Permeable Wall Cyclone

• Client: DTI
• Financing agency: DTI/EDT

Control of atmospheric dust emissions, or recovery of fine product material from gas streams are major commercial concerns, which show the importance of gas cleaning technology in industry. Keeping the cost, and size, of gas cleaning plant down is critical to competitiveness.

This project was designed to test and demonstrate a new hybrid cyclone/filter separator that could offer cost and size efficient particulate collection for a number of industrial processes, including solid fuel combustion for steam raising.

A patent search has confirmed the novelty of the new collector. Its key feature should allow the combination of conventional fluid mechanics of a simple inertial cyclone separator with the superior performance of a filter. It allows more particulate material to remain in close proximity to the separator wall and hence