Investigation of the influence of hydrocyclone geometric and flow parameters on its performance using CFD

Abstract

Effectiveness and efficiency of hydro-cyclone separators are highly dependent on their geometrical parameters and flow characteristics. Performance of the hydro-cyclone can, therefore, be improved by modifying the geometrical parameters or flow characteristics. The mining and chemical industries are faced with problems of separating ore-rich stones from the nonore-rich stones. Due to this problem a certain amount of precious metals is lost to the dumping sites. Plant managers try to solve these problems by stockpiling what could be useless stones, so that they can be reprocessed in the future. Reprocessing is not a sustainable approach, because the reprocessed material would give lower yield as compared to the production costs. Particulate separation in a hydro-cyclone has been investigated in this paper, by using computational fluid dynamics. The paper investigated the influence of various flow and geometric parameters on particulate separation. Optimal parameters for efficient separation have been determined for the density of fluid, diameter of the spigot, and diameter of the vortex finder. The principal contribution of this paper is that key parameters for design optimization of the hydro-cyclone have been investigated. Copyright © 2010 Oboetswe Seraga Motsamai.