Solid - Liquid Separation Process in Hydrocyclone by CFD

Abstract

Mining is a relevant economic activity in many countries. In the treatment of ores, water is an indispensable input. For classification of minerals, the mineral industry uses the hydrocyclone process, where water is used as the medium for transporting dispersed ore particles, that are separated from the liquid by centrifugal force inside anequipmentnamed hydrocyclone.The constant advance of computers processing power, the evolution in the techniques and numerical methods, allow to simulate with great precision complex physical problems of fluid dynamics such as flow in hydrocyclones.In this sense, this work aims to analyze the performance of a concentrating hydrocyclone in the separation of ore and water by CFD. In the fluid dynamics simulation, the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach and the Ansys Fluent software were used. Results of pressure, velocity, and volumetric fraction fields of theinvolved phases are presented and evaluated. From the analysis of the results, it was observed that increasing the flow mixture velocity at the entrance of the equipment tends to increase the separation performance of the hydrocyclone.