Experimental investigation on effect of particle shape and inlet velocity on a mini-hydrocyclone efficiency

effect of particle shape on separation efficiency of a mini-hydrocyclone was investigated. A 15mm mini- hydrocyclone was used in the present study. Three different shapes of particles with particular shape factors of 0.1, 0.45, and 0.9 with same density and size distribution were used. Shape factor of particles was defined by MIP4 sofware using SEM microphotograghs. Also, tests were conducted in three inlet velocity of 3.25, 4.25, 5.05 m/s todetermining the effect of inlet velocity on separation efficiency of mini-hydrocyclone. Volume percentage of powders in suspensions was 0.15% in all the tests.The results reveal that in coarse range particles, seperation efficiency increases with increasing sphericity and in fine rangeparticles fish hook phenomenon affects on separation efficiency. Furthermore, it was revealed that separation efficiency increases with increasing inlet velocity in the studied range of flow rates.

Keywords:

particle size , size distribution , shape factor , mini-hydrocyclone , separation efficiency