Powder Technology 305 (2017) 602608

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Powder Technology

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Time characteristics of dust collection and particle classication

performance of a cyclone
Yuhei Kosaki a,, Shigeomi Chono b
a
Kanematsu Engineering Co., Ltd., 3981-7, Nunoshida, Kochi-city, Kochi 781-5101, Japan
b
Kochi University of Technology, Tosayamada, Kami-city, Kochi 782-8502, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Dust collection plants are widely used in various industrial sectors to collect, transport, and separate dust and
Received 29 June 2016 solid particles from air and process gases. The dust collection and particle classication performance of the cy-
Received in revised form 18 September 2016 clones in such plants is therefore of considerable importance. However, the time characteristics of the perfor-
Accepted 19 October 2016
mance remain poorly understood. In this study, we measured the dust collection efciency, partial separation
Available online 20 October 2016
efciency, and pressure drop of a cyclone using a real powder with different particle diameters. These results
Keywords:
were compared with those from a particle tracking numerical simulation of the dust collection process. We
Cyclone found that the dust collection efciency decreases by approximately 10% over the rst 60 min of operation,
Time characteristics and then remains constant. A similar trend was observed in the pressure drop. The numerical results for the par-
Particle separation tial separation efciency diverge from the experimentally measured values. This is believed to be because the nu-
Fluid analysis merical model does not consider the effect of particle motion on the ow, and therefore cannot replicate the
Large eddy simulation reduction in velocity of the swirling ow resulting from an increase in the number of particles. The data reported
Particle tracking in this study will enable improved cyclone designs for large-scale dust collection, and also highlight the need for
improved numerical techniques to accurately simulate the time characteristics of particles and ow in a cyclone.
2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Dust collection plants that employ pneumatic conveying generally
use gravity in a receiver tank (settling tank) at the beginning of the con-
veying process to separate and collect the particles contained in the air.
The plant then uses the centrifugal force of a cyclone to separate and
collect the particles. In a nal process, the particles are again separated
and collected by a lter. To reduce the burden on the lter, it is neces-
sary to improve the dust collection and particle classication perfor-
mance of the cyclone.
Numerous studies have been conducted with the purpose of im-
proving the dust collection and particle classication performance of cy-
clones. Various useful cyclone designs have been reported, including
those that consider the shape of the apex cone [1], the effects of adding
a ring to the upper outlet pipe [2], and the effects of controlling the vor-
tex movements inside the cyclone [3].
As these studies do not discuss the time characteristics of the dust
collection and particle classication performance of cyclones, our un-
derstanding of these characteristics remains insufcient. The time char-
acteristics of the dust collection and particle classication performance
of cyclones are important parameters that govern the performance
Abbreviations: LES, Large eddy simulation.
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: y.kosaki@kanematsu-eng.jp (Y. Kosaki).
and efciency of dust collection plants. Actual plants are operated over
relatively long periods. Even with cyclones that feature superior dust
collection and particle classication performance when placed into op-
eration, there is a possibility that the cyclone performance will deterio-
rate with time. Hence, there is a possibility that the lter burden will
increase, thereby reducing the plant efciency. For the purpose of cy-
clone design, the structure and conguration of cyclones must be de-
signed based on a sufcient understanding of the time characteristics
of their dust collection and particle classication performance. Howev-
er, past studies have not reported sufcient tests on the time character-
istics of the dust collection and particle classication performance of
cyclones.
Increasing the operating time increases the number of particles in
the cyclone. The relationship between the number of particles in the cy-
clone and the dust collection and particle classication performance has
been studied experimentally and numerically using the particle concen-
tration at the cyclone inlet as a parameter [4]. However, varying the op-
erating time with a constant particle concentration at the cyclone inlet
has not been extensively studied. The relationship may differ depending
on whether the particle concentration at the cyclone inlet or the operat-
ing time is varied. For example, if the operating time varies under the
condition of a constant particle concentration at the inlet, then any in-
crease in the number of particles in the cyclone will have a local effect.
The purpose of this study is to obtain basic data that could be useful
in the design of relatively large cyclones with high volumes of dust-

