Simulation of fly ash particulates separation in cyclone separator

Abstract

The response surface Box-Behnken design is used to study the dependence and interactions of particle size, load of fly ash and pressure drop inside the cyclone separator for collection efficiency of fly ash. The maximum collection efficiency of fly ash obtained was 95% in the cyclone separator studied. The Barth model is used to evaluate the axial and tangential velocities of cyclone separator studied. The static pressure contour plots at different inlet velocities of 41 m/s and 104 m/s at top and bottom horizontal planes of cyclone separator were developed using computational fluid dynamics software Fluent. The contour regions of axial, radial and tangential velocity fields in the cyclone separator were analysed using Fluent finite volume code for flow analysis inside the cyclone separator for fly ash collection. It was observed that the radial velocity increases rapidly towards the vortex core and the tangential velocity is dependent on the geometrical design of cyclone separator, wall friction and particle loading of fly ash.