LAB IV

CDB 3082
(LONG REPORT)
Experiment 4: DOUBLE CYCLONE SYSTEM
GROUP:
GROUP

B1
NAME

ID NUMBER

MOHAMAD NUR SALAM BIN MOHD

19315

YUNUS
NOR AYUNI BINTI ZAIDI
RAGAVI PALANIAPPAN
HUSSIEN SAQAFF ALKAFF

19380
19292
19469

MEMBERS:

LAB INSTRUCTOR:
DATE OF

28 JULY 2016

EXPERIMENT:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

N
O

CONTENTS

PAGE

1
2
3
4
5

INTRODUCTION
LITERATURE REVIEW
METHODOLOGY
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

3-4
5-8
9-10
11-14
15

INTRODUCTION
Literally, cyclone or sometimes known as cyclone collectors, cyclone separators, centrifugal
separators, and inertial separators are the pollution control devices that imply a centrifugal force
to separate the dust particles from the gas streams. The operation of this device initially starts
when the gas stream enters at angle and it is started to spin rapidly. Associated with that, the
circular motion that subsequently creates the centrifugal force tends to throw the dust particles
towards the wall of the cyclone. Lastly, after striking the wall, these dust particles will fall by
gravity into a hopper located underneath. In the meantime, the opposing of these outward particle
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motions is the inward drag force, which tends to cause the clean flowing outward for discharging
process.
Besides, cyclones also can be classified into two, which namely as single-cyclone or multicyclone. And when comparing these two technologies, multi-cyclone which consist of
several small cyclones working in parallel mode bring the greatest collection efficiency. This is
due to the fact that multi-cyclone are much longer and smaller in diameter. As the length
increases, it may enhance residence time for the particles to be trapped inside the device. Even
more, longer in size may increase the surface area between the particles and the wall or surface
of the cyclone. Meanwhile, at the smaller diameter, it may increase the centrifugal force.
Therefore, the combination of these two factors may results in higher efficiency of the particles
collection.

Apart from that, the cyclones also can be categorized into three classes which namely as
high throughput, conventional or high efficiency. The determination of these kinds of cyclones
usually depends on the industrial requirement or the manufacturers interest as well.

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Advantages
Low capital cost
No moving parts: lack of maintenance requirements and low operating cost
Temperature
construction

and

pressure

limitations only

dependent

on

the

materials

of

Small space requirements

Dry collection and disposal
Disadvantages
Low collection efficiency especially for very small particles (< 10m)
High operating cost due to power required to overcome pressure drop
Unable to handle sticky or tacky materials

LITERATURE REVIEW
Cyclone separation is a typical solid-gas or liquid solid separation
device. It consist of avertical cylinder with a conical bottom, a tangential inlet
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near the top and an outlet for dust at the bottom of the cone. A cyclone
separator is a mechanical device using geometry andcentrifugal acceleration
to affect separation of suspended particles from a gaseous or liquidstream. It
can be designed for high temperature and pressure operation.
Cyclone often being used for sophisticated air pollution control
equipment and prevent particulate matter from entering the atmosphere. In
industry it being used to control emissions from the dryers, crushers,
incinerators, pre-cleaners and kilns. Cyclone are more efficient for removing
particulate matter than are settling chambers, but it is less efficient than wet
scrubbers, baghouses or electrostatic precipitators.

Cyclone capable to

remove more than 80% of the particles that are greater than 20m in
diameter. Smaller particles that escape the cyclone can then be collected by
more efficient control equipment.
Mechanisms of Cyclone
Cyclone use centrifugal force that were generated by a spinning gas
stream to separate the particulate matter (solid or liquid) from the carrier
gas. The movement of dirt being illustrate by the figure below.

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Figure 1: Cylcone
Generally, all cyclone separators feature an indirect path from hose
intake to hose outlet. That is, airflow and particle travel is not a short
distance from inlet to outlet. Airflow starts at the inlet and follows along a
downwards helical path until it reaches the bottom of the conical section. The
vertical upwards return flow towards the vacuum outlet starts at the center
of the cyclone near the bottom.
The heaviest debris wood chips, shavings, and such quickly fall to
the bottom of the separator. These larger particles collide with the cyclone
walls, lose speed, and gravity helps pull them down towards the collection
container.
Lighter and medium-sized particles continue on the helical airflow path
along the walls of the cyclone or separator. At the bottom of the cyclone the
conical section helps to further separate medium-sized particles from the
airflow.
Some lighter particles will remain in the helical airflow, some will be
separated with the medium-sized particles. The smaller radius of the taper
means a greater wall-hugging force that keeps the smaller particles away
from the center.

