Prof. José A.

Pérez

CYCLONES

Cyclones are commonly employed to separate

dust from extracted air or any gas. They are also
used in refineries to concentrate oils from gases
and in the cement industry as component of kiln
pre-heaters.

Depending on the size of the particle differents

devices can be used to remove solids from a gas,
the grade efficiency varies the size of the particles
(figure 1).

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 CYCLONES
Figure 1. Devices for the separation of solid particles from gases

Rhodes, M. Introduction to the Particle Separation. 2 nd ed. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 2008.
2
 CYCLONES

Gas cyclones are suitable to separate size of

particle from 0.5 µm to 100 µm. Typically, cyclones
have diameter between 0.05 m to 50 m, gas inlet
with velocities of 15-35 m/s and feed concentrations
varies from 0.1 Kg/m3 to 50 Kg/m3.

Cyclones are characterized by a low energy

consume, have no moving parts, inexpensive
compared to other devices of separation, can be
operates at high temperature and extremely reliable.

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 CYCLONES
Figure 2. Reverse flow cyclone

Reverse flow cyclone description

Figure 2 shows that the gas enters tangentially

to cylindrical section of the cyclone, it is called
the cyclone barrel. The gas executes a helical
outer vortex in the barrel and tapered section
or cone, before moving into the much narrow
inner vortex and leaving through the vortex
finder. The particles are flung out to the wall
while, in a properly designed cyclone, the
helical motion in the outer vortex pushes them
down toward the apex of the cone. A
disengagement hopper is sometimes provided
to control particle discharge.

Seville, J & Wu, C. Particle Technology and Engineering An Engineer’s Guide to Particles and Powders: Fundamentals
and Computational Approaches. Elsevier. 2016. 4
Operating Variables and Performance of Cyclones
Standard sizing of the cyclones are shown in the figure 3. There are several cyclones design
but the most importants in “industry standards” are the designs of Stairmand. Two kind of
design were developed by Stairmand, which are high efficiency and medium efficiency (high
throughput pattern). High efficiency is cheaper to construct but may give higher pressure
drop across the cyclone (figure 4a), for high throughput lower pressure drop (but increased
construction cost), a volute (or 'scroll' or 'wrap-around') entry can be used (figure 4b).
Figure 3. Standard design of cyclones

5
Taiwo, M. Namadi, M and Mokwa, J. Design and analysis of cyclone dust separator. American Journal of Engineering
Research (AJER).2016.
 Operating Variables and Performance of Cyclones
Figure 4. Stairmand designs of a cyclone

Standard cyclone designs (Strauss, 1975, after Stairmand 1951). a) High efficiency, medium throughput
pattern. Nominal flow rate=1.5D2 m3s-1. b) Medium-efficiency, high throughput-pattern. Nominal flow
rate=4.5D2 m3s-1. Entrance velocity at these flows is approximately 15.2 m*s-1 in both types.

Seville, J. Tuzun, U & Clift, R. Processing of Particulate Solids. Chapman & Hall. 1997. 6
 Total Efficiency and Grade Efficiency

A cyclone with solids mass flow in the inlet (ms)is going to separate into two fractions a coarse (mc )
and a fine(mf ).Coarse product exits by the conical section of the cyclone and fine producto exits
with the clean gas.
Solids mass balance
ms =mc +mf
Solids mass balance for a specific particle size ( D p )
ms x s , D =mc x c ,D +mf x f , D
p p p

From solids mass balance

mc mf
x s=( ) ( ) x+
ms c ms f
x

x s= ηT x c +(1− ηT ) x f

The efficiency with which the cyclone collects particles of a certain size isdescribed by the grade
efficiency , ηG , which is defined as:
mc x c ,D p
ηG=
ms x s , Dp

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 Total Efficiency and Grade Efficiency
x c, D p
ηG = ηT
xs ,D p

Figure 5 shows the effienciency grade curves for Stairmand cyclones of high efficiency
and high throughput

Figure 5. Grade efficiency curves

Seville, J & Wu, C. Particle Technology and Engineering An Engineer’s Guide to Particles and Powders: Fundamentals 8
and Computational Approaches. Elsevier. 2016.
 Mechanical Analysis of Cyclones
Cyclones are a type of classifiers that use an inert force to separate solid particles
from a gas or air stream. Particles in the gas are subjected to centrifugal forces (inert
force) which move them radially outwards, against the inward flow of gas and towards
the inside surface of the cyclone on which the solids separate. The theory for cyclone
separation will be described below (figure 6):
Remembering the following equation
Figure 6. Theoretical analysis of 2
cyclones ρ v ∂ ⃗v
(1− ρ ⃗a−ρ C D A p =
)
v tan p 2 m ∂t
v tr
If ⃗a is a centrifugal field force as
v tR centripetal force then
a=r w 2
v tan , R Where
r :trayectory
vg w : angular velocity
2
ρ 2 v ∂ ⃗v
( 1− ρ rw −ρ C D A p =
)
v tan p 2 m ∂t
FB When the particles reaches the terminal velocity (v R )
v tr
ρ 2 v 2R
( )
1− ρ rw −ρ C D A p =0
p 2m
9
Rhodes, M. Introduction to the Particle Separation. 2 nd ed. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 2008.
 Mechanical Analysis of Cyclones

