Gas Cyclone 2

KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY I
GAS CYCLONE
GROUP 1A
GROUP MEMBERS INDEX NUMBER SIGNATURE
ASIGBE RITA BLESSING 8366919 ____________

SEKE FELIX OPPONG 8371419 ____________
KWABIA BOAHEMAA MENSAH 8368719 ____________
AKUOKO STEPHEN 8365219 ____________
YORKE CLIFFORD 8372419 ____________
LECTURER: Dr. EMMANUEL AWARIKABEY

21st MARCH 2022
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Contents
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Aims and objectives.
1.2 Introduction
1.3 Theory
1.4 Apparatus
1.5 Procedure
CHAPTER TWO
2.1 TABLE OF RESULTS
TABLE 1: Worksheet for conducting the experiment
CHAPTER THREE
3.1 CALCULATIONS AND GRAPHS
3.2 Graphs
3.3 Discussion
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Error analysis
4.2 Conclusion
4.3 Precaution
4.4 References
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CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Aims and objectives.

1. To determine how the solid material content and airflow volume affect
- Pressure loss at the gas cyclone
- Degree of separation
- Separation function and separation size
2. To compare pressure loss and degree of separation with theoretically calculated
values.
1.2 Introduction
The cyclone was introduced as process design equipment in 1891. Originally utilized as
separating devices, cyclones are now manufactured for many purposes. For example, they
are used as combustion chambers, reactors for partially immiscible liquids, and dryers. The
most common use of the cyclone is to separate solid particles from either liquids or gases.
For this purpose, the popularity of cyclone can be attributed to two main reasons:
1. It is simple and economical to build and operate cyclones since they have no
moving parts and require minimal maintenance.
2. Small particles can be successfully separated from fluid carriers at small energy
loss. For example, a cyclone of scale 1m can separate suspended particles of size 10 -
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5
m with inlet gas velocity of order 10m/s and mechanical energy expenditure per
unit of flowing mass equivalent to just about eight times the inlet kinetic energy.
In this experiment, a gas cyclone is used to demonstrate and investigate how a solid
dispersed in an airflow is filtered out.
1.3 Theory
Centrifugal and inertial forces are used in a cyclone to separate particles from the
contaminated gas stream as it spirals through the cyclone. Contaminated gas is drawn into
the cylinder of the cyclone from the inlet section, and is forced into a circular motion due to
the sudden impact with the walls of the cylinder. This creates a primary vortex which
moves downwards along the cyclone wall, and reverses at the bottom of the gas cyclone.
The filtered gas moves upwards in the center of the cyclone as the secondary vortex, and
the heavy solid particles (contaminants) are accelerated to the wall. They slide down the
walls of the cone and are collected.
How well the cyclone separators are actually able to remove this matter depends largely on
particle size. If there is a large amount of lighter particulate matter, less of these particles
are able to be separated out. Because of this, cyclone separators work best on flue gases that
contain large amounts of big particulate matter.
1.4 Apparatus
● Trainer, air suction fan, tamper and feed material.
● Weighing scale
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● Spatula
● Sheets of paper
1.5 Procedure
The plunger was placed in the feed cylinder with the Phillips screw facing upward and the
tamper was used to press down the plunger till it touched the surface. The feed cylinder
with the plunger, a sheet of paper and the coarse material cylinder with the empty tank for
coarse material were weighed and the masses were recorded. 2g of the feed material was
poured into the feed cylinder and gently pressed down with the tamper. This was repeated
until the feed cylinder was full. The feed cylinder with the feed material was weighed and
the mass was compared to that of the feed cylinder with plunger only, and then placed into
the brush housing and screwed in place. The trainer was turned on and the air suction fan
was set to stage one. The air volume flow was set to 10m³/h. The air suction fan was set to
another stage and three values were obtained for different air volume flows
(20,30,40,50…). The temperature and differential pressure were recorded and the switch
for the feed was turned on. The values of the displays for volume flow, temperature and
differential pressure were recorded and the air suction fan and the trainer were turned off
after the “lower end position” lamp turned red.
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CHAPTER TWO
2.1 TABLE OF RESULTS

Unit Measurement Measurement Measurement
no. no. no.
Preparation of the experiment (without

feed material)
Volume flow Vgas m3/h 10.0000 10.0000 10.0000
Temperature oC 25.3000 25.3000 25.4000
Differential pressure ∆p mbar 2.1000 2.1000 2.3000
Conducting the experiment (with feed
material)
Feed (potentiometer) - 3.0000 6.0000 10.0000
Feed vfeed mm/s 1.3000 1.9000 3.2000
Temperature oC 25.3000 25.4000 25.5000
Calculation of the separation size xs
Mass of feed material mfeed g 23.4500 23.6100 22.9800
Mass of coarse material mcoarse g 19.9800 20.1100 20.2100
Mass flow of the feed material mfeed g/s 0.3387 0.4984 0.8171
Load µ - 0.1017 0.1497 0.2453
Separation size xs mm 0.0003659 0.00037685 0.00039405
Calculating the total degree of
separation E
Limit load µlimit - 0.0199 0.0202 0.0207
Total degree of separation E measured - 0.8520 0.8518 0.8795
Total degree of separation E calculated - 110.4322 74.6695 45.4118
Calculating the pressure loss ∆p
Pressure loss ∆p calculated mbar 2.1433 2.0673 1.9482
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no. no. no.

