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Separation and Purication Technology 59 (2008) 183189

Experimental study of a hydrocyclone under cyclic ow conditions for ne particle separation

Lixin Zhao a, , Minghu Jiang a , Yue Wang b
a

Daqing Petroleum Institute, Daqing 163318, Peoples Republic of China b China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing 100037, Peoples Republic of China

Received 18 August 2006; received in revised form 30 May 2007; accepted 2 June 2007

Abstract The difculty in separating ne particles is described in this paper. The basic separating principle of hydrocyclones and the cyclic experimental research facilities are also introduced. Based on a solidliquid hydrocyclone used for separating ne particles, the effect of the cyclic ow conditions on hydrocyclones performance is studied. Effects of the cyclic period ratio, cyclic owrate amplitude ratio, Reynolds number, gas liquid ratio, and the cyclical signal type on the hydrocyclones ne particle separation performance, with emphasis on the relative overow purifying rate, are all studied in detail. The results show that the separation efciency of the hydrocyclone operating under cyclic ow conditions can be higher than that in steady conditions when the cyclic period ratio is about 0.68 and the cyclic owrate amplitude ratio is around 2%. The rectangular wave seems to be the best cyclic signal for enhancing the hydrocyclones separation efciency. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Hydrocyclone; Separation; Particle; Cyclic ow; Experimental study

1. Introduction The hydrocyclone is a kind of multi-phase separator widely used in petrochemical, mining and many other industries [1]. The separation characteristics are inuenced by many factors [2], and the hydrocyclonic separation mechanism is not yet understood thoroughly [35], so the research work is quite complicated although its structure is relatively simple. The hydrocyclone performs a separation function by taking advantage of the density difference among different immiscible phases [6]. Many researchers have studied the effects of geometric and operating parameters on the pressure characteristics and separating performance of hydrocyclones [7]. The application of solidliquid hydrocyclones can be traced back several decades, but at that time they were used mainly to separate large particles, such as the particles within drilling uids in the petroleum industry, and other large mineral particles. The

Corresponding author at: College of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Daqing Petroleum Institute, Daqing 163318, Peoples Republic of China. Tel.: +86 459 6503853; fax: +86 459 6503904. E-mail address: lx zhao@yahoo.com.cn (L. Zhao).

separation of ne particles (e.g., the particle Reynolds number Rep < 1) still remains a big problem in hydrocyclonic separation [8]. Under the same conditions, the smaller the particle is, the less radius of the balance orbit occupied by the particle. Thus, it is more difcult for the particle to move towards the wall of hydrocyclone, and then to be separated and discharged within underow. Although it is a feasible way to get relatively satisfactory results by using a smaller diameter hydrocyclone, the total amount of hydrocyclones and the cost for actual application is considerable. In addition, very small inlets and outlets are easily blocked. Therefore the difculty of ne particle separation is much more than that of normal solidliquid separation. If this problem can be sorted out effectively, the economic benet is self-evident. For many years, it was generally thought that keeping the stability of the owrate was a necessary condition for ensuring the highly efcient operation of the hydrocyclone [1,6]. Unsteady ow normally includes cyclic ow and intermittent ow. The cyclic ow is the one in which the owrate changes periodically within a certain range, while the intermittent ow allows the owrate to reciprocate change by periodically starting and stopping the pump. Ni did the research on intermittent ow

1383-5866/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2007.06.009

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Nomenclature Ai AQ D Em lo Q Qi Qmax Qmin Rgl Ro Roc Ros RQ RQ Rro RRQ RT Re Rep S t Tc Tr v xi sum of inlet area nominal to tangent where xi is measured (mm2 ) cyclic owrate amplitude (Qmax Qmin )/2 (m3 /h) effective diameter of hydrocyclone (mm) particle reclaiming rate, the ratio of underow reclaimed particles to the inlet particle (%) length of the overow tube (mm) mean owrate, the average owrate value in one period of owrate uctuation (m3 /h) inlet owrate (m3 /h) maximum owrate (m3 /h) minimum owrate (m3 /h) gas liquid ratio, inlet volume ratio of gas to liquid overow particle discharging rate, 1 Em (%) overow particle discharging rate under cyclic ow condition (%) overow particle discharging rate under steady ow condition (%) cyclic amplitude ratio, AQ /Q (%) actual measured cyclic owrate amplitude ratio when with free gas existed (%) relative overow purifying rate (1 Roc /Ros ) 100 (%) owrate amplitude increasing ratio, RQ /RQ (%) cyclic period ratio, Tr /Tc Reynolds number, Dv/ particle Reynolds number hydrocyclone swirl number, Dxi /2Ai time (s) cyclic period time (s) average residence time in the hydrocyclone (s) characteristic ow speed inside the hydrocyclone, 4Qi /D2 (m/s) mean offset distance at which inlet uid is tangential (mm)