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2016.10.040
0032-5910/ 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 Y. Kosaki, S. Chono / Powder Technology 305 (2017) 602608
containing airow, as used in actual dust collection plants. In previous
studies, we investigated the ow eld inside conical cyclones and exam-
ined the relationships between the ow eld conditions and their per-
formance conditions [5,6].
This paper reports the results of an investigation into the time char-
acteristics of the dust collection and particle classication performance
of a conical cyclone. Experiments were conducted using real powder
under the condition that the operating time was used as the parameter
with a constant particle concentration at the cyclone inlet. Numerical
simulations were implemented by performing uid analysis and parti-
cle tracking. The investigation gathered basic data on the design of rel-
atively large conical cyclones of airows containing dust, as used in
actual dust collection plants.
2. Experimental equipment and method
The dust collection efciency, partial separation efciency, and pres-
sure drop of the cyclones were derived in experiments using a real pow-
der over durations of 15120 min.
Fig. 1 illustrates the experimental model of the conical cyclone used
in this study. This model is a standard shape cyclone with a cylindrical
section of internal diameter D = 385 mm and a cone section, as well
as a dust collection section. The airow that enters through the inlet de-
scends along the internal wall surface while swirling, and is then
reected at the bottom. The airow then ascends while swirling
through the center and is discharged from the outlet at the top.
Fig. 2 illustrates the experimental equipment. The equipment in-
cludes a conical cyclone , feeder , lter , and suction blower .
The cyclone was grounded to reduce electrostatic effects.
Fig. 1. Outline of the experimental model of the conical cyclone.
603
Fig. 3 shows the particle size distribution of the powder used in the
experiment and some photographs acquired by a scanning electron mi-
croscope. The powder consisted of acrylic spherical particles (EXM-5,
manufactured by Sekisui Plastics Co., Ltd.) with a density p of
1200 kg/m3, particle diameters Dp of 110 m, and a mass median diam-
eter Dp of 5 m. We assumed that particles with relatively small diame-
ters are difcult to sort and collect with a receiver tank during the
preliminary process of a cyclone in a dust collection plant.
In the experiments, air was introduced into the cyclone at a constant
average ow rate using the suction blower with an inverter drive sys-
tem. At the same time, powder was fed into the cyclone at a constant
particle volume fraction using the feeder with an inverter drive under
a rotary valve system.
Experiments were conducted over similar operating durations to
those used in actual dust collection plants: 15, 60, and 120 min.
The average ow rate at the inlet of the cyclone Uin was set to 35 m/s,
based on the assumption that the cyclone processes a large dust-con-
taining airow. The Reynolds number Re, based on the inner diameter
D and the average inlet ow rate Uin, was dened as:
U in D
Re 9  105 1
where is the density of air and is the viscosity coefcient of air.
The particle volume fraction in the airow containing dust was set
to approximately 7.5 107 based on the current values of the cyclone
considered for our design, and the mass ow rate of the powder was set
to 25 g/min.
The dust collection efciency , partial separation efciency , and
pressure drop p of the cyclone were calculated using the following
equations. The dust collection and particle classication performance
of the cyclone were evaluated based on the dust collection efciency
and the partial separation efciency .
mc
 100 2
m
mc f c
 100 3
mf
pa pout
p 4
U in 2 =2
where mc is the increase in the cyclone mass (which equals the mass of
the powder captured by the cyclone), m is the mass of the powder sup-
plied to the cyclone, fc is the abundance ratio with respect to the particle
sizes of the powder captured by the cyclone, f is the abundance ratio
with respect to the particle sizes of the powder supplied to the cyclone,
pa is the atmospheric pressure, and pout is the pressure of the down-
stream pipe connected to the cyclone.
The standard deviation of the experimental results was approxi-
mately 0.3% with respect to the dust collection efciency over an op-
erating time of 120 min, which is the most important operating time
in terms of the benchmarks.
3. Numerical simulation method
Numerical simulations were performed using uid analysis and par-
ticle tracking to derive the partial separation efciency of the
cyclones.
We assumed that the effects of collisions between particles and the
movement of particles on the ow could be ignored, as the volume frac-
tion of the particles in the dust-containing air at the inlet of the cyclone
was sufciently small (the order of 107) [7]. The particle trajectories
were calculated from the instantaneous value of the ow eld obtained
by ow analysis, and the dynamic particle equation was integrated with
respect to time.
604 Y. Kosaki, S. Chono / Powder Technology 305 (2017) 602608

Fig. 2. Experimental equipment.

