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Design, Fabrication and Testing Of Hydrocyclone Separator as Sediment

Separation System

Conference Paper · September 2019

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DESIGN, FABRICATION AND TESTING

OF HYDROCYCLONE SEPARATOR AS
SEDIMENT SEPARATION SYSTEM
Bibek Aryal , Prithivi Gurung , Samman Singh Pradhan , Rakish Rabin Dhakal
Shrestha Department of Mechanical Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering Texas Tech University
School of Engineering, Kathmandu University Lubbock, Texas
Kavre, Nepal [email protected]
[email protected]

Aman Kapali
Turbine Testing Laboratory
Department of Mechanical Engineering
School of Engineering, Kathmandu University
Kavre, Nepal

Abstract— Hydrocyclone is a simple mechanical conical section, an underflow cylinder section and a
device, with no moving parts, where solid particles are
separated from liquid with very little head loss. As its name sand collection basket. The separation is based on
describes, it uses a cyclone or tangential injection flow density difference between the liquid and the matter to
process enhancing the centrifugal forces and moving solids
outwards. The dispersed particles, move downwards in a be separated. The principle of centrifugal separation is
spiral path into an underflow chamber, while clean liquid
used to remove or classify solid particles from a fluid,
move upwards to the center of the spiral, towards the top
outlet. In this way, sand and other particles get separated based on particle size, shape and density. Due to the
from the water. Due to the various types of sediments in the
water the mechanical parts of the turbine are damaged. various types of sediments in the water the mechanical
Mainly sediments which are hard and also contains sharp parts of the turbine are damaged. Mainly sediments
edges causes the most damage to the turbine blade. Such
problems due to sediments arise due to varying climate and which are hard and contains sharp edges cause the most
terrain of Nepal. This problem of erosion of mechanical
damage. According to research the most damage is
part due to sediments has become a global maintenance
problem of hydropower plants. This is natural phenomena caused in the turbine blade by these sediments. Such
so it can neither be controlled nor completely stopped but
it can be managed. So that we used this project as model problems arise due to varying climate and terrain of
for protecting turbine blades. The model is designed for the Nepal. This problem of erosion of mechanical part due
removal of sediments of size around 48microns and larger
sizes from sedimental water. The model is designed with to sediments has become a global maintenance problem
combination of 16° cone angles and 0.027, 0.027 and
of hydropower plants. This is natural phenomena so it
0.010m inlet, overflow, underflow cylinder diameters
respectively. The hydrocyclone is fabricated with 1.6mm can neither be controlled nor completely stopped but it
thick mild steel sheet. The initial water sand mixture is
compared with the resulting underflow and overflow. can be managed. [5] [6]
Keywords—Hydrocyclone Separator, Sediments, cut II. Methodology
size
In hydrocyclone unit must be installed
I. Introduction vertically with sedimentation tank under the
Originally in the later part of the 19th century hydrocyclone. Conical shape accelerates the velocity
hydrocyclone was used as a solid/liquid separator to of the water increasing centrifugal forces and
remove sand from well water. Later on cyclone shape maximizing separation. It’s easy to operate and
hydroelectric power plant is also introduced with name maintain with no moving parts or screens. There is no
Gravitational Water Vortex Power Plant [1] [2] [3] [4].A head loss build-up or clogging during separation.
typical hydrocyclone consists of a cylindrical section, a

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There are various design parameters of hydrocyclone Cylinder section length:

which are as follows: Typically, hydrocyclone have a cylinder
section length equal to or greater than the
Cone angle:
hydrocyclone diameter. The length of cylinder
For design purpose, 16° cone angles were
section should be 3 times the overflow pipe diameter.
chosen [7] .The larger the hydro cyclone diameter, the
In the present study, the cylinder section length was
coarser the separation. The included angle of the cone
chosen as 2.5 times the overflow pipe. For this project
section is normally between 10° and 20°.
we made the length 0.070 m.
Cone section length:
Vortex finder design:
The length of cone depends upon the
Vortex finder takes the clean water and
underflow cylinder diameter and cone angle. And for
delivers it to the outlet. If the length of vortex finder
this project we made it 0.280m.
increases, it is likely to disturb the vortex and result
in coarser separation of particles. So, the length of the
vortex finder should be optimum and is found by a
trial and error method. In this study, the length of the
vortex finder was kept at 0.16m.

Height of hydrocyclone:
The height from the top of the outflow pipe
to the end of the underflow cylinder section is referred
to as total height of hydrocyclone. And for this project
the total height of the hydrocyclone is 0.40m.