Collection efficiency
The collection efficiency typically depends on the movement of gas
and particles and alsothe particles sizes.
1. Cyclone fractional efficiency
Cyclone fractional efficiency is the weight of stated size of particles collected
in the hopper divided by the total weight of the same size particles entering
the cyclone. The collection efficiency increase as:
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- The increase of particles size and density

- Increasing speed of cyclone rotation in the cyclone vortex.
- Decreasing cyclone diameter.
- Increasing cyclone length.

2. Cyclone grades efficiency

A cyclone grade efficiency curve related the particle size to the
cyclone efficiency on particle of that size going to the cyclone. The grade
efficiency curve for Stairmans high efficiencycyclone (Figure 1) show that
efficiency continuously increase with increasing the particle diameter, and
approach to 100% asymptomatically for a sufficient large particle. Efficiency
is generally good for dusts where particle diameters are larger than 5 m.

The performance of the cyclone depending on the design and the

parameters. The effect to the efficiency can be summarized by the table
below.

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METHODOLOGY
Experiment 1: To Study the Effect of Cyclone Body Diameter upon
Collection Efficiency
1. Empty feed container and dust hopper are weighted. (First experiment
using smaller size of cyclone)
2. 50 g of kaolin are weighed and poured slowly into the feed container.
3. Air pump is connected to the feed container using the tubing provided
and the needle valve is ensured to be closed initially.
4. Feed container is attached to the holder and adjusted so that outlet of
feed container is just inside the inlet piping of the cyclone.
5. Outlet dust filter is cleaned.
6. All items and connection are assembled and tightened properly before
starting experiment.
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7. Main switched is switched on and start button is pushed to start the air
blower.
8. Inverter controller is adjusted to achieve inlet air velocity of 10.02 m/s.
9. Air pump is switched on and needle valve is opened slowly until boiling
phenomena is observed. Stopwatch is started simultaneously.
10.

Experiment is run for 10 minutes.

11.

Air blower is switched off first once experiment is completed.

12.

Feed container and dust hopper are detached and the kaolin

inside are weighed separately.

13.

Collection efficiency of the cyclone is determined using the

weight of sample loaded and collected.

14.

Experiment is repeated with big cyclone.

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Experiment 2: To Study the Effect of Air Inlet Velocity on Efficiency

1. Empty feed container and dust hopper are weighted.
2. 50 g of kaolin are weighed and poured slowly into the feed container.
3. Air pump is connected to the feed container using the tubing provided
and the needle valve is ensured to be closed initially.
4. Feed container is attached to the holder and adjusted so that outlet of
feed container is just inside the inlet piping of the cyclone.
5. Outlet dust filter is cleaned.
6. All items and connection are assembled and tightened properly before
starting experiment.
7. Main switched is switched on and start button is pushed to start the air
blower.
8. Inverter controller is adjusted to achieve inlet air velocity of 10.02 m/s.
9. Air pump is switched on and needle valve is opened slowly until boiling
phenomena is observed. Stopwatch is started simultaneously.
10.

Experiment is run for 10 minutes.

11.

Air blower is switched off first once experiment is completed.

12.

Feed container and dust hopper are detached andthe kaolin

inside are weighed separately.

13.

Collection efficiency of the cyclone is determined using the

weight of sample loaded and collected.

14.

Experiment is repeated with different air inlet velocities of 7m/s

and 5m/s.

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RESULTS & DISCUSSION

A) RESULTS
Type
of
Cyclo
ne

Pressure
Velocity Differen
of
Air ce
in
(m/s)
Venturi
(in.H2O)

Pressure
Differenc
e
in
Cyclone
(in.H2O)

Final Weight
Remaining
in
Feed
Container,
WR (g)

10.02
15.9
26.0
32.76
7.00
8.1
12.7
33.36
5.00
4.0
5.0
38.48
10.02
15.9
1.4
32.42
Big
7.00
8.0
0.3
33.74
5.00
4.0
0.0
40.95
Table 1: Data collection for both experiments.
Small

Weight of
Kaolin
Obtained
in
the
Outlet, WH
(g)
15.17
13.47
8.79
11.02
8.80
4.52

Efficiency,

87.99
80.95
76.30
62.68
54.12
49.94

Collection Efficiency vs Velocity

100
90
80
Small
CycloneEfficiency
Linear70
(Small Cyclone)
Total
Collection

Big Cyclone

Linear (Big Cyclone)

60
50
40

10

11

Velocity (m/s)

Graph 1: The graph showing the total collection efficiency of both

small and big cyclone versus the velocity of the inlet air velocity

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B) CALCULATIONS
Total Collection Efficiency
=

WH
100
W SW R

Where,

WHis the weight of sample in collected in outlet

WSis the weight of sample added into the feed container
WRis the weight of sample in remaining in the feed container
is the total collection efficiency

