7.

0 Separation of Particles from a Gas: Gas

Cyclones
- Cyclone : Generic name given to several
different devices that have the common
attribute of utilizing centrifugal force to
separate to separate particulate from a gas or
liquid flow stream.
- Application : Dust removal devices used
within industry
e.g:
- In fluidized bed - entrains of fine particles
must be removed from the gas and returned
to the bed before the gas can be discharged
or sent to the next stage in the process.
- In the combustion of solid fuels, fine
particles of fuel ash become suspended in
the combustion gases and must be removed
before the gases can be discharged to the
environment.

- Advantages of Cyclone
- Low capital cost
- Ability to operate at high temperature
- Low maintenance requirement no moving
parts
- Disadvantages of Cyclone
- Low efficiencies (especially for very fine
particles)
- High operating costs (due to pressure drop)
- Cyclone Efficiency (from research study)
- Greater than 98% (particles larger than
5 m)
- 90% (particles larger than 15-20 m)
- Not suitable for large proportion of particles
less than 10 micron
- Most efficient for particles size of 2 m
7.1 How Cyclones Work
a. Reverse-Flow Cyclone
- Inlet gas enters near the top of the cyclone
tangentially into the cylindrical section and a
strong vortex is thus created inside the
cyclone body (Figure.1)

Figure 1: Reverse Flow Cyclone Separator

- Centrifugal force and inertia cause the
particles to move outward, collide with the
outer wall and then, slide downward to the
bottom of the device

- Near the bottom of the cyclone, the gas

reverses its downward spiral and moves
upward in a smaller inner spiral
- The cleaned gas exits from the top while the
particles exit from the bottom of the cyclone
b. Straight-Flow Cyclone
- The straight-flow cyclone operates using the
same principle as the reverse-flow cyclone
only the gas maintains the same direction
of flow while spinning without reverse
direction
7.2 Flow Characteristics
- Rotational flow in the forced vortex within the
cyclone body gives rise to a radial pressure
gradient
- Static pressure drop = Pressure gradient +
frictional pressure losses at the gas inlet
and outlet and losses due to changes in flow
direction

- This static pressure drop, measured

between the inlet and the gas outlet, is
usually proportional to the square of gas
flow rate through the cyclone
- Resistance coefficient, the Euler number Eu,
relates the cyclone pressure drop P to a
characteristic velocity, v where f is the gas
density:
p
Eu =
(1)
( v / 2)
2

- Characteristic velocity, v:
v = 4q / D

(2)

Where q is the gas flowrate and D is the

cyclone inside diameter
7.3 Efficiency of Separation
a. Total Efficiency and Grade Efficiency
- Total material balance: M = Mf + Mc

(3)

Mc (known as the coarse product)

Mf (known as the fine product), solids mass
flow rate leaving with the gas

- Component material balance for each

particle size x (assuming no breakage or
growth or particles within the cyclone);

Component:
M(dF/dx) = Mf(dFf/dx) + Mc(dFc/dx)
(4)
where, dF/dx, dFf/dx and dFc/dx are the
differential frequency size distributions
by mass (i.e. mass fraction of size x) for the
feed, fine product and coarse product
respectively. F, Ff and Fc are the
cumulative frequency size distributions
by mass (mass fraction less than size x) for
the feed, fine product and coarse product
respectively.
- The total efficiency of separation of particles
from gas, ET, is defined as the fraction of the
total feed which appears in the coarse product
collected, i.e.

ET = Mc/M

(5)

Figure 2: Typical Grade Efficiency Curves for Gas-Particle Separators

- The grade efficiency which the cyclone

collects particles of a certain size is defined
as;
mass of solids of size x in coarse product
G(x) =
mass of solids of size x in feed
Using the notation for size distribution
described above,
M (dF /dx)
G(x) =
(7)
M(dF/dx)
c

Combining with Equation (5), we find an

expression linking grade efficiency with total
efficiency of separation:
E (dF / dx )
G( x ) =
(8)
(dF / dx )
T

- From Equations (3) to (5),

(dF/dx) = E (dF /dx) + (1 - E )(dF /dx)

(9)

In cumulative form this becomes;

F = ETFc + (1- ET)Ff

(10)

b. Cyclone Grade Efficiency in Practice

- In practice the cyclone does not achieve such
a sharp cut-off as predicted by the theoretical
analysis

xcritical
Actual

Figure 3: Theoretical and actual grade efficiency curves

- The grade efficiency curve for gas cyclones is

usually S-shaped (Figure 3)
- For such a curve, the particle size for which
the grade efficiency is 50%, x50 is often used
as a single number measurement of the
efficiency of the cyclone.

x50 has a 50% probability of appearing in the

coarse product. This also means that, in a
large population of particles, 50% of the
particles of this size will appear in the coarse
product.
x50 is sometimes simply referred to as the
cut size of the cyclone.
The concept of x50 cut size is useful where
the efficiency of a cyclone is to be
expressed as a single number independent
of the feed solid size distribution, such as in
scale-up calculation.
7.4 Scale-up of Cyclones
- Based on a dimensionless group, the Stokes
number, which characterizes the separation
performance of a family of geometrically
similar cyclones.