feed material)

Temperature ℃ 25.7000 25.7000 25.7000
material)

Feed vfeed mm/s 1.4000 2.0000 3.3000
Temperature ℃ 25.8000 25.8000 25.9000
Load µ - 0.0558 0.0782 0.1321
separation E

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no. no. no.
Preparation of the experiment

(without feed material)
Temperature ℃ 25.5000 25.6000 25.6000
material)

Feed vfeed mm/s 2.0000 2.5000 4.5000
Temperature ℃ 25.5000 25.7000 25.7000
Load µ - 0.0544 0.0667 0.1212
Calculating the total degree
of separation E

Total degree of separation E - 0.8687 0.8824 0.8579
measured
Total degree of separation - 328.2212 266.3173 145.2875
E calculated

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Unit Measurement Measurement Measureme
no. no. nt no.
Temperature ℃ 25.9000 25.8000 26.0000
material)
Feed vfeed mm/s 1.3000 2.7000 4.9000
Temperature ℃ 25.9000 26.0000 26.0000
Load µ - 0.0240 0.0527 0.0965
of separation E
measured
calculated

no. no. no.
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feed material)
Temperature ℃ 25.2000 25.4000 25.3000
material)
Feed vfeed mm/s 1.9000 2.7000 4.0000
Temperature ℃ 25.3000 25.3000 25.4000
Load µ - 0.0290 0.0428 0.0644
separation E

Unit Measurement Measurement Measurement no.
no. no.

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Temperature ℃ 25.2000 25.4000 25.4000
material)

Feed vfeed mm/s 2.2000 3.4000 5.0000
Temperature ℃ 25.3000 25.4000 25.4000
Calculation of the separation size Xs
Load µ - 0.0275 0.0435 0.0652
of separation E
measured
Total degree of separation - 869.6237 547.5297 362.6623
E calculated

CHAPTER THREE
3.1 CALCULATIONS AND GRAPHS

Average separation size for each experiment;
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0.0003659+0.00037685+0.00039405
Experiment 1: =0.00037893 mm
3
0.00024989+0.00025431+ 0.00026315
3
0.00020313+0.00020584+0.00021396
3
0.00016966+0.00017591+0.00018217
3
0.00015315+0.00015594+0.0005874
3
0.00015315+0.00014236+0.00014555
3
Average load for each experiment;
0.1017+0.1497+ 0.2453
Experiment 1: =0.1656
3
0.0558+0.0782+0.1321
3
0.0544+0.0667+ 0.1212
3
0.0240+0.0527+0.9650
3
0.0290+0.428+0.644
3
0.0275+0.0435+0.0652
3
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Calculating E, (Degree of separation)
mass of coarse material

E=
mass of fine material
For table 1
19.9800
E1= = 0.8520
23.4500
20.1100
E2 = = 0.8518
23.4500
20.2100
E2 = = 0.8795
22.9800
For table 2
20.1200
E1 = = 0.8422
23.8900
19.7600
E2 = = 0.8426
23.4500
20.4500
E3 = = 0.8521
24.0000
For table 3
21.2700
E1 = = 0.8687
24.4400
21.1600
E2 = = 0.8824
23.9800
20.7700
E3 = = 0.8579
24.2100
For table 4
20.4000
E1 = =0.9222
22.1200
21.3400
E2 = = 0.9116
234100
13 | Page
21.0400
E3¿ = 0.8911
23.6100
For table 5
19.7700
E1 = = 0.8637
22.8900
20.0300
E2 = = 0.8423
23.7800
21.4000
E3 = = 0.8872
24.1200
For table 6
19,1200
E1 = = 0.8513
22.8900
20.1100
E2 = = 0.8732
23.0200
21.2200
E3 = = 0.9053
23.4400
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3.2 Graphs
A GRAPH OF Xs AS A FUNCTION OF Vgas

Series2 Xs Linear (Xs)
0.0004
0.00035
0.0003 f(x) = − 4.32304761904762E-06 x + 0.000370771111111111
0.00025
Xs axis mm
0.0002
0.00015
0.0001
0.00005
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Vgas axis m3/h
A GRAPH OF Xs AS A FUNCTION OF LOAD

