Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Cyclone Cylinders Diameter on Particle Separation Performance

Cyclones are widely used equipment in the industry for dust collection from fluid flows to reduce industrial pollution on the environment. In cyclones, the effect of the centrifugal force of the fluid and the difference in particle density compared to the fluid are used for particle and dust separation. The main criteria for evaluating the performance of a cyclone in dust separation are the pressure drop and the particle collection efficiency. In this study, the effect of the diameter of the cyclone cylinders, where the ratio of the upper to the lower cylinder diameter is 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2, on the particle collection efficiency and pressure drop was investigated. The simulation was performed with ANSYS Fluent 2023 software. Turbulent flow was considered. The inlet velocity and cyclone cylinder were 1 m/s and 20 cm respectively. The results showed that by increasing the diameter of the cyclone cylinders up to 4 times, the efficiency increases by more than twice, and the pressure drop is not changed significantly.