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Influence of feed solids concentration on the performance of hydrocyclones
Author(s) -
Braun Thomas,
Bohnet Matthias
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.270130104
Subject(s) - hydrocyclone , pressure drop , mechanics , separation (statistics) , cyclone (programming language) , flow (mathematics) , materials science , environmental science , engineering , mathematics , physics , statistics , field programmable gate array , embedded system
Even though the influence of solids concentration in the feed on the separation efficiency of hydrocyclones has long been recognized, a systematic research on the change in pressure drop across the hydrocyclone and the latter's separation characteristics has thus far been lacking. If all other operating parameters are kept constant, an increase in feed concentration generally leads to a coarser cut size, reduced sharpness of separation and a rise in pressure drop. Apart from the particles hindering one another's radial motion, the limited capacity of the apex valve and the changes in the flow field within the hydrocyclone cause additional particles to be entrained by the overflow. The flow ratio thus becomes an additional parameter in determining the cyclone efficiency. A theoretical model, which takes these effects into account, has been developed and successfully tested against experimental data.