Experiment No.

– 6: Hydrocyclone

Objective:

1. To determine the relationship between feed inlet pressure and total volumetric flow rate
in a hydrocyclone
2. To determine the relationship between total volumetric flow rate and volumetric flow
split in a hydrocyclone

Equipment and materials required:

1. Hydrocyclone
2. Buckets
3. Stopwatch
4. Weighing Machine

Theory:

Hydrocyclone is a mechanical device with no moving parts and is used for the classification of
particles in the fluid medium under differences in their settling velocities. The classification or
separation of particles inside the device is governed by the action of a centrifugal force that is
applied to the particles by the rotating slurry fed tangentially into the device. It fluid pressure
to generate centrifugal force and a flow pattern that separates particles or droplets from a liquid
medium. These particles or droplets must have a sufficiently different density relative to the
medium to achieve separation.
A typical hydrocyclone device consists of a feed inlet for tangential entry of the slurry and two
outlets, namely a spigot (apex) and vortex finder, for the collection of underflow and overflow,
respectively as shown in figure 1.

The flow pattern in a hydrocyclone is cyclonic. This is induced by tangential injection of the
liquid into a cylindrical chamber, which causes the development of a vortex. The chamber has
a restricted axial bottom outlet such that all of the liquid in the vortex can not escape via this
outlet. Some liquid has to reverse its path and flow counter currently to a top axial outlet. This
reverse flow continues to rotate, and an air core develops due to lower pressure at the axis of
rotation.

The conventional hydrocyclone consists of a cylindrical chamber connected to a conical body,

which leads to the bottom outlet at the apex of the cone. This discharges the “underflow.” The
reverse flow is located by a pipe that projects axially into the top of the chamber, is termed the
“vortex finder,” and discharges the “overflow.”

The force acting in hydrocyclone is:

Centrifugal force Fc d 3 v 2
Fc = ( p −f )
6 r
Drag Force Fd
Fd = 3  d u

The fate of the particles after classification is governed by the competence of above two forces.
If drag force acting on a particle is greater than the centrofugal force, it rotates around the
central region of the hydrocyclone and is dragged by the upward motion of the central fluid
where it is collected in the overflow through vortex finder. On the other hand if centrifugal
force domainates over the drag force, then particle strikes through the walls of the
hydrocyclone, loses it moemntum, and collected in the underflow through spigot.

Fig.1. Schematic diagram of the operation of hydrocyclone and hydrocyclone test rig

Applications: For classification of fine particles. Can be employed as a size-based and density-
based separation process. Also utilized for dewatering, thickening, and clarifying purposes.
Flow rate governs the overall throughput of a hydrocyclone.

Procedure:

1. Clean the tank and fill it with water. Ensure all valves of drainage pipes are closed. The
feed valve and recirculating valve should be opened fully.
 2. Now start the motor; water flows through the sump and the hydrocyclone.
3. After observing a constant flow from hydrocyclone, rotate the feed valve so the pressure
is at 15 psi in the pressure gauge.
4. Take two buckets, weigh them, and collect water from underflow and overflow
simultaneously, recording the time of collection in a stopwatch.
5. Note down the values of overflow and underflow, and the water retained should be
measured and repoured into the tank.
6. Increase the pressure to 20 psi and, follow the same procedure (steps 4-5), repeat the
experiment for pressures (15, 20, 25, 30, 35).
7. Note down all the values as in the table given below.
8. By calculating, find the flow rate and pressure relationship and the flow rate to
underflow split relationship.
9. Correlate pressure with the total flow rate and the flow split with the total flow rate on
a graph.

Observations:

Sl Pres Wt. of Wt. of Time Wt of Wt of Wt of Wt of Under Overfl Total Split

. sure empty empty underflo overflow underflo overflo flow ow flow
N (psi) bucket bucket of w bucket bucket w water w water Flow flow rate
o of overflow with with rate rate
(s) (U2 - U1)
underflow water water
U+O U/U+
U= O=
U1 (U2) (O2) (O2 - O
O1 (U2 - (O2 -
O1)
U1)/s O1)/s

Calculations:

1. Total Flow rate = total wt of water (overflow+underflow)/time taken for collection

2. Underflow Split= (Underflow Flow rate/total flow rate)

Now, to correlate pressure with total inlet flow rate, the relationship between total flow rate
(TF) and feed inlet pressure (P) is given by the equation below.

TF ∝ Pb

Thus, for a fixed hydrocyclone design, the total flow rate can be described as a function of

feed inlet pressure as given in the below equation.

TF = aPb

where TF is the total flow rate in m3/hr and,

‘a’ and ‘b’ are constants depending upon hydrocyclone geometry.

Results and Discussions:

Conclusion:

Questions
1. How increase in the flow rate affects the hydrocyclone classification process?
What are the challenges in operating hydrocyclone at higher feed flow rates?
2. What changes can be observed in the underflow discharge pattern with increase
and decrease in the feed inlet pressure? Can you justify why these changes occur?
What could be the possible implications of this observation?
3. What would be the likely changes in your result if a fluid with higher viscosity
than water is used in the feed? Also discuss how the diameter of the vortex finder
and the spigot can affect the total flow rate vs water split relationship?