Cut size:
The cut size is defined as the diameter (†) of a
particle, which has a probability of n% to end up in the
underflow section. The design probability (n) of
trapping of particles in the collection basket was taken
Fig. 1. Typical Hydrocyclone [6]
as 50%. Particle separation is based on the density

Inlet and overflow section diameters: difference between the liquid and the matter to be
separated. A higher density difference results in a finer
The inlet and overflow pipe diameter values
separation. The hydrocyclone was designed by using
were fixed at 0.027 and 0.027m, respectively for a flow
the mathematical expression given by,
rate of 3.6m3/h. To increase the intake capacity of a
hydrocyclone, its inlet diameter has to be increased.
 ൈ ͲǤͲͳ ൈ ͲǤͷሺ െ ଴ ሻ  ൈ ͳͺ᳹
Cylinder section diameter: †௣  ൌ  ඨ 
ሺᐥ௦  െ  ᐥ௟ ሻɉƒ
In the present study, all the six models
including the control model had a diameter of 0.198 m
where,
(I.D.) which was 3.73 times the overflow pipe diameter.
݀௣ = Diameter of removed particle, m
The diameter of cylinder section of the cyclone should
be 2 times the overflow pipe diameter. n = Probability of trapping of particles, %
For this project cylinder diameter is 0.100m. D= Diameter of cylindrical part, m

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‫ܦ‬଴ = Diameter of overflow, m The experimental setup for testing the

ཱ= Dynamic viscosity of water, pa-s hydrocyclone performance is illustrated in the Fig. 2.

ᐥௌ =Density of solid, kg/m³ The pump of 1.5 L/s discharge rate was taken for the
testing of the hydrocyclone. Experimentally, the
ᐥ௟ = Density of liquid, kg/m³
discharge rate of the pump was found to be 1.35 L/s
Ȝ 5HVLGHQFHtime, s
by putting some specific known volume of water and
a= Acceleration, m/s²
noting the time at which the pump discharges that
୐
Ȝ  ్ specific volume. Then, 100 gm sediment of size less
ీ;షీబ ;
ಘሺ ర ሻ than 250 µm was added to the water of known
L= Length of cyclone from top inlet to end of volume. It was noted that the overflow discharge rate
cone, m was 1 L/s. The clean water pressure drops in the
୙೔ ; model of hydrocyclone was recorded. The sample of
ƒ ൌ
ୈȀଶ
200 mL from each of the three outlets was collected
where, ௜ = Initial velocity, m/s
and analyzed and the concentration was filtered using
୕
௜ ൌ  filter paper. The dry mass of the sediment was
୅೎
measured to calculate the efficiency of the cylone.
Where, Q= Inlet flow rate, m³/s
These values were then compared with the particle
஠
௖ ൌ  ൈ ‫ܦ‬଴ ; = Cross-sectional area of inlet size distribution of the sand sample that was fed into
ସ
pipe, m² [8].
the system. The overall trapping efficiency of the
hydrocyclone was calculated by using the following
Fabrication and testing of hydrocyclone: formula given by
୛ೠ
The cylinder section and cone section of the ൌ൤ ൨ ൈ ͳͲͲΨ
୛೑

hydrocyclone was fabricated by using M.S. (mild where,

steel) sheet of 1.6mm thickness. Commercially
E =trapping efficiency of hydrocyclone, dimensionless
available 0.027m diameter mild steel pipe was used
to fabricate the inlet and outlet sections of the ௨ = mass fraction in the feed flow, dimensionless
hydrocyclone.
௙ = mass fraction in the underflow, dimensionless [8]
Experimental procedure:

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results obtained from the experiment on
design, fabrication and testing of hydrocyclones are
discussed in this section.

Design of hydrocyclone:
It was observed that the cone angle and the
underflow cylinder diameter were the main variables
for the design of the hydrocyclone. The model was
designed to remove particles of size 48microns and
more.
Fig. 2. Testing of hydrocyclone

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Here we take, ௨
 ൌ ቈ ቉  ൈ ͳͲͲΨ
௙
n= 50%

