cfd modeling and industrial evaluation of a cyclone cascade for the production of the hdpe catalyst

A new approach is proposed to evaluate various designs for gas-solid cyclone separators. this approach uses single-phase flow simulation results to find a quantitative measure of flow symmetry in a given cyclone. flow symmetry is computed by averaging imbalances of non-axial velocities throughout the cyclone. using this approach, two standard design methods are evaluated and the cyclone with a more symmetric flow pattern is chosen as a starting point for further design improvements by reducing the diameter of its vortex finder. two-phase computational fluid dynamics (cfd) simulations compute 90.2 % collection efficiency for the improved design. cfd simulations reveal using a cascade of four cyclones results in an overall 99.98 % collection efficiency. once installed in the actual industrial setting, the cyclone cascade achieves a 98.56 % collection efficiency and a particle size distribution which is in good agreement with cfd computed results.