µ
Xs Linear (Xs)
0.0004
f(x) = 0.00192303708477758 x + 6.44780611729535E-05
0.00035
0.0003
0.00025
Xs axis mm
0.0002
0.00015
0.0001
0.00005
0
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18
load axis µ
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3.3 Discussion
From the experiment, it is observed that there are several factors that can affect a cyclone
separators efficiency. These include particle density, particle size, volumetric flow rate,
pressure drop, cone length, body length, ratio of accept port to body diameter, and even the
smoothness of the cyclone’s internal surfaces.
Particle density is one of the most deciding factors affecting a cyclone’s ability to remove
entrained particles. Dense particulates such as ferrous oxides can be separated with a 99%
or greater efficiency, irrespective of particle size. When the particle density decreases, the
efficiency decreases (assuming no other system changes occur).
Particle size is a large design consideration effecting a separator’s efficiency. Larger
particles can be more easily separated than smaller particles. Base on the curve obtained
from the graph of separation size as a function of flow (Vgas), it is observed that increasing
volume flowrate decreases with separation sizes. This means that, separation involving a
mixture of very fine particles and air, for instance, very high-volume flowrate is required to
achieve higher efficiencies due to the relatively very low sizes of fine particles than the
coarse ones.
A separator’s geometry greatly impacts the efficiency of the unit. A larger diameter cyclone
separator will not be able to separate particles as efficiently as a smaller diameter separator.
The efficiency of the separator increases as the cone diameter decreases. Thus, reducing the
cone diameter enables the removal of finer and finer particles. A small diameter cone will
extract much finer particles from a gas stream than a larger diameter cone.
All cyclone separators have an associated pressure drop. The pressure drop can be thought
of as the amount of energy required to move the gas through the separator, alternatively, it
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can be thought of as the amount of resistance the cyclone separator adds to the system flow.
The pressure drop is a product of the gas flow rate, gas density and cyclone geometry.
Result from the graph suggests that increase in volume will result in a pressure drop.
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CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Error analysis

1. There were fluctuations from the readings.
2. Errors in feeding the sample into the equipment as some particles might have splashed out.
3. A little pressure was applied to the tamper on top of the feed material in the feed cylinder
material hence making it difficult for the feed material to go through the brush.
4. The suspended particles in the equipment that were not removed completely after every
trial.
5. The collected particles in the bin might not have been completely transferred in the beaker
during weighing.
4.2 Conclusion
Flow velocity and flow pattern generated in cyclones are determined by the vortex finder
geometry. Depending on it, the flow of dusty gas in the outlet and in the cyclone may be
entirely different. Increasing the length of the vortex finder (with the same diameter) and
reducing its diameter intensifies the gas flow leaving the cyclone. Conversely, shortening
the length or increasing the diameter of the outlet reduces the flow.
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4.3 Precaution
1. No human effort (weight) was added to the tamper to ensure that, the tamper uses its
own weight.
2. Whiles the gas cyclone unit was in operation it was carefully ensured that, the
hands were not place on the feed unit to prevent hand injury.
3. Masks were worn to prevent inhalation of the silicate since it capable of causing
respiratory problems.
4. Earplugs were worn to reduce the high noise from the vacuum pump direct to the
ear.
4.4 References
1. Wikimedia Commons. (July 16, 2015). Cyclone Separator [Online].

Available:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Cyclone_separator.sv
g
2. R. Wolfson. Energy, Environment and Climate, 2nd ed. New York, U.S.A.:
Norton, 2012
3. Cooper C. D and F. C. Alley, 2002. Air pollution control, A Design
Approach, 3rd edition. Prospect Heights. Waveland Press, Inc. Page 58.
4. Mark D. J. Vincent, H. Gibson, W.A. Witherspoon, 1985. Application of
closely graded powders of fused alumina as test dust for aerosol studies.
5. Pant C.T. Crowe and P. Irving, 2002. Powder Technology. Page 260-265.
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KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY I

ASIGBE RITA BLESSING 8366919 ____________

LECTURER: Dr. EMMANUEL AWARIKABEY

1.1 Aims and objectives.

- Pressure loss at the gas cyclone

- Separation function and separation size

2. To compare pressure loss and degree of separation with theoretically calculated

moving parts and require minimal maintenance.

dispersed in an airflow is filtered out.

walls of the cone and are collected.

contain large amounts of big particulate matter.

● Trainer, air suction fan, tamper and feed material.

after the “lower end position” lamp turned red.

2.1 TABLE OF RESULTS

Preparation of the experiment (without

Preparation of the experiment (without

Volume flow Vgas m3/h 20.0000 20.0000 20.0000

Feed (potentiometer) - 3.0000 6.0000 10.0000

Limit load µlimit - 0.0196 0.0198 0.0201

Preparation of the experiment

Feed (potentiometer) - 3.0000 6.0000 10.0000

Limit load µlimit - 0.0196 0.0197 0.0201

Calculating the pressure loss ∆p

TABLE 5: Worksheet for conducting the experiment

TABLE 6: Worksheet for conducting the experiment

Preparation of the experiment

Feed (potentiometer) - 3.0000 6.0000 10.0000

Calculating the pressure loss ∆p

3.1 CALCULATIONS AND GRAPHS

Average load for each experiment;

mass of coarse material

A GRAPH OF Xs AS A FUNCTION OF Vgas

A GRAPH OF Xs AS A FUNCTION OF LOAD

smoothness of the cyclone’s internal surfaces.

efficiency decreases (assuming no other system changes occur).

Particle size is a large design consideration effecting a separator’s efficiency. Larger

A separator’s geometry greatly impacts the efficiency of the unit. A larger diameter cyclone

4.1 Error analysis

1. Wikimedia Commons. (July 16, 2015). Cyclone Separator [Online].

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