Sample Calculation
Diameter of Cyclone
Small
Mass of Kaolin in the Feed Container, (g)
50.00
Final Weight Remaining in Feed Container,
32.76
WR (g)
Weight of Kaolin Obtained in the Outlet, W H
15.17
(g)

Total Collection Efficiency , =

WH
100
W S W R

15.17
100
50.0032.76

=87.99303944

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C) DISCUSSION
This experiment was performed to study the effect of cyclone body
diameter upon collection efficiency. There are two different type of
cyclone body diameter to produce two different flow rates. Cyclone body
diameter of 200 mm (Big cyclone) and 75 mm(Small cyclone) was tested
to study the objective of the experiment where it was tested one after
another.
During the experiment, 50 g of kaolin was used as sample to test for
cyclone body diameter efficiency. As for first run, the cyclone body
diameter of 200 mm was tested. According to the data collected in Table
1.0, the collection efficiency obtained for 200 mm cyclone diameter was
55.58%. Collection efficiency of second run with 75 mm cyclone body
was81.75 %. The weight of sample collected in dust hopper for cyclone
diameter 200 mm and 75 mm was 8.11 g and 12.47 g respectively.
200mm
75mm
Air flow rate, Q (m /h)
1133.23
159.631
Inlet velocity, v; (m/s)
10.02
10.02
Collection efficiency, (%)
55.58
81.75
From the data obtained through this experiment it shows that the collection
3

efficiency of cyclone diameter of 75 mm is higher than the 200 mm cyclone

diameter. While, the inlet velocity v (m/s), and pressure drop (in water ) of
200 mm cyclone diameter is higher than the 75 mm cyclone diameter.
Cheremisinoff, 2002 said that cyclone efficiency will decrease with increases
in gas velocity, body diameter, gas exit diameter, gas inlet duct area, and
gas density. Hence, the experimental values obtained from this experiment is
actually obey the above mentioned theoretical statement where as in this
experiment, the higher the flow rate Q (m 3/h), inlet velocity v (m/s), and

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pressure drop (in water ), the lower the collection efficiency. During low flow
rate and low inlet velocity, more particulate matter (kaolin) able to carry via
the cyclone body. So, more dust can be collected.

The collection efficiency of double cyclone system can be relate through

an expression of centrifugal force:

F = pd3pv2p

R
Where,
p= particle density, lb / ft3 (kg/m3)
dp = particle diameter, inches (m)
vp = particle tangential velocity, ft/s (m/s)
r = radius of the circular path, ft (m)
The larger the density p, the greater the force, F. The larger particles d p, are
more easily to be collected. The force also increase when the radius of the
circular path, r reduced. This is why smaller cyclones are more efficient for
collection of smaller sized particles like kaolin dust in this experiment. The
pressure drop of large diameter cyclone body may be due to some factors. It
loss due to expansion of gas when it enters the cyclone chamber. Loss as
kinetic energy of rotation in the cyclone chamber. Loss due to wall friction in
the cyclone chamber. Any additional friction losses in the exit duct, resulting
from the swirling flow above and beyond those incurred by straight flow. Any
regain of the rotational kinetic energy as pressure energy. Even though, the
double cyclone system has higher collection efficiency, it have both pros and
cons. As for advantage, it has little maintenance, simple construction, and
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does not have moving components. While the disadvantages is it can create
noise, unable to handle sticky or tacky materials, low output for low particle
diameter, and high pressure drop (0.5 - 2.5 kPa). Pressure drop and collection
efficiency are the two major criteria used to evaluate cyclone performance.
Both properties are functions of cyclone dimensions: inlet height (W), inlet
width (H), gas outlet diameter (De ), outlet duct length (S), cyclinder height
(Lb), cyclone height (Lc), and dust outlet diameter (Do).

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

Through this experiment, we have managed to achieve our desired objectives
and conduct two sets of experiments which are, studying the effect of cyclone body
diameter upon collection efficiency and also studying the effect of air inlet velocity
on efficiency. Based on the results, we can conclude that smaller size of cyclone has
more efficiency compared to larger sized cyclone. From the second part, we can
conclude that higher velocity of inlet air will lead to higher efficiency.
Therefore, the most ideal type of cyclone system would be the small
diameter cyclone with higher air inlet velocity to achieve the highest efficiency as
per the results obtained.
ERROR & RECOMMENDATIONS
There are several errors that occur when conducting this experiment that
result to inaccuracy of the result recorded.
1. Error: Inaccurate reading of the kaolin collected due to the residual collected
at the bottom of the container.
Recommendation: Use an automated weighing balance inside the system
to measure the amount of kaolin collected accurately.
2. Error: The kaolin got pumped all at once into the dust hopper.
Recommendation: Need to switch on the machine with a small amount of
velocity and gradually increase it to the desired value. Gently knock the tube
to ensure accuracy in the amount of kaolin pumped.

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