1

Cyclone (Centrifugal Separator): Utilizes "centrifugal force," a pseudo-force

caused by a particle's inertia, to separate the particle from the fluid.

Dusty gas comes in through a rectangular inlet in a tangential direction. After
entering, the gas is forced into a circular (spiral), downward motion.
(See picture of cyclone)

Because particles have more mass (inertia) than gas molecules, they require a
greater external force (= m
p
.
u
2
/r) to sustain a circular motion; i.e., to turn and
move with the gas.

But because there's NO such force (initially), the particle's path will start to deviate
from that of the gas. The particles will appear (to the gas) to move towards the
wall of cyclone, collide with the wall, slide down and be collected at the bottom.

The cleaned gas then enters the inner cylinder and exits the cyclone from the top.

If the particles travel at the same speed (u) as the gas when they enter the cyclone,
then the "centrifugal acceleration" = (u
2
/ r).

For typical u and r, (u
2
/ r) >> g
e.g., (u
2
/ r) = (18 m/s)
2
/ (0.3 m) = 1,080 m/s
2
>> 9.81 m/s
2


The centrifugal force/acceleration (and hence !) increases with increasing u.
" (1) gravity can be ignored
(2) cyclones should be more effective than gravity settlers


2
If we let centrifugal force = drag force (i.e., ignore gravity and buoyancy) and
assume Stokes' law applies, then

v = (u
2
/ r)
.
d
p
2

.
#
p
/ (18
.
) = u
2

.
d
p
2

.
#
p
/ (18
.

.
r)
= horizontal, outward velocity (toward the wall) of particle (relative to gas)


Cyclone efficiency (!):
The inner wall of a cyclone is equivalent to the bottom of a gravity settler, except
H is replaced by W (inlet width) and L is replaced by ($
.
D
.
Ne).

Using the block-flow model:
!
b
= v
.
L / (u
.
H) (for gravity settler)
= v
.
($
.
D
.
Ne) / (u
.
W)
= u
2

.
d
p
2

.
#
p
/ (18
.

.
r)
.
(2$
.
r
.
Ne) / (u
.
W) (D = 2r)
= ($
.
Ne
.
u
.
d
p
2

.
#
p
) / (9
.
W
.
)

Using the mixed-flow model:
!
m
= 1 - exp [ -(v
.
$
.
D
.
Ne) / (u
.
W) ]
= 1 - exp [ -($
.
Ne
.
u
.
d
p
2

.
#
p
) / (9
.
W
.
) ]

Example: Calculate efficiency of a conventional cyclone (D = 1.0 m, W = 0.25 m,
and H = 0.5 m) to remove spherical particles with #
p
= 2.0 and d
p
= 1, 5, and 10
m in a gas stream moving at 20 m/s at STP.



3
Ne can be estimated from H, L
b
, and L
c
using Eq. 4.1 in Cooper & Alley:
Ne = (1/H)
.
(L
b
+ L
c
/2)
= (1/0.5)
.
(2.0 + 2.0/2) = 6 revolutions

can be estimated using Eq. 11.7 in Heinsohn & Kabel (1999):
(kg/m/s) = 1.3554E-6 + (6.738E-8)T - (3.808E-11)T
2
+ (1.183E-14)T
3
(
o
K)

At STP, ! 1.84E-5 kg/m-s

" !
b
= 0.0182 (1.82%) for d
p
= 1 m
= 0.456 (45.6%) for d
p
= 5 m
= 1.823 (~100%) for d
p
= 10 m

!
m
= 0.0181 (1.81%) for d
p
= 1 m
= 0.366 (36.6%) for d
p
= 5 m
= 0.839 (83.9%) for d
p
= 10 m

We see that by replacing "g" with "u
2
/r," cyclones can remove PM
10
somewhat
more effectively than gravity settlers (only ~3% for d
p
= 10 m).


Q1: Is our assumption correct that Stokes' law applies here, for 1, 5, and 10 m?

Q2: Cyclones can achieve higher efficiency than gravity settlers but at what cost?



4

Particles that enter at the inner wall of inlet are most difficult to remove, because
they need to travel the farthest. For these particles to be collected, the radial
(horizontal, outward) distance traveled within the retention time must be " W

i.e., (v
.
%
R
) = [ u
2

.
d
p
2

.
#
p
/ (18
.