Fig. 1. Block diagram of cyclic signal production system.

and its inlet volume concentration is 0.05%. Air was supplied via a regulator-dryer and was fed into the liquid line. The owrate values of liquid and gas are shown on the oater ow meters. Based on the main hydrocyclonic separation experimental rig [10], a cyclic ow system was added, which is shown in Fig. 1. It was composed of a computer, a 12 V electric source, a single-chip AD558 DACPORT integrated circuit board, and an oscilloscope. The single-chip AD558 DACPORT board is the core part of this system. It is actually an 8-bit digital-analogue converter, which receives the digital signal produced by a computer cyclic signal production program. It then converts into analogue signal, and transfers to the transducer which controls the hydrocyclones testing pump, resulting in the cyclic change of pump owrate. Focusing on the hydrocyclone prototype, the experiment is carried out. The structural sketch of the testing hydrocyclone is shown in Fig. 2. The hydrocyclone is constructed of transparent Plexiglas material. The hydrocyclone is a static separator based on centrifugal separation in a vortex generated within the body.

Greek letters liquid medium kinetic viscosity (Pa s) liquid medium density (kg/m3 )

[9]. The study showed that the hydrocyclones oilwater separation efciency dropped by 5% under intermittent ow condition. This paper studies the effect of cyclic ow on the hydrocyclonic separation performance. 2. Experimental facilities and testing prototype This research was carried out in the hydrocyclonic separation laboratory at the University of Bradford, UK, using the experimental rig for evaluating solidliquid hydrocyclones. The experimental liquid used was tap water; the testing particle was the urea (a kind of compound plastic particle), the particles nominal diameter is 50 m. The particle density is 1650 kg/m3 ,

Fig. 2. Structural sketch of hydrocyclone tested. (a) Main view and (b) top view.

L. Zhao et al. / Separation and Purication Technology 59 (2008) 183189 Table 1 Main parameters of the testing hydrocyclone Effective diameter, D (mm) Vortex nder diameter, do (mm) Vortex nder length, lo (mm) Underow tube diameter, du (mm) Cone angle, ( ) 50 12 50 10 5 Table 2 Experimental data and correlating parameters Re 21,200 Tr (s) 0.68 RQ (%) 0 2 Tc (s) 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 mu (g) 239.43 239.71 246.99 243.68 245.87 244.19 244.64 240.72 RT 0 1.36 0.68 0.45 0.34 0.27 0.23 0.19 Ro (%) 10.43 10.32 7.60 8.84 8.02 8.65 8.48 9.94

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Rro (%) 0 1.05 27.13 15.25 23.11 17.08 18.69 4.63

The feed ow, entering tangentially into the hydrocyclone, is divided into underow and overow. The former carries mostly solids that are suspended in a small amount of liquid, while the latter contains mostly liquid and some ne solid particles. The testing prototype has two pairs of twin inlets with different sizes. This conveniently adjusts the swirl number of the hydrocyclone by switching the valves which are just ahead of the inlets. The swirl numbers of the smaller size and the larger size twin inlets are 29 and 16, respectively. While using both pairs of twin inlets, the swirl number [11] is 9. The prototype is a kind of water-sealed hydrocyclone. While running the testing rig, there is no split ow for this study. After a period of time, the separation efciency is calculated by weighing the total particle mass that is stored in the collector pot. The testing pump is controlled by a transducer, and the entire testing time for achieving one point datum is about 610 min, consequently, it is necessary to increase the pumps response speed, that is, to shorten the transducers acceleration and deceleration time in order to enhance data correctness. However, in case of producing strong impact to the testing system, it should not be shortened too much. During the research, the transducers acceleration and deceleration time was set to be 2 s. The hydrocyclone prototypes main geometric parameters are shown in Table 1. 3. Experimental results and analysis 3.1. Cyclic period ratio RT Fig. 3 shows the effect of the cyclic period ratio RT on overow particle discharging rate Ro when the swirl number S is 9.

