-effective way to save energy.
In addition, as illustrated in Fig. 7, the reduced separation effi-
ciency for sandy water or for domestic sewage was similar to the
separation efficiency, especially for sandy water. Accordingly, it
follows from the definition of the reduced separation efficiency
that the separation effect caused by the dead flux was very small
in both sand–water experiments and domestic sewage experiments.
Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of hydrocyclone separation for wastewater enhanced by continuous underflow with reflux function: (a) novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with 0 mm
underflow pipe; (b) novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with underflow pipe (>0 mm and <25 mm); (c) novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with 25 mm underflow pipe; (d)
conventional hydrocyclone with a closed ‘‘grit pot”.
275
Despite this, increasing the underflow pipe diameter from 0 to
25 mm (i.e. increasing Du =Do from 0 to 62.5%) increased the split
ratio for sandy water and for sewage increased from 2.08% to
22.07% and from 0 to 34.75%, respectively. This means that the
negative effect of the split ratio on the amount of available sewage
cannot be neglected and the reduced separation efficiency (E0 )
cannot reflect the negative effect of the split ratio. Instead, the
comprehensive separation efficiency proposed in this paper (E00 )
considers the effect of split ratio on the amount of available sew-
age. Only when the underflow pipe diameter was between 5 and
10 mm (i.e. when Du =Do was between 12.5% and 25.0%) did the
comprehensive separation efficiency stay at a high level and pro-
duce high separation efficiency and low split ratio at the same
time. This means that, in cases where large or small hydrocyclone
diameter exists, as long as Du =Do is between 12.5% and 25.0%, the
high separation efficiency and low split ratio may be achieved at
the same time.
Fig. 9 illustrates the comparison between the feed concentra-
tion and the concentration in overflow. When the underflow
pipe diameter was between 10 and 25 mm, the feed sand con-
centration and the feed foulant concentration were 4.1–5.4 kg/
m3 and 2.6–3.6 kg/m3, respectively. In comparison, sand concen-
tration and foulant concentration in overflow were 0.0003–
0.0024 kg/m3 and 0.14–0.17 kg/m3, respectively. It was thus
demonstrated that the concentration in overflow was much
lower than the feed concentration. Moreover, the concentration
in overflow stayed stable and it was basically unaffected by
fluctuations in the feed concentration. In summary, when the
underflow pipe diameter was between 10 and 25 mm, the novel
de-foulant hydrocyclone produced effective separation for both
sandy water and sewage. However, when the underflow pipe
was closed, both the feed sand concentration and the feed
foulant concentration were the lowest, and concentrations in
overflow were the highest. The feed concentration was the low-
est for that part of the discrete phase that remained in the bot-
tom of the conical section, because the underflow pipe diameter
was set to 0 mm. Furthermore, the experimental results showed
that, compared with the conventional hydrocyclone with a
closed ‘‘grit pot”, the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with contin-
uous underflow and reflux function had lower concentration in
overflow and higher separation efficiency.
276 L. Ni et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 171 (2016) 270–279
Fig. 9. Comparison between feed concentration and concentration in overflow.
3.3. Effect of underflow pipe diameter on separation performance of
foulants with different densities
According to the experimental results discussed above, the sep-
aration efficiency of the sand with size of 75–250 lm was close to
100%, which was much higher than the separation efficiency of
foulant. The main reason is that the density of the sand with size
of 75–250 lm is much higher than the average density of foulant.
The total foulant contains several foulants with different densities;
however, the separation efficiency reported was for total foulant.
Accordingly, to explore the effect of underflow pipe diameter on
separation performance of the foulants with different densities,
the total foulant was divided into two parts: heavy foulant and
light foulant. The specific classification method was as follows:
(1) After sampling (approximately 0.5 L) with an empty measuring
cup, let the sewage sample be allowed to stand for about 15 min,
then the sample was decanted into another empty measuring
cup until the volume of the sewage remained in the first measuring
cup was about 0.15 L. (2) Finally, the decanted foulant was defined
as the so-called ‘‘light foulant”, whereas the foulant that remained
in the first measuring cup was defined as the ‘‘heavy foulant”. Ana-
lytical error depended on the amount of the suspended foulant that
had a density close to that of water.
Separation efficiency for heavy foulant and for light foulant is
defined by Eqs. (5) and (6), respectively.


co;h Q o
Eh ¼ 1   100% ð5Þ
ci;h Q i
Fig. 10. Effects of underflow pipe diameter on separation efficiency and compre-
hensive separation efficiency for foulant with different density.