m=ρ p V 2
2 v
v R w = tan , R
2
r w 2 ( ρ p− ρ)=S ρ C D R
R
2V 2
v tan, R vR
For a sphere ( ρ p−ρ )=18 μ 2
π D2p π D 3p R Dp
S= and V = v2tan , R D2p
4 6 vR= ( ρ p −ρ )
2 vR
2
R 18 μ
rw ( ρ p−ρ )=6 ρ C D
8Dp
μ Drop pressure ( Euler number , Eu)
From Stokes law: C D =24
Dp ρ vR 2Δ P π2 D2 Δ P
Eu= 2 =
v ρ vg 8 q2 ρ
r w 2 ( ρ p− ρ)=18 μ R2
Dp
v g : superficial gas velocity
If we assume that all particles with an equilibrium orbit D : characteristic cyclone dimension
radius greater than or equal to the cyclone body radius D is generally diameter of barrel
will be collected, then substituting r= R. q: gas volumetric flow rate

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 Mechanical Analysis of Cyclones

Scale up
2 2
ρ p D p 50 v g 2 ρ p D p 50 q
Cyclone Reynolds number (Rec ) Stk 50=
18 μ D ( )
=
9 π μ D3
ρ vg D 4 ρ q
Re c = μ =
πμ D Perry and Green (1984) give the
grade efficiency expression:
2
Stokes number (Stk ) Dp

Stk=
ρ p D 2p v g 2 ρ p D 2p q
( )
= ηGm =
( )
D p 50
18 μ D 9 π μ D 3 2
Dp
The particle size which can be collected
[ ( )]
1+
D p 50
by a cyclone is commonly expressed in
terms of the cut size, D p 50 , i.e. the par- The general trend can be described
ticle size which is collected (at low par- by the following approximate empi-
ticle loading) with 50% efficiency , η=0.5 rical correlation:
12
Eu= (
√ Stk 50
)

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Example 1.
Test on a reverse flow gas cyclone give the results shown in the table below:

1) From these results determine the total efficiency of the cyclone.

2) Plot the grade efficiency curve and hence show that Dp50 cut size is 10 um.

3) Calculate the size distribution of the feed, coarse and fine products.

4) The dimensionless constants describing this cyclone are: Eu = 384 and

stk50 = 1x10-3. Determine the diameter and number of cyclones to be
operated in parallel to achieve this cut size when handling 10 m3/s of a gas
of density 1.2 kg/m3 and 18.4x10-6 Pa*s, laden with dust of particle density
2500 kg/m3. The available pressure drop is 1200 Pa.

5) What is the actual cut size of your design?

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 Solution
1) From the mass balance of solids in the feed :

m s =10+15+25+30+15+5=100 g

Mass balance of coarse particles :

m c =0.1+3.53+18.0+27.3+14.63 +5.0=68.56 g

mc
Total efficiency , % ηT = x 100 % ηT =68.56 %
ms

mc⋅x c , D 0.1
2) ηG = p
; for the size range of 0 - 5 um , ηG =
=0.01
m s⋅x s , D p
10
mass of solids 10
3) x s= ; for the range size of 0−5 μ m , x s = =0.1 .
total mass 100
mass of solids in coarse stream
x c=
total mass of coarse
10
For the range size of 0−5 μ m , x s= =0.0015 .
68.56
And so on ,the calculations are shown in the following table :

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 2
2ΔP 2 x 1200 ρ D v
4) v g=
√( ) √(
Eu ρ
=
384 x 1.2
2 q
) =2.282 m/ s Stk 50= p p 50 g
18 μ D
2
ρ p D p 50 v g
S= π D = Stk 50 =
4 v 18 μ 2.362/ √ n
For ncyclones ,the total area is dividing over n 2 2
ρ p D p 50 v g
D=
√( 4 q 2.362
nπv)=
√n
n=
[
Stk 50 18 μ 2.362 ]
=1.88≈2.0
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 There have to be calculated the diameter for each cyclone :
2.632
D= =1.67 m
√2
All dynamic characteristic (i . e the velocity , drop pressure , etc )for the cyclone will be conserved .

5) Actual cut size is determined through the following equation :

2
ρ D v
stk 50 = p p 50 g
18 μ D
stk 50 18 μ D
D p 50=
√( ρpvg )
√(
−3 −6
1 x 10 (18)(18.4 x 10 )1.67
D p 50 =
2500(2.282) )
−6
D p 50=9.85 x 10 m≡9.85 μ m

For the operating conditions of the two cyclones will reach an equiprobable separation with a
cut size of 9.85 μ m.

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 REFERENCES
1. Rhodes, M. Introduction to the Particle Separation. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
2008.
2. Seville, J & Wu, C. Particle Technology and Engineering An Engineer’s Guide to
Particles and Powders: Fundamentals and Computational Approaches. Elsevier.
2016.
3. Taiwo, M. Namadi, M and Mokwa, J. Design and analysis of cyclone dust
separator. American Journal of Engineering Research (AJER).2016.
4. Seville, J. Tuzun, U & Clift, R. Processing of Particulate Solids. Chapman & Hall.
1997.

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