Performance evaluation of industrial large-scale cyclone separator with novel vortex finder

Abstract This paper presents an experimental and numerical study on an industrial large-scale tangential-inlet cyclone separator with a novel and easy-to-implement vortex finder. The vortex finder was designed with slots on the side wall to improve cyclone performance. The collection efficiency, pressure drop, and interior flow field were analyzed. The proposed device provides an effective gas flow pathway and a coupled swirl-inertia separation mechanism, which eliminates short circuit flows under the bottom inlet of the slotted vortex finder to reduce the swirling intensity and minimize the flow instability in the separator. The pressure drop was reduced up to 27.9% compared to the conventional separator and the maximal increase in collection efficiency was 5.45%. The results presented here may provide a workable reference regarding the effects of vortex finders on improving flow fields and corresponding performance in industrial large-scale cyclone separators.