.
r) ]
.
($
.
D
.
Ne / u)
= [ $
.
Ne
.
u
.
#
p

.
d
p
2
/ (9
.
) ] " W

In theory (according to block-flow model), the smallest "collectable" particle that
enters at the inner wall of inlet has diameter (how about mixed-flow model?)
d
p
= [ 9
.
W
.
/ ($
.
Ne
.
u
.
#
p
) ]
1/2

i.e., this particle would travel an outward distance of W during %
R
= $ D Ne / u


Cut Diameter (d
cut
)
= diameter of particles for which removal efficiency (!
b
) = 50%
= diameter of particles which travels W/2 during %
R


Replace "W" in the above equation with "W/2" to obtain d
cut

" d
cut
= [ 9
.
W
.
/ (2
.
$
.
Ne
.
u
.
#
p
) ]
0.5


d
cut
is an indicator of the effectiveness of a device to remove particles:
d
cut
& , !
b
' d
cut
' , !
b
&



5
As noted earlier, block-flow and mixed-flow models are useful for understanding
how settlers and cyclones work, and for seeing what parameters are important,
but they are not good predictors of cyclone efficiency.

Why? Simplistic assumptions: instantaneous complete mixing or no mixing at all,
no re-entrainment, no particle-particle interactions.

These models tend to over-predict ! for large d
p
and under-predict ! for small d
p
.
Why?

A more accurate predictor of cyclone efficiency is the empirical Lapple model.

For particles of size d
p
and cyclone with cut diameter d
cut
, the collection efficiency
!(d
p
) = [ 1 + (d
cut
/d
p
)
2
]
-1
= (d
p
/d
cut
)
2
/ [ 1 + (d
p
/d
cut
)
2
] (Eq. 4.7, C&A)

We have been discussing single-size particles. In reality we deal with a population
of particles of different sizes, and the overall removal efficiency depends on the
size distribution.

Example: For a Swift conventional cyclone (Table 4.1, column 4) having D = 1 m
and Q = 250 m
3
/min at 394 K and 1 atm, calculate ! for the spherical particles
below (#
p
= 1.5 g/cm
3
).

d
p
(m) 0-5 5-10 10-20 20-50 50-70 70-90 90-110
mass fraction 0.02 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.08
mean dp (m) 2.5 7.5 15 35 60 80 100


6

If the size distribution of a population of particles is known, then
!
overall
= ( m
i
*!
i
(d
p,i
) where m
i
= mass fraction of the ith size group

For example, if d
cut
= 6.0 m, then the removal efficiency for the 10-14 m fraction
(geometric mean d
p,i
= 12 m)
= !
12
= 1 / [ 1 + (6/12)
2
] = 0.8

And the overall removal efficiency !
overall
= m
1
!
1
+ m
2
!
2
+ m
3
!
3
+ ......

From Table 4.1, column 4, for D = 1.0 m,

H = 0.5 m W = 0.25 m and Ne = (1.75 + 2/2) / 0.5 = 5.5

u = Q/(WH) = [(250/60) m
3
/s] / (0.25m*0.5m) = 33.3 m/s

@ 394 K (249 F), is calculated to be 2.27E-5 kg/m/s

d
cut
= [ 9 W / (2 $ Ne u #
p
) ]
0.5
= 5.45 m

That is, for ~5 m particles, the cyclone has a removal efficiency of ~50% !

Use d
cut
to calculate !
i
for each particle group (mean d
p,i
):
!
i
(d
p,i
) = [ 1 + (d
cut
/d
p,i
)
2
]
-1
(Eq. 4.7, C&A)



7
d
p
(m) 0-5 5-10 10-20 20-50 50-70 70-90 90-110
mass fraction 0.02 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.08
mean d
p
(m) 2.5 7.5 15.0 35.0 60.0 80.0 100.0
!
i

0.1738 0.6544 0.8834 0.9763 0.9918 0.9954 0.9970
m
i
!
i
0.0035 0.0654 0.1767 0.2929 0.1984 0.0995 0.0798

Sum up all the m
i
!
i
's: !
overall
= (m
i
!
i
= 0.916 (or ~92%)

From this example, we see that cyclones are not very effective for removing PM
10
.

