Analysis of the performance of a novel dust collector combining cyclone separator and cartridge filter

The cyclone separator has a simple structure but cannot effectively separate respirable dust of smaller particle sizes. The cartridge filter has a high separation efficiency, but its pressure drop increases too rapidly, requiring frequent cleaning operations. To make up for these defects, a novel cartridge-filtering cyclone combining both cyclone separator and cartridge filter is presented. Its performance parameters, including pressure drop, overall separation efficiency, grading efficiency, and cleaning interval, were studied experimentally and compared with those of the common cyclone and cartridge filter. The cartridge-filtering cyclone first pre-separates the larger particles by swirling airflow, and then filters out the fine particles through the filter cartridges, thus slowing down the increasing rate of the pressure drop and forming denser dust layers attached to the surface of the filter cartridges. The experimental results show that the cartridge-filtering cyclone has a better dust removal effect. At an inlet flow rate of 50 m3/h, the separation efficiency of the cartridge-filtering is 99.86%, which is 15.32% and 0.05% higher than that of the common cyclone and cartridge filter, respectively. In particular, the cartridge-filtering cyclone has a preferable separation effect on fine particles, with a separation efficiency for 2.5 μm particles of 99.11%, which is 70.80% and 0.08% higher than that of the common cyclone and cartridge filter, respectively. Compared with the cartridge filter, the cleaning interval of the cartridge-filtering cyclone is extended and the total dust emission is reduced. Over the whole experimental period, the average cleaning interval and dust emission concentration of the cartridge-filtering cyclone are 1290.05 seconds and 12.06 mg/m3 respectively, while that of the cartridge filter are 805.32 seconds and 14.59 mg/m3, respectively.