Fig. 4 shows the mesh for the conical cyclone used for the numerical The LES uid analysis was carried out by setting the Courant number
calculations. The three mesh layers on the wall surface were formed C = 4 and using the minimum time step ti dened by Eq. (5), which is
with a prism-shaped pentahedral unstructured mesh, whereas the based on an element width Li and a ow rate ui of each element.
others were formed with a tetrahedral unstructured mesh consisting
of 22,274,926 elements. Furthermore, the resolution of the mesh in Li L
t i C 4 i i 1; ; n 5
the central area of the cyclone was increased by a factor of two to ensure ui ui
that the Rankin vortex was accurately captured.
A large eddy simulation (LES) uid analysis was performed using where n is the number of elements.
SCRYU/Tetra for Windows (manufactured by Software Cradle Co., Ltd.) The instantaneous ow eld increments from the time at which the
[8]. pressure at the inlet of the cyclone stabilized were used for the particle
The analysis conditions (described later) were based on previous tracking. In reality, the particle trajectories for each instant were derived
studies [5,6], and were sufcient to reproduce the characteristic ow in- by integrating the dynamic equation for the particle with respect to
side the cyclone (Reynolds number of approximately 8.9 105). A sum- time using the ow eld data from steps 90,001130,001 derived by
mary of the solution is provided below; readers should refer to our past the LES uid analysis.
studies [5,6] for details on the LES uid analysis, including a verication The dynamic equation of the particles is:
of its accuracy.
The wall-adapting local eddy viscosity model was used for the sub-
2
d xp 1

 
C D
uup
uup Sp g 6
grid-scale model [9]. The boundary conditions consisted of a uniform in- dt p 2 2mp
ow rate Uin of 35 m/s at the inlet of the cyclone, a static pressure pout of
0 Pa applied at the outlet, and a zero velocity at the wall surface. In the where xp is the positional vector for the particle, tp is the time since the
vicinity of the wall surface, the conditions were based on the Werner particle tracking started, mp is the particle mass, CD is the drag coef-
and Wengle dual-layer model expanded to a triple-layer model [10]. cient of particles, is the density of uid, u is the velocity vector of the
To reduce the computation time and cost, a shear-stress transport k- uid, up is the velocity vector of the particle, Sp is the cross-sectional
turbulence model [11] was used, and 1000 steps were applied to enable area of the particle, and g is the gravitational acceleration vector.
a steady state analysis. The results were then used as initial values for The rst term on the right-hand side of Eq. (6) represents the drag
the LES uid analysis. force, and the second term represents the gravitational force. Because

Fig. 3. Particle size distribution and photograph of the test powder.

 Y. Kosaki, S. Chono / Powder Technology 305 (2017) 602608 605

Fig. 4. Mesh of the conical cyclone.

the density ratio of solid particles to air is about 1000, the virtual mass, where Rep is the particle Reynolds number, dened as:
pressure gradient, Basset force, and Saffman's lift force were neglected.
As there is no autorotation of particles, the Magnus lift was also


discounted. In addition, no reaction force or adsorption forces were
uup
Dp
Rep 8
imparted on the particles that reached the wall.
The drag coefcient CD in Eq. (6) is given by:

8   where Dp is the diameter of the particle.

< 24 1 0:15Rep
0:687   The equation derived by Schiller and Naumann [12] was applied for
Rep 1000
CD Rep 7
:   the lower particle Reynolds numbers in Eq. (7), whereas Newtonian
0:44 Rep N1000 drag was applied for the higher particle Reynolds numbers.

Fig. 5. Relationship between the instantaneous ow eld data and particle trajectory data.
606 Y. Kosaki, S. Chono / Powder Technology 305 (2017) 602608

We now discuss the analysis conditions for the particle tracking. Fig.
5 illustrates the relationship between the instantaneous ow eld data
and the particle trajectory data. The lower black points show instanta-
neous ow eld data from each time step, and the upper black points
show the particle trajectory data from each time step. In the ow eld
of step 90,001, particles with diameters of 0.510.0 m were set at the
center of a lattice plane that had been divided into 9 3 cells on the cy-
clone inlet surface. A total of 324 particles were injected into the cy-
clone. The particle inow rate was 35 m/s. Particle tracking progressed
in time steps of tpj = tj / 40 (tpj = ~5 107 s), as derived by divid-
ing the time difference of the ow eld data tj (tj = ~2 105 s) by
40. The particle tracking between the ow elds of steps 90,001 and
90,002 was calculated using the ow eld data for step 90,001 with a
time step of tp1 = t1 / 40. After this calculation had been completed,
the particle tracking between the ow elds of steps 90,002 and 90,003
was calculated using the ow eld data for step 90,002 with a time step
of tp2 = t2 / 40. In this manner, the particles were tracked between
sequential steps, and the overall particle tracking results were derived
between the ow elds of steps 90,001130,001.
To ensure high accuracy, the time integration of the dynamic formu-
la used the fourth-order RungeKutta method.
Fig. 7. Relationship between the real partial separation efciency of the cyclone and the
Based on the particle trajectories, the partial separation efciency operating time.
in the numerical simulations was calculated as:

