The effect of selected factors on separation efficiency in a pneumatic conical separator

Abstract

Pneumatic separation is one of the available methods for cleaning seed mixtures. Variously shaped seeds, including spherical (vetch), elongated (wheat), and pyramid-shaped seeds (buckwheat), were analyzed in this study. A seed mixture containing 80% of main crop seeds and 20% of other crop seeds imitating impurities was separated in a pneumatic separator with the shape of an inverted cone in a stream of air. The regression equations describing the separation efficiency of the main crop seeds and other crop seeds imitating impurities (η) and the separation efficiency index (ε) were characterized by high and very high fit to empirical data. The coefficient of determination for the analyzed seed mixtures ranged from 0.71 to 0.99. The conical separator supported effective separation of seed mixture components in a stream of air.