Cyclonic separation

Cyclonic separation is a method of removing particulates from an air, gas or liquid stream, without the use of filters, through vortex separation. Rotational effects and gravity are used to separate mixtures of solids and fluids. The method can also be used to separate fine droplets of liquid from a gaseous stream. A high speed rotating (air)flow is established within a cylindrical or conical container called a cyclone. Air flows in a helical pattern, beginning at the top (wide end) of the cyclone and ending at the bottom (narrow) end before exiting the cyclone in a straight stream through the center of the cyclone and out the top. Larger (denser) particles in the rotating stream have too much inertia to follow the tight curve of the stream, and strike the outside wall, then falling to the bottom of the cyclone where they can be removed. In a conical system, as the rotating flow moves towards the narrow end of the cyclone, the rotational radius of the stream is reduced, thus separating smaller and smaller particles. The cyclone geometry, together with flow rate, defines the cut point of the cyclone. This is the size of particle that will be removed from the stream with a 50% efficiency. Particles larger than the cut point will be removed with a greater efficiency, and smaller particles with a lower efficiency.

Application
Large scale cyclones are used in sawmills to remove sawdust from extracted air. Cyclones are also used in oil refineries to separate oils and gases, and in the cement industry as components of kiln preheaters. Cyclones are increasingly used in the household, as the core technology in bagless types of portable vacuum cleaners and central vacuum cleaners. Cyclones are also used in industrial and professional kitchens for separating the grease from the exhaust air in extract hoods.[1] Smaller cyclones are used to separate airborne particles for analysis. Some are small enough to be worn clipped to clothing, and are used to separate respirable particles for later analysis.

Advantages of cyclones are:

Low capital cost Ability to operate at high temperatures Low maintenance requirements because there are no moving parts

Disadvantages of cyclones are:

Low collection efficiencies (especially for very small particles) cyclones used almost exclusively for particles > 5 micro m. High operating costs (owing to power required to overcome pressure drop). Cyclones have often been regarded as low-efficiency collectors. However, efficiency varies greatly with particle size and cyclone design. During the last few decades, advanced design work has greatly improved cyclone performance. Current literature from some of the cyclone manufacturers advertises cyclone that have efficiencies greater than 98% for particles larger than 5 microns, and others that routinely achieve efficiencies of 90% for particles larger than 15 20 microns.

Standard Cyclone Dimensions Extensive work has been done to determine in what manner dimensions of cyclones affect performance. In some classic work that is still used today, Shepherd and Lapple (1939, 1940) determined optimal dimensions for cyclones. Subsequent investigators reported similar work, and the so-called standard cyclones were born. All dimensions are related to the body diameter of the cyclone so that the results can be applied generally. The table on the next slide summarizes the dimensions of standard cyclones of the three types mentioned in the previous figure. The side figure illustrates the various dimensions used in the table.

Cyclone Type
Conventional Body Diameter, 1.0 D/D Height of Inlet, 0.5 H/D Width of Inlet, 0.25 W/D Diameter of Gas Exit, 0.5 De /D Length of Vortex Finder, 0.625 S /D Length of Body, 2.0 Lb /D Length of Cone, 2.0 Lc /D Diameter of Dust Outlet, 0.25
Dd /D

Cyclone Theory
Collection Efficiency In this model, gas spins through a number N of revolutions in the outer vortex. The value of N can be approximated as the sum of revolutions inside the body and inside the cone: N = 1/H (Lb + Lc/2 ) where N = number of turns inside the device (no units) H = height of inlet duct (m or ft) Lb = length of cyclone body (m or ft) t = path length / Speed = 3.14* DN / Vi Where t = time spent by gas during spiraling descent (sec) D = cyclone body diameter (m or ft) Vi = gas inlet velocity (m/s or ft/s) = Q/WH Q = volumetric inflow (m3/s or ft3/s)

W = width of inlet (m or ft). To be collected, particles must strike the wall within the amount of time that the gas travels in the outer vortex. The gas residence time in the outer vortex is Lc = length (vertical) of cyclone cone (m or ft). 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 Vt =W/ t where Vt = particle drift velocity in the radial direction (m/s or ft/s). The particle drift velocity is a function of particle size. Assuming Stokes regime flow (drag force = 3dpVt) and spherical particles subjected to a centrifugal force mv2/r , with m = mass of particle in excess of mass of air displaced, v = Vi of inlet flow, and r = D/2, We obtain

where Vt = terminal velocity (m/s or ft/s) dp = diameter of the particle (m or ft) = density of the particle (kg/m3) p a= air density (kg/m3) = air viscosity (kg/m.s).

Cyclone theory
Steady state
As the cyclone is essentially a two phase particle-fluid system, fluid mechanics and particle transport equations can be used to describe the behaviour of a cyclone. The air in a cyclone is initially introduced tangentially into the cyclone with an inlet velocity Vin. Assuming that the particle is spherical, a simple analysis to calculate critical separation particle sizes can be established.

Given that the fluid velocity is moving in a spiral the gas velocity can be broken into two component velocities: a tangential component, Vt, and a radial velocity component Vr. Assuming Stokes' law, the drag force on any particle in this inlet stream is therefore given by the following equation: Fd = 6rpVr. If one considers an isolated particle circling in the upper cylindrical component of the cyclone at a rotational radius of r from the cyclone's central axis, the particle is therefore subjected to centrifugal, drag and buoyant forces. The centrifugal component is given by:

The buoyant force component is obtained by the difference between the particle and fluid densities, p and f respectively:

The force balance can be created by summing the forces together

This rate is controlled by the diameter of the particle's orbit around the central axis of the cyclone. A particle in the cyclonic flow will move towards either the wall of the cyclone, or the central axis of the cyclone until the drag, buoyant and centrifugal forces are balanced. Assuming that the system has reached steady state, the particles will assume a characteristic radius dependent upon the force balance. Heavier, denser particles will assume a solid flow at some larger radius than light particles. The steady state balance assumes that for all particles, the forces are equated, hence: Fd + Fc + Fb = 0 Which expands to:

This can be expressed by rearranging the above in terms of the particle radius. The particle radius as a function of cyclonic radius, fluid density and fluid tangential and rotational velocities can then be found to be:

Experimentally it is found that the velocity component of rotational flow is proportional to r2,[2] therefore:

This means that the established feed velocity controls the vortex rate inside the cyclone, and the velocity at an arbitrary radius is therefore:

Subsequently, given a value for Vt, possibly based upon the injection angle, and a cutoff radius, a characteristic particle filtering radius can be estimated, above which particles will be removed from the gas stream.