nc
 100
nt
where nc represents the number of particles of each diameter that exist
in the cyclone and nt represents the number of particles of each diame-
ter injected into the cyclone.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Time characteristics of the dust collection and particle classication
performance of a conical cyclone in real experiments
Fig. 6 shows the relationship between the dust collection efciency
of the cyclone and the operating time. The dust collection efciency of
the cyclone decreased with increasing operating time until approxi-
mately 60 min, and became practically constant thereafter. The dust col-
lection efciency after 60 min was approximately 10% lower than the
dust collection efciency after 15 min. Fig. 7 shows the relationship be-
tween the partial separation efciency of the cyclone and the oper-
ating time. The partial separation efciency decreased with increasing
operating time across a wide range of particle diameters. The partial
separation efciencies for operating times of 60 min and 120 min
were roughly the same. Fig. 8 shows the relationship between the pres-
sure drop of the cyclone p and the operating time. The initial pressure
drop of the cyclone (operating time of 0 min) was set to the value mea-
9
sured immediately preceding the supply of the powder. The pressure
drop of the cyclone decreased with increasing operating time, starting
from immediately after the start of operation until almost 60 min, and
became practically constant thereafter. It is evident from Figs. 6 and 8
that the time interval in which the dust collection efciency decreases
to a constant value and the time interval in which the pressure drop de-
creases and becomes constant are roughly the same. This indicates that
there is a positive correlation between the temporal change in dust col-
lection efciency of the cyclone and the temporal change in pressure.
The existence of particles that continue to swirl inside the cyclone is
generally known to cause a decrease in the velocity of the swirling ow
and a decrease in the pressure drop [13]. Thus, a decrease in the velocity
of the swirling ow and the pressure drop with operating time can be
considered to occur because of the increasing number of particles that
continue to swirl inside the cyclone. Furthermore, the centrifugal force
that affects particles decreases with the reduction in velocity of the
swirling ow. The number of particles being discharged from the exit
of the cyclone increases as particles experiencing reduced centrifugal
forces track the ow headed towards the exit of the cyclone. Hence,
the decrease in dust collection and particle classication performance
over time is considered to be caused by the increasing number of parti-
cles that continue to swirl inside the cyclone. The dust collection and
particle classication performance, as well as the pressure drop, become
constant after a certain time. This is because the (substantial) number of

Fig. 6. Relationship between the real dust collection efciency of the cyclone and the
operating time. Fig. 8. Relationship between the real pressure drop of the cyclone and the operating time.
 Y. Kosaki, S. Chono / Powder Technology 305 (2017) 602608 607

particles that slow the velocity of the swirling ow inside the cyclone
reaches a steady state. In turn, this is because the number of particles
discharged from the cyclone and the number of particles deposited on
the inside of the cyclone, which have stopped owing, reach a steady
state.
A decrease of approximately 10% in dust collection efciency was
observed over the course of the experiment. In actual dust collection
plants, a drop of this magnitude is signicant, and suggests that the de-
cline in dust collection and particle classication performance of the cy-
clone with time is a problem that should be considered.

