Hydrocyclones – Ultra Efficient
| A hydrocyclone is a device for separating a solid-liquid mixture during an industrial process by using a conical vortex and centrifugal force. Depending on the application, we may use a hydrocyclone in a system to provide primary stage filtration to remove larger particles before we pass the water to finer levels of the filtration process. The hydrocyclone uses cyclonic separation which is a method of removing particulates from a water stream, without the use of filters, through vortex separation. Rotational effects and gravity are used to separate mixtures of solids and fluids. A high speed rotating water flow is established within a cylindrical or conical container called a cyclone. Air flows in a spiral pattern, beginning at the top (wide end) of the cyclone and ending at the bottom (narrow) end before exiting the cyclone in a straight stream through the center of the cyclone and out the top. Larger (denser) particles in the rotating stream have too much inertia to follow the tight curve of the stream and strike the outside wall, falling then to the bottom of the cyclone where they can be removed. In a conical system, as the rotating flow moves towards the narrow end of the cyclone the rotational radius of the stream is reduced, separating smaller and smaller particles. The cyclone geometry, together with flow rate, defines the cut point of the cyclone. This is the size of particle that will be removed from the stream with a 50% efficiency. Particles larger than the cut point will be removed with a greater efficiency, and smaller particles with a lower efficiency. |