Empirically, ! depends on Q, , #
p
, and L (particle loading) (Table 4.2, C&A):
Q & ! &
& ! '
#
p
& ! &
L & ! &

Cyclone efficiency is ~inversely proportional to d
cut
(= [ 9 W / (2 $ Ne u #
p
) ]
0.5
).
What can we do to reduce d
cut
and increase !?

(i) increase u (expensive, since )P * u
2
, as we'll see in a minute)
(ii) increase Ne (making cyclone taller, much like making gravity settler longer)
(iii) decrease W (making inlet narrower, much like making gravity settler flatter or
with horizontal plates; however, this would reduce treatment capacity, which '
with W
2
)



8
+ Use many small cyclones in parallel to maintain capacity
(much like inserting multiple parallel plates in gravity settler)
(See picture of multiclone)

This would reduce d
cut
from ~5 m to ~2 m. The overall efficiency depends on
size of individual cyclones, whereas the number of cyclones determines
capacity and fan power.

Pros and cons of cyclones:
simple, inexpensive, and low-maintenance
only somewhat effective for PM
10
(not effective for PM
2.5
)
relatively high pressure drops
used as pre-cleaners for higher-efficiency equipment downstream



9
Pressure drop across cyclone ()P): expressed as "inlet velocity head"

)P = P
in
- P
out
= H
v
* [ (#
gas
u
2
) / 2]
where [(#
gas
u
2
) / 2] = inlet velocity head = kinetic energy per unit volume of gas
and H
v
= number of inlet velocity head = K * (WH / D
e
2
)

Power required (energy needed per unit time)
= (energy per unit volume of gas) * (volume of gas per unit time)
= )P * Q
= H
v
* (#
gas
u
2
) / 2 * Q

Example 4.5: Design a Lapple standard cyclone to treat a gas (#
gas
= 1 kg/m
3
)
containing the particles below (#
p
= 1,500 kg/m
3
). Q = 120 m
3
/min, = 0.07
kg/m/hr, K = 14.
! must be " 70% and )P must be # 3,000 Pa. Determine D, !, u, and )P.

d
p
(m) 0-2 2-4 4-10 10-20 20-40 40-100 > 100
mass fraction 0.02 0.18 0.30 0.30 0.15 0.04 0.01

First, guess D. Let D = 1.0 m, then

W = 0.25 m, H = 0.5 m, D
e
= 0.5 m, L
b
= L
c
= 2 m, Ne = (L
b
+L
c
/2)/H = 6
u = Q / (HW) = 16 m/s

d
cut
= [ 9 W / (2 $ Ne u #
p
) ]
1/2
= 6.96 m ! 7 m



10
Use spreadsheet to calculate !
i
's:
d
p
(m) 0-2 2-4 4-10 10-20 20-40 40-100 > 100
mass frac. 0.02 0.18 0.30 0.30 0.15 0.04 0.01
!
i

0.0202 0.1568 0.5031 0.8230 0.9490 0.9902 0.9952
m
i
!
i
0.0004 0.0282 0.1509 0.2469 0.1423 0.0396 0.01

!
overall
= (m
i
!
i
= 0.618 (< 70%)
" D = 1.0 m is too large !

)P = [(#
gas
*u
2
) / 2] * H
v
= [(#
gas
*u
2
) / 2] * K * (WH/De
2
)
= (1.0*16
2
) / 2 * 14 * (0.25*0.5/0.5
2
) = 896 Pa (acceptable)

Try again. Guess D = 0.8 and repeat . . . . . .

H = 0.4 m, W = 0.2 m, Ne = 6, and u = 25 m/s

d
p
(m) 0-2 2-4 4-10 10-20 20-40 40-100 > 100
mass frac. 0.02 0.18 0.30 0.30 0.15 0.04 0.01
!
i

0.0387 0.2661 0.6638 0.9007 0.9732 0.9950 0.9975
m
i
!
i
0.0008 0.0479 0.1991 0.2702 0.1460 0.0398 0.01

" !
overall
= (m
i
!
i
= 0.714 (>70%, O.K.!)

)P = [(#
gas
*u
2
) / 2] * H
v
= [(#
gas
*u
2
) / 2] * K * (WH/De
2
)
= (1*25
2
) / 2 * 14 * (0.2*0.4/0.4
2
)
= 2,188 Pa (< 3,000 Pa, O.K.!)