Simulation of hydrocyclone circuit

Abstract

A hydrocyclone is a widely used equipment for solid-liquid separation process. The form of multiple hydrocyclone units connected together into a circuit form is also commonly found if the specific separation performance cannot be achieved by using a single unit alone. In general, a hydrocyclone circuit is normally designed by mass balance principle. Though the method and its effectiveness of the mass balance method are rarely reported in literatures. This paper focuses on the development and clarification of such method. It is found that, while the hydrocyclone’s efficiency curve is assumed to be known, the required inputs for the calculation consist of volume flowrate, particle distribution, and fluid concentration. The calculation outputs are also these variables but for each hydrocyclone unit. The calculation results show that the developed method is able to predict the separation performance of the hydrocyclone circuit, especially if the fluid concentration at each stage is of interest, which is normally the case for actual industrial applications. The dependence between the fluid concentration and the volume flowrate also reflects the actual hydrocyclone circuit operation as the flow control valve is commonly used at different parts of the hydrocyclone circuit to adjust or control the circuit’s separation performance.