The testing mean owrate is 3 m3 /h (Reynolds number Re = 21,200), the optimal owrate of this prototype. The change of RT is achieved by setting parameter Tc in the computer program. Testing data and other relating parameters are shown in Table 2. It is found that the minimum values of Ro are obtained when RT is in the range between 0.23 and 0.68, where Ro values reduce by about two to three points of percentage compared with those values under steady conditions (RT = 0). When the testing owrate is 3 m3 /h, the residence time Tr is 0.68 s. In order to evaluate the effect of RT on Ro more intuitively, the concept of a relative overow purifying rate Rro is introduced. Based on the same testing data with Fig. 3, the relationship between RT and Rro is shown in Fig. 4. When Tc = 1 s, that is, RT = 0.68, the Rro can reach 27.13%, which means the cyclical change of the owrate does improve the hydrocyclones overow purifying degree. Although the underow particle reclaiming rate increases 2.83 points of percentage only, the effect of the cyclic ow is very notable in the view of overow purication. Its functional mechanism needs to be further studied in detail. It is believed that the result is similar to the action of vibration on the separation process. The cyclical change of the owrate results in the medium inside the hydrocyclone moving in a cyclic way of accelerationdecelerationacceleration. Fig. 5 shows the particle size distribution of the tested particles.

Fig. 3. Effect of RT on Ro (Re = 21,200, S = 9, RQ = 2%).

Fig. 4. Effect of RT on Rro (Re = 21,200, S = 9, RQ = 2%).

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Fig. 5. Inlet particle distribution.

Fig. 7. Effect of RT on Rro (Re = 21,200, S = 16).

According to the data of overow particle distribution, when RT = 0.68, the correlating inlet particle size distribution was obtained by using linear interpolation method. Based on the discrete equation of grade efciency, the grade efciency curve (GEC) is drawn, as shown in Fig. 6. The curve of RT = 0, i.e., under steady ow, is also displayed in Fig. 6. It can be found that the separation of particles between around 15 and 35 m is improved under this condition. It is this enhancement of grade efciency that plays an important role in improving the whole separation efciency of the hydrocyclone. For the particles that are smaller than 15 m, the improvement on separation is much less, which is due to the particle being too small to be separated. For the particles larger than 35 m, the improvement is also limited, because the original separation efciency for this part of the particles was very high. Fig. 7 shows the results of S = 16, when three different cyclic owrate amplitude ratio RQ , 2, 5, and 10%, were adopted. It is also found that the maximum Rro appears near RT = 0.68. 3.2. Cyclic owrate amplitude ratio RQ Fig. 8 shows the effect of RQ on Rro when S = 9. During this test, RQ changes from 0 to 20% (for steady ow, RQ = 0). It indicates that satisfactory results are obtained when RQ = 24% (Fig. 7 also shows that RQ = 2% is the optimum value when S = 16), that is, Rro can be increased up to 27%. When RQ is larger than 4%, Rro has the tendency to decrease. When RQ is larger than 10%, the cyclic ow hardly improves the separation effect within the present research condition.

Focus on this group of experimental data, when RQ = 10%, Qi = 3 m3 /h, the operating owrate changes from 2.7 to 3.3 m3 /h. While the hydrocyclone prototypes optimal owrate is 3 m3 /h, compared with the optimal owrate, the separation efciency decreases if the owrate is too high or too low. That is to say, when RQ is too large, the hydrocyclones owrate changes periodically between the optimal working owrate region and low-efcient owrate region, which results in the reduction of the hydrocyclones separation efciency. 3.3. Reynolds number Re The change of the Reynolds number Re means the alternation of the owrate Qi , which affects the residence time Tr and the cyclic period ratio RT . Fig. 9 shows the relationship of RT with Rro when changing the Reynolds number. The gure includes three groups of data with different swirl numbers. The changing tendency is similar to that of Fig. 4. RT = 0.68 is the optimal point. Rro goes down when RT increases further. It is concluded when keeping Tc unchanged but changing Re, then alternate RT , RT Rro relationship has the similar tendency with that of ReEm obtained in earlier research, where Re = 21,200 is the optimal point. For the ReEm relationship, it means that when Re = 21,200, the hydrocyclone has the best separation effect; while for RT Rro data, as shown in Fig. 9,

Fig. 6. Grade efciency curves under different RT values.