4.2. Comparison of simulation results and experimental results

Fig. 9 shows a comparison of the numerical simulation results and

the experimental results in relation to the partial separation of the
cyclone. As shown in Fig. 10, the partial separation efciency in the nu-
merical simulation was derived from an analysis of the particle trajecto-
ries in the ow eld of step 130,001, at which point a steady state had
been reached (tp = ~0.8 s). Fig. 10. Time history of the partial separation efciency for the cyclone portion of the
The difference between the experimental and numerical results for particles of the respective diameters derived from the numerical simulation results.
an operating time of 15 min is smaller than the difference after 60 min
and 120 min; however, the numerical simulation results do not match eld inside the cyclone remains in the steady state. The number of par-
the experimental results, either qualitatively or quantitatively. ticles is believed to increase as more particles are introduced to the cy-
This mismatch between the results is considered to be because the clone over time. The increasing number of particles that continue to
model used for the numerical simulation did not consider the effect of swirl increases the resistance of the swirling ow, which is believed to
particle motion on the ow. Thus, it did not incorporate the condition reduce the velocity of the swirling ow inside the cyclone.
of the ow eld in which the velocity of the swirling ow inside the cy- Hence, to improve the accuracy of the partial separation efciency in
clone decreased with time owing to the increased number of particles numerical simulations, the state of the ow eld must be evaluated
within that part of the ow, as described in the previous section. when the velocity of the swirling ow inside the cyclone decreases
Fig. 11 shows an example trajectory of a particle of diameter 0.5 m. owing to the increased number of particles in the cyclone. The Particle
The initial positions of the particles depicted in Fig. 11(a) and (b) are dif- Source In Cell method can be used as a countermeasure for uidparti-
ferent. The particle illustrated in panel (a) ows into the cyclone and de- cle coupled analysis [14]; however, this requires the introduction of a
scends while swirling, and then arrives at the dust collection section.
Thereafter, the particle continues to swirl in the dust collection section.
The particle illustrated in panel (b) ows into the cyclone and descends
while swirling, but reverses the direction of its rotation prior to arriving
at the dust collection section, and then ascends through the center of the
cyclone before being discharged from the exit port at the top. The parti-
cles that continue to swirl in the dust collection section will continue to
swirl without being discharged from the cyclone, so long as the ow

Fig. 9. Comparison of the partial separation efciencies given by the experimental results
and simulation results. Fig. 11. Trajectory of a particle with a diameter of 0.5 m.
608 Y. Kosaki, S. Chono / Powder Technology 305 (2017) 602608
large number of particles into the cyclone, as it takes approximately
60 min for the dust collection and particle classication performance
of the cyclone to reach a constant state, as determined from our exper-
iments. This will entail an enormous computation time, unless the pro-
cessing speed can be accelerated. Developing a practical method for
analyzing transient phenomena inside the cyclone over such relatively
long periods of time is an issue for future work.
5. Conclusion
To clarify the time characteristics of the dust collection and particle
classication performance of cyclones, we conducted an experiment
using actual powder in a conical cyclone of the type used in dust collec-
tion plants. A numerical simulation was then performed using ow
analysis and particle tracking to verify the time characteristics of the
dust collection and particle classication performance. The aim was to
acquire basic data for the design of conical cyclones for dust collection
plants, which are relatively large in size and handle large-volume
dust-containing airows. The conclusions of this study are described
below.
(1) Regarding the time characteristics of the dust collection and par-
ticle classication performance of the conical cyclone, the dust collec-
tion efciency and partial separation efciency of the cyclone decrease
with time, and become approximately constant after 60 min. There is
a positive correlation between the change in dust collection efciency
of the cyclone over time and the change in pressure drop over time.
(2) This decrease in dust collection and particle classication perfor-
mance over time is considered to be caused by the increasing number of
particles that continue to swirl inside the cyclone. Furthermore, the con-
stant pressure drop and dust collection performance after a certain time
is considered to be a result of the velocity of the swirling ow inside the
cyclone reaching a steady state. This is, in turn, because the number of
particles discharged from the cyclone and the number of particles that
become deposited on the inside of the cyclone and stop owing reach
a steady state.
(3) To improve the accuracy of the particle separation efciency in
our numerical simulations, the condition whereby the velocity of the
swirling ow decreases because of the increase in the number of parti-
cles that continue to swirl inside the cyclone must be considered. A large
number of particles must be introduced into the cyclone to perform a
uidparticle coupled analysis that can consider the impact of particles
on the ow eld. However, the computation time would be prohibitive
unless an accelerated method could be developed. This is not currently
economically practical. An issue for future work would be to develop a
method that can analyze the transient phenomena that occur inside
the cyclone over relatively long periods of time.
We plan to investigate the static pressure on the wall surfaces inside
the cyclone, as well as the conditions of the particles that continue to
swirl inside the cyclone when the dust collection and particle classica-
tion performance reach a steady state. This should enable numerical
simulations to predict the conditions required for the dust collection
and particle classication performance of the actual cyclones, as well
as the pressure drop, to attain the steady state.
Disclosure statement
The authors declare that they do not have any conicts of interest.
Source of funding
This research did not receive any specic grant from funding agen-
cies in the public, commercial, or not-for-prot sectors.
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