Investigations on various characteristics of novel cyclone separator with helical square fins

Abstract

ABSTRACT Cyclone separators are very energy intensive devices primarily used in power and process industries to separate the particles from hot gases. Hence in the present study, the barrel wall of the cyclone separator was modified by fixing the helical square fins of sizes 5, 7.5, and 10 mm, with 30 and 50 mm pitch variations to improve its separation efficiency. Hence in the present study, various fluid dynamic characteristics which affect the separation efficiency such as axial and tangential velocities, axial pressure drops were investigated. Computational results were validated using the published experimental data for the non-finned cyclone separator and further CFD simulations were performed for novel finned cyclone separators. It was observed that for the particles’ sizes below 3 µm, finned cyclone separator with fin size 10 mm and pitch 50 mm was giving separation efficiency more than other 5 finned cyclone separators. Also 5 to 10% improvement in the separation efficiency was observed over the separation efficiency of the non-finned cyclone separator. Since main function of separating the particles from gas was unaffected rather it was improved using finned cyclone separator(s) which is important in a view of reducing serious fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions causing serious health issues. Abbreviation CFD: Computational fluid dynamics; DPM: Discrete phase modeling;RSM: Reynolds stress turbulence model