Fig. 8. Effect of RQ on Rro (Re = 21,200, S = 9, RT = 0.68).

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Fig. 11. Relationship between Rgl and Rro (Re = 17,000, S = 9, SINE, RT = 0.68, RQ = 4%). Fig. 9. Effect of Re on Rro (Tc = 1 s, RQ = 4%).

it means that under the conditions of Re = 21,200 (and, Tc = 1 s, RQ = 4%), the cyclical change of owrate improves the overow purifying effect the most. 3.4. Swirl number S The swirl number is an important parameter often mentioned by hydrocyclone researchers [11]. Fig. 9 also shows the effect of RT on Rro under different swirl number amount. It can be found that with the decrease of S, the positive inuence of the owrates cyclical change on improving the hydrocyclones separation performance enhances. When S = 29, the cyclical change of the owrate can only results in the decrease of separation efciency. 3.5. Gas liquid ratio Rgl Fig. 10 shows the results of the hydrocyclones underow particle reclaiming rate Em under cyclic ow and steady ow, respectively (Re = 17,000). It is found that the maximum point locates at Rgl = 1. It is noted that when Rgl increases from 0 to about 0.6, the gas content entered into the hydrocyclone is relatively less. It is not distributed evenly into the mixed uid, but exists like bubble, which results in the instability of the hydrocyclones ow

eld, and then decreases the separation efciency. When the gas liquid ratio increases continuously, the ow eld inside the hydrocyclone becomes relatively stable, and the gas distribution becomes more uniform. Consequently, the efciency becomes higher. Due to the ow changes from the original stable laminar ow, to wave ow and choke ow after a certain point a decrease in the separation efciency results, and the instability occurs again. It can be found from Fig. 10 that the separation performance of the hydrocyclone under cyclic ow conditions is evidently better than of that under steady ow conditions. Fig. 11 is the relationship between Rgl and Rro analyzed by using the same group data with Fig. 10. When Rgl = 1, Rro can reach the level of 31.42%, while without gas, Rro is only 5.77%. Therefore, it is concluded that under cyclic ow conditions, the existence of gas promotes the hydrocyclones separation effect. In other words, compared with steady ow conditions, the difference of the hydrocyclones underow particle reclaiming rate Em between with gas and without gas is less under cyclic ow conditions. That is to say, under cyclic ow conditions, the existence of gas has less affect on the separation results compared with steady ow conditions. In addition, another phenomenon was noticed during the experimental research, i.e., the existence of free gas results in the rise of the pre-set AQ (or to say, RQ ) values with the increase of Rgl . The relationship between RRQ and Rgl is shown in Fig. 12.

Fig. 10. Relationship between Rgl and Em under cyclic ow and steady ow, respectively (Re = 17,000, S = 9, SINE, RT = 0.68, RQ = 4%).

Fig. 12. Relationship between Rgl and RRQ (Re = 17,000, S = 9, do = 12, lo = 50, du = 10, SINE, RT = 0.68, RQ = 4%).

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It should be mentioned that the hydrocyclones operation under cyclic ow conditions has some limitations. First of all, the length of pipeline between the system pressure-boosting pump and the hydrocyclonic separation device must be short enough; otherwise, the cyclical change of the owrate would be weakened by the buffer action of the long pipeline and become a quasi-steady ow. In addition, the less the hydrocyclones diameter is, the better the separation efciency will be. When a large owrate is needed in actual application, the buffer function of the vessel cavity can also produce the above-mentioned problem if a vessel-type, multi-tube hydrocyclone device (i.e., put all hydrocyclone tubes in the vessel parallel) is adopted. However, if adopting multi-tube hydrocyclones in arrayal manner, i.e., linking the entire overow tubes, inlet tubes, and underow tubes with three pipes, respectively, would be better.
Fig. 13. Waveforms of the rectangular and triangular signals. (a) REC signal and (b) TRI signal.