D= 0.10m

‫ܦ‬଴ = 0.027m Š‡”‡ǡ  ൌ ˆˆ‹ ‹‡ ›

͹Ͳ
ཱ= 8.96×ͳͲିସ pa.s  ൌ ൤ ൨ ൈ ͳͲͲΨ ൌ ͹ͲΨ
ͳͲͲ
ᐥ௦ =1680 kg/m³

ᐥ௟ =1000 kg/m³ According to the calculation, it is assumed that the

L=0.40m hydrocylone separator should be able to separate particle

Q=0.001 m³/s size of more than 48 microns and it was planned to

గ design the separator accordingly. After the fabrication,

௖ ൌ  ൈ  ሺͲǤͲʹ͹ሻ;= 5.72×10^-4 m²
ସ
the testing is performed with the separator using the sand
௅
Ȝ  ೂ = 3s that was available of less than 250 microns and the
ీ;షీ౥;
ಘ൬ ൰
ర efficiency is calculated by measuring certain volume of
ொ underflow, overflow and the feed rate and nearly 70%
௜ ൌ  = 0.74m/s
୅೎
efficiency was found which shows that this design and
୙೔ ;
ƒ ൌ = 60.96 m/s² the final result was somewhat similar as less than 50
ୈȀଶ

microns sand were not able to be tested on the separator

due to various problems. The graph below shows that
Now,
separation efficiency increases with particle size which
 ൈ ͲǤͲͳ ൈ ͲǤͷሺ െ ଴ ሻ  ൈ ͳͺ᳹ matches our conclusion.
†௣  ൌ  ඨ 
ሺᐥ௦  െ  ᐥ௟ ሻɉƒ

ͷͲ ൈ ͲǤͲͳ ൈ ͲǤͷ ൈ  ሺͲǤͳͲ െ ͲǤͲʹ͹ሻ ൈ ͳͺ

ඩ ൈ ͺǤͻ͸ ൈ ͳͲିସ 
†௣ ൌ 
ሺͳ͸ͺͲ െ ͳͲͲͲሻ ൈ ͵ ൈ ͸ͲǤͻ͸

†௣ ൌ ͶͺǤͷ͹ ൈ ͳͲି଺ ൌ Ͷͺρ

Therefore, the diameter of removed particle for our

hydro cyclone must be 48µm.

Again, for efficiency of hydrocyclone

‘–ƒŽ‹š–—”‡ ൌ ͺͲͲͲ‰ ൅ ͳͲͲ‰ ൌ ͺͳͲͲ

௨ ൌ ƒ••ˆ”ƒ –‹‘‘ˆ—†‡”ˆŽ‘™
ƒ••‘ˆ—†‡”ˆŽ‘™ ͹Ͳ‰ Figure 1: Sediment Removal Efficiency comparison between
௨ ൌ ൌ
‘–ƒŽ‹š–—”‡ ͺͳͲͲ‰ theoretical and designed test apparatus

௙ ൌ ƒ••ˆ”ƒ –‹‘‘ˆˆ‡‡† IV. CONCLUSION

ƒ••‘ˆˆ‡‡† The hydrocyclone is capable of separating

௙ ൌ ൌ ͳͲͲ‰ȀͺͳͲͲ‰
‘–ƒŽ‹š–—”‡ particles upto 48µm critical diameter at flow rate 1
lit/sec with 70% separation efficiency. The efficiency

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is affected by the dimensional errors. Increasing the [ 4 ] Dhakal , Sagar , et al . " Effect of dominant
parameters for conical basin : Gravitational water
dimensional accuracy will increase the separation
vortex power plant." Proceedings of IOE graduate
efficiency. This device is aimed to replace the settling conference. 2014.

tanks in hydropower plants to minimize head loss and [5] B. Thapa, "Sand Erosion in Hydraulic
Machinery," March 2010. [Online]. Available:
increase the separation efficiency.
Fakultet for in geniørvitenskap ogteknologi
online. [Accessed 09 07 2019].

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT [6] H. Neopane, "Sediment Erosion in Hydro

Turbines," March 2010. [Online]. [Accessed
This project was possible due to the supervision and October 2018].
information provided to us by our supervisors
[7] G. D. A. G. PRAVEEN, "Study on design and
Er.Aman Kapali and Er. Rabin Dhakal. So we are performance evaluation of hydrocyclone seperator
thankful to them for providing support and we also for micro irrigation system," International Journal
of Agricultural Engineering, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 200-
like to acknowledge Turbine Testing lab (TTL) for 205, October 2011.
support. [8] G. D. A. G. PRAVEEN, "Study on design and
performance evaluation of hydrocyclone
V. References separators for micro-irrigation system," July 2011.
[Online]. [Accessed Dec 2018].

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[3] Dhakal, Rabin, et al. "Inlet and Outlet Geometrical

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