Design and Simulation Analysis of Dewatering Hydrocyclones

Prediction of dewatering performance of an industrial hydrocyclone from laboratory model hydrocyclone founds utmost importance. In this case, the challenge lies with the predicting design and operating parameters of industrial-scale hydrocyclones for estimating the efficiency. The laboratory scale hydrocyclone experiments were conducted using silica sand sample at 10% solid concentration for dewatering purpose with a "Mozley" 2-in and 4-in hydrocyclone. The objective of this paper is to predict the design parameters for an industrial dewatering cyclone to achieve at higher solid concentration in the underflow. A model was developed using the equations provided in Nageswararao hydrocyclone model and all model parameters (D 50 constant, capacity constant, volume split constant, water split constant, and sharpness of efficiency curve) were estimated with the help of a simulator. The simulated results provide reasonable accuracy with 2-in and 4-in hydrocyclone dewatering experimental data. A new model was developed with data obtained with the 4-in hydrocyclone experimental work and all the model parameters were estimated. Then, the technique was extended to predict all the dimensions (diameter, cylindrical length, inlet diameter, cone angle, apex diameter, vortex finder) of a full scale dewatering cyclone operating at 100 TPH and 20% solid concentration also with an objective to achieve 45% solid concentration in underflow.