4. Conclusions The experimental study of hydrocyclonic separation characteristics under cyclic ow condition shows that the cyclical change of the owrate does improve the hydrocyclones ne particle separation effect under certain conditions. When the cyclic period ratio is about 0.68 and the cyclic owrate amplitude ratio is around 2%, the cyclical change of the owrate improves the hydrocyclones separation efciency the most within the present research condition. When free gas exists, the cyclical amplitude of the owrate is much larger than that of without gas, for gas has a very large compressibility, while liquid has much less. When the application needs multiple hydrocyclone tubes, the length of pipeline between the pump and hydrocyclone device should be shortened, and the vessel-type hydrocyclone device should be avoided. Acknowledgments Lixin Zhao would like to acknowledge the great help given by Prof. M.T. Thew, Dr. A. Belaidi, and Mr. K. Howell of the University of Bradford. We would like to express our thanks for the sponsorship of the China Scholarship Council (No. CSC21823043). References
[1] D. Bradley, The Hydrocyclone, Pergamon Press, London, 1965. [2] M.H. Jiang, L.X. Zhao, Z.C. Wang, Effects of geometric and operating parameters on separation performance for hydrocyclones, in: Proceedings of the 12th International Offshore and Polar Engineering, vol. I, Kitakyushu, Japan, 2002, p. 102. [3] M.D. Slack, S. Del, M.S. Porte, Engelman, Designing automated computational uid dynamics modelling tools for hydrocyclone design, Miner. Eng. 17 (2004) 705. [4] T. Dyakowski, R.A. Williams, Modelling turbulent ow within a small diameter hydrocyclone, Chem. Eng. Sci. 48 (1993) 1143. [5] A.F. Nowakowski, J.C. Cullivan, R.A. Williams, T. Dyakowski, Application of CFD to modelling of the ow in hydrocyclones. Is this a realizable option or still a research challenge? Miner. Eng. 17 (2004) 661. [6] L. Svarovsky, Hydrocyclones, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, London, 1984.

It indicates that RRQ increases with the rise of Rgl . When free gas exists, RQ is at least around twice that of RQ . When Rgl = 3, it is three times of RQ , i.e., RQ reaches about 12%. When free gas exists, the cyclical amplitude of the owrate is much larger than that of without gas. This is because gas has very large compressibility, while that of liquid is much less. 3.6. Flowrate cyclical signal type The effect of different owrate cyclical signals on hydrocyclonic separation has been studied. Based on the former sine signal (SIN) producing program, two other signals, the rectangular signal (REC) and the triangular signal (TRI) were produced after revising the computer program. Their signal waveforms are shown in Fig. 13. The testing results are shown in Fig. 14. Data of the TRI signal is similar to those of the SIN signal, while those of the REC signal seems to be the best of all, in which Rro reaches up to 32.54%. In addition, for all the three signals, the optimum RQ is located around 26%. The mechanism is analyzed preliminarily to some extent, SIN and TRI waves belong to gradual-change signals, while REC waves belong to abrupt-change signal, which produces totally different waves from those of the other two.

Fig. 14. Experimental results under different waveform signals.

L. Zhao et al. / Separation and Purication Technology 59 (2008) 183189 [7] L.Y. Chu, W.M. Chen, X.Z. Lee, Effect of structural modication on hydrocyclone performance, Sep. Purif. Technol. 21 (2000) 71. [8] S. Pasquier, J.J. Cilliers, Sub-micron particle dewatering using hydrocyclones, Chem. Eng. 80 (2000) 283. [9] L.Y. Ni, Effect of intermittent ow on hydrocyclones oilwater separation efciency, Chin. Filter Sep. 13 (2003) 22.

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[10] L.X. Zhao, A. Belaidi, M.T. Thew, Pressure characteristics of hydrocyclones with gas injection, in: Proceedings of the 13th International Offshore and Polar Engineering, vol. I, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, 2003, p. 68. [11] A. Belaidi, M.T. Thew, Drop size effects on a de-watering hydrocyclone, in: Proceedings of the Vortex Separation, York, England, 2000, p. 119.