 The Stokes number, Stk is defined as

x v
Stk =
(11)
18 D
2

50

50

where = gas viscosity

p = solids density
v = characteristic velocity
D = diameter of the cyclone body
- For large industries cyclone and for
suspensions of concentration less than about
5g/m3, the stokes and Euler numbers are
constant for a given cyclone geometry.
(geometric proportion relative to cyclone
diameter, D) as in Figure 4

High Efficiency
Stairmand Cyclone
Stk50 = 1.4x10-4
Eu = 320

High Flowrate
Stairmand Cyclone
Stk50 = 6x10-3
Eu = 46

Figure 4 : Geometries for two common

cyclones
A B C
E
J
L
K
N
H.E 4.0 2.5 1.5 0.375 0.5
0.2 0.5
0.5
H.R 4.0 2.5 1.5 0.575 0.875 0.375 0.75 0.75

- Perry (1984) gives the grade efficiency

expression:
(x / x )
grade efficiency =
(12)
[1 + ( x / x ) ]
2

50

50

for a reverse flow cyclone with the geometry:

A
B
C
E
J
K
N
4.0
2.0
2.0
0.25 0.625 0.5
0.5
This expression gives rise to the grade
efficiency curve as shown in Figure 5 for an x50
cut size of 5 m.

Figure 5: Grade efficiency curve described by equation (12) for a cut

size x50 = 5 m

7.5 Range of Operation

-

Total efficiency of separation and pressure

drop vary with gas flow rate.

Theory predicts that efficiency increases with

increasing of gas flow rate.

Referring to Figure 6;
In practice; ET curves falls at high flowrates,
due to re-entrainment of separate solids
increases with increased turbulence at high
velocity
Optimum operation is between point A and B
Position of point B changes slightly for
different dust
Correctly designed and operated cyclone
should operate at pressure drops within
recommended range (approximately 500
to 1500 Pa)

 Within this range ET increases with P

Above the top limit, ET not increases with
increasing P and it will decline due to reentrainment of dust from dust outlet (so?
Energy will be wasted to operate the cyclone
above the limit)
At P below the bottom limit, cyclone will only
act as settling chamber (why? Low ET due to
low velocity which are not capable of
generating stable vortex)

Figure 6 : Total separation efficiency and pressure drop versus gas

flowrate through a reverse flow cyclone

7.6 SOME PRACTICAL DESIGN AND OPERA

TION DETAILS
The following practical considerations for design
and operation of reverse flow gas cyclones listed
by Svarovsky (1986).
7.6.1 Effect of Dust Loading on Efficiency
- High dust loadings (above about 5 g/m3 lead
to higher total separation efficiencies due to
particle enlargement through agglomeration of
particles (caused, for example, by the effect of
humidity).
7.6.2 Cyclone Types
- Divided into two main groups:
a. high efficiency designs (e.g. Stairmand HE)
b. high rate designs (e.g. Stairmand HR).
- High efficiency cyclones:
a. give high recoveries
b. characterized by relatively small inlet and
gas outlet orifices.

- High rate designs:

a. low total efficiencies
b. but low resistance to flow: a unit of a given
size will give much higher gas capacity than
a high efficiency design
c. large inlets and gas outlets
d. shorter.
7.6.3 Abrasion
- important aspect of cyclone performance
- affected by the way cyclones are installed,
operated, material construction and design.
- two critical zones for abrasion:
i. in the cylindrical part just beyond the inlet
opening
ii. in the conical part near the dust discharge.

7.6.4 Attrition of Solids

- break-up of solids
- usually occurs in recirculating systems (such
as fluidized beds where cyclones are used to
return the carry-over material back to the
beds)
7.6.5 Blockages
- usually caused by overloading of the solids
outlet orifice
- cyclone cone rapidly fills up with dust, the
pressure drop increases and efficiency falls
dramatically.
- blockages arise due to mechanical defects in
the cyclone body bumps on the cyclone cone,
protruding welds or gasket) or changes in
chemical or physical properties of the solids
(e.g. condensation of water vapour from the
gas onto the surface of particles).

7.6.6 Discharge Hoppers and Diplegs

- If the cyclone operates under vacuum, any
inward leakages of air at the discharge end
cause particles to be re-entrained and will
leads to decrease in separation efficiency.
- If the cyclone is under pressure, outward
leakages may cause a slight increase in
separation efficiency, but also results in loss
of product and pollution of the local
environment.
- therefore, it is best to keep the solids
discharge as gas-tight as possible.
- in fluidized beds with internal cyclones,
diplegs are used to return the collected
entrained particles into the fluidized bed.

7.6.7 Cyclones in Series

- to increase recovery.
- the primary cyclone would be of medium or
low efficiency design and the secondary and
subsequent cyclones of progressively more
efficient design or smaller diameter.
7.6.8 Cyclones in Parallel
- for a given cyclone geometry and operating
pressure drop, x50 decreases with decreasing
cyclone size
- the size a single cyclone is determined by
that gas flowrate
- for large gas flowrates - the resulting cyclone
large, the x50 cut size is unacceptably high.
- split the gas flow into several smaller
cyclones operating in parallel. Thus, both the

operating pressure drop and x50 cut size

requirements can be achieved.
7.7 General Design Procedure

1. Seleact either H.E or H.R design

2. Obtain an estimate of
particle size
distribution of the solids in the stream to be
treated
3. Estimate the number of cyclones needed
4. Calculate the cyclone diameter
5. Calculate the scale-up factor
6. Calculate the cyclone performance and
overall efficiency. If unsatisfactory, try a
smaller diameter
7. Calculate the cyclone recommended
pressure drop.