co;l Q o
El ¼ 1   100% ð6Þ
ci;l Q i
where the concentration of a certain kind of foulant is calculated by
Eq. (6).
mx;y
cx;y ¼ ð7Þ
Qx
Fig. 10 shows the effects of underflow pipe diameter on the sep-
aration efficiency and the comprehensive separation efficiency for
foulants with different densities. Only when the underflow pipe
diameter was within 5–10 mm (i.e. when Du =Do was between
12.5% and 25.0%) were both the comprehensive separation effi-
ciency of heavy foulant and of light foulant were high. Therefore,
in the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone, the underflow pipe diameter
should be designed to be within 5 and 10 mm to ensure high sep-
aration efficiency and low split ratio at the same time. In addition,
Fig. 10 also shows that the separation efficiency of heavy foulant
was significantly higher than that of light foulant. Comparing
Fig. 10 with Fig. 9, the separation efficiency and the comprehensive
separation efficiency of heavy foulant were similar to that of the
total foulant. This was because approximately 98% (m/m) of the
foulant in sewage was the heavy foulant.
In fact, the foulant mass and the foulant concentration satisfied
the mass conservation relations shown in Eq. (8). By combining
Eqs. (5), (6) and (8), it was shown that the separation efficiency
of the light foulant and of the heavy foulant should be positive in
principle. However, some separation efficiencies and comprehen-
sive separation efficiencies appeared to be negative value. The rea-
sons are as follows: (1) the error of the classification method that is
used to divide the total foulant into two parts, i.e. the heavy foulant
and the light foulant; (2) the second reason is the decomposition of
the foulant in the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone. Some foulant in
the feed flow, which consisted of several light foulants, might be
treated as heavy foulant. Nonetheless, under the effect of centrifu-
gal force in the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone, the foulant decom-
posed. Part of the light foulant was released which resulted in the
reassignment of the heavy foulant and light foulant portions,
although the amount of total foulant basically remained
unchanged. The error was inversely proportional to the foulant
concentration (Fig. 11).
8
< ci Q i ¼ co Q o þ cu Q u
>
ci ¼ ci:l þ ci;h ð8Þ
>
:
co ¼ co:l þ co;h
Fig. 11. Comparison of feed heavy/light foulant concentration versus heavy/light
foulant concentration in overflow.
 L. Ni et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 171 (2016) 270–279 277

Fig. 11 shows the comparison of the feed heavy/light concentra-

tion versus heavy/light foulant concentration in overflow. When
the underflow pipe diameter was within 10–25 mm, both the
heavy foulant concentration in overflow and the light foulant con-
centration in overflow remained at low levels, and were 0.11–
0.14 kg/m3 and 0.021–0.033 kg/m3, respectively. When the under-
flow pipe diameter was 0–5 mm, both of them were relatively high
(i.e. the heavy foulant concentration in overflow and the light fou-
lant concentration were within 0.16–0.26 kg/m3 and 0.029–
0.040 kg/m3, respectively).

3.4. Effect of underflow pipe diameter on pressure drops and energy

consumption

Two pressure drops were measured: the pressure drop between

the vortex finder outlet pressure and the feed pressure (DP 1 ) and
Fig. 13. Effect of underflow pipe diameter on energy consumption.
the pressure drop between the underflow orifice pressure and
the feed pressure (DP 2 ). Fig. 12 illustrates the effect of underflow
pipe diameter on DP1 and DP 2 . One of the pressure tapping points
hydrocyclone, both the effects of underflow and overflow should
of DP2 is located below the underflow pipe. Accordingly, when the
be considered. Total pressure loss of the novel de-foulant hydrocy-
underflow pipe diameter was closed, DP2 could not be measured.
clone, DP, should be obtained from Eq. (9) [33].
In addition, whether in sand–water experiments or in sewage
experiments, DP 1 increased gradually and DP2 decreased slowly DP ¼ DP1  ð1  FÞ þ DP2  F ð9Þ
with increase in the underflow pipe diameter.
Fig. 13 illustrates the effect of underflow pipe diameter on the
However, both of them showed little changed. As long as under-
energy consumption. When the underflow pipe diameter was
flow existed, whether in sand–water experiments or in sewage
increased from 0 to 25 mm, the energy consumption of the novel
experiments, DP 1 was lower than DP2 , i.e. the pressure drop ratio
de-foulant hydrocyclone increased slowly: the energy consump-
(DP1 =DP2 ) was always below 1. This was contrary to the results
tion for sandy water increased from 11.15 kPa to 15.12 kPa and
for a conventional hydrocyclone reported in literatures [32]. The
the energy consumption for sewage increased from 10.76 kPa to
reason was related to the RD under the underflow orifice of the
12.05 kPa. The reasons might be as follows: (1) According to Eq.
novel de-foulant hydrocyclone. The existence of the continuous
(9), the energy consumption largely depends on DP 1 , because the
underflow in the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone decreased the sta-
split ratios in all conditions are below 35%. (2) As the vortex finder
tic pressure, while at the base of the conventional hydrocyclones
diameter is a constant (40 mm), Du =Do increases with increase in
was a closed ‘‘grit pot”.
the underflow pipe diameter. (3) According to detailed numerical
In fact, the energy consumption of a hydrocyclone was usually
studies on flow field within hydrocyclones reported by other schol-
expressed by the total pressure drop of the fluid passing through
ars [34,35], the increase of Du =Do increases DP1 . In addition, it also
the hydrocyclone. For a conventional solid–liquid hydrocyclone,
demonstrated that the energy consumption of the novel de-foulant
when determining its energy consumption, only its static pressure
hydrocyclone was small, i.e. within 1.0–1.6 mH2O. Under the same
loss was considered. Its underflow rate was much lower than the
conditions, the energy consumption for sewage was lower than
overflow rate and the kinetic energy of underflow could not be
that for the sandy water.
recovered. Accordingly, the energy consumption of a conventional
solid–liquid hydrocyclone was only represented by DP 1 , while for
the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with continuous underflow 4. Conclusions
and reflux function, the underflow rate could not be neglected.
Furthermore, its underflow mixed with overflow in the RD and To investigate the effect of underflow pipe diameter on the sep-
then returned to the sewage tank. This clearly demonstrates that, aration performance of the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with
when calculating energy consumption of the novel de-foulant continuous underflow, the sand–water experiments and sewage
experiments were conducted and the findings are summarized
below.

(1) The increase of underflow pipe diameter increased the sepa-

(2) Compared with the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with
Fig. 12. Effects of underflow pipe diameter on pressure drops.
ration efficiency, and provided the underflow pipe diameter
was not too small (>5 mm), the novel de-foulant hydrocy-
clone was effective in separating foulant and sand from water.
When the underflow pipe diameter was 5–25 mm, the novel
de-foulant hydrocyclone had a separation efficiency of 94.3–
97.2% for foulant (<4 mm) in untreated domestic sewage,
and 99.96–100% for the sand (75–250 lm).
0 mm underflow pipe diameter, which was similar to the con-
ventional hydrocyclone with a closed ‘‘grit pot” under its
underflow orifice, the novel de-foulant hydrocyclone with
continuous underflow and reflux function had higher separa-
tion efficiency (41.6–46.2%) and slightly higher energy con-
sumption (0.86–1.29 kPa) which could be basically ignored.
Increasing underflow pipe diameter increased energy
278 L. Ni et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 171 (2016) 270–279

consumption, however, as long as the underflow pipe diame- EF

E0 ¼ ð17Þ
ter was not too small (>5 mm), it did not change greatly 1F
(<1.22 kPa) and it stayed within 1.0–1.6 mH2O.
(3) Compared with the reduced separation efficiency reported E00 ¼ E  F ð18Þ
by Kelsall [31], the comprehensive separation efficiency,
Using Eqs. (11)–(18), we can derive the following formulas:
which was more suitable for the novel de-foulant hydrocy-
clone with continuous underflow and reflux function, was cci ¼ ðjcmi j þ jcv i jÞ ð19Þ
proposed. The comprehensive separation efficiency consid-
ered both the effect of separation efficiency and the effect cco ¼ ðjcmo j þ jcv o jÞ ð20Þ
of the amount of available sewage for the heat pump system.
Experimental results suggested that when the underflow Q o ðjcQ o j þ jcQ i jÞ
pipe diameter was between 5 and 10 mm (i.e. when the ratio cF ¼  ð21Þ
Qi  Qo
of underflow pipe diameter to the vortex finder diameter
was between 12.5% and 25.0%), the novel de-foulant hydro-  
cF j
cyclone had relatively high comprehensive separation effi- F DP2 ðjcF j þ jcDP2 jÞ ðDP 1  F DP1 Þ jcDP1 j þ Fj1F
cDP ¼ þ ð22Þ
ciency (91.3–91.8%) for foulant with size of <4 mm. This F DP 2 þ DP 1  F DP 1 F DP2 þ DP 1  F DP1
resulted in the high separation efficiency (92.6–94.3%) and
low split ratio (1.32–2.54%) at the same time. co Q o ðjcci j þ jcQ i j þ jcco j þ jcQ o jÞ
(4) With the increase of underflow pipe diameter from 0 to cE ¼  ð23Þ
ci Q i  co Q o
25 mm, the split ratio increased quickly, from 0 to 34.75%

 
in sewage experiments and from 2.08% to 22.07% in sand– FjcF j  E F 
water experiments, whereas the concentration in overflow cE0 ¼  þ jcE j þ jcF j ð24Þ
1F EF EF
decreased slightly.
cE00 ¼ ðjcE j þ jcF jÞ ð25Þ
Acknowledgements where c is the relative error, %.
According to the instruments chosen in this paper, cQ i , cQ o , cDP1 ,
This work was financially supported by the Scientific Research cDP2 , cmi , cmo , cv i and cv o are ±0.1%, ±0.1%, ±0.1%, ±0.1%, ±0.01%,
Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars (46th), ±0.01%, ±0.01%, ±2.5%, ±2.5% and ±2.5%, respectively. Substituting
State Education Ministry and the Opening Funds of State Key the experimental data into the above formulas, we obtain:
Laboratory of Building Safety and Built Environment. cci ¼ cco ¼ 3:6% , the maximum value of cF , cDP , cE ,cE0 and cE00
are ±9.41%, ±0.73%, ±7.10%, ±7.69% and ±14.77%, respectively.
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