Effect of arc element diameter on fine particle collection efficiency of the separator

Abstract

Clean gas without suspended particles is an essential factor for many industries. The paper is concerned with the design of a separation device with rows of the arc elements, in which a wave-like flow pattern is observed. The separation of solid particles from the gas occurs due to inertial and centrifugal forces. A three-dimensional model of the device and its operating principles are presented. The aim of the work is to numerically study the effect of the size of the arc elements of the separation device on the efficiency of particle collection. In the course of the simulation, the diameter of the arc elements varied from 25 to 50 mm. The exit to the stationary solution was estimated by the pressure drop of the separation device. It was found that about 870 iterations were needed. Results have shown that the diameter of the arc elements, at which the maximum efficiency of collecting particles from gas-solid flow occurs, is 40 mm. The separation efficiency of the device with a diameter of the arc elements of 25, 40, and 50 mm averages 81.1, 90.1, and 86.5%, respectively, at an inlet gas velocity of 0.5 to 5.0 m/s. The pressure loss in the separation device ranged from 12.6 to 1924.1 Pa at a gas velocity of 0.5 to 5.0 m/s. It is concluded that it is important to use a separation device to collect fine particles at a dusty gas velocity of less than 3 m/s because its pressure drop is significantly lower compared with other air separators.