Post Cyclone (PoC): An Innovative Way To Reduce the Emission of Fines from Industrial Cyclones

A novel approach for reducing the emission of industrial-scale cyclones of particles smaller than 10 μm is presented. Utilizing the strong swirl already present in the vortex finder of a conventional cyclone, the escaped dust from the cyclone is collected in a so-called “Post Cyclone” (PoC), which is a cylindrical annular shell located on top of the vortex finder. Experiments were conducted in a cyclone larger than the usual laboratory range (diameter = 0.4 m) with different configurations of the PoC and spanning a range of operating conditions. Flow patterns and collection efficiencies for the cyclone and the PoC, both individually and in combination, were calculated and compared with experimental data. Both the experiments and simulations indicate a decrease in emission of particles of 1−3 μm by around 30%, rising with particle size to around 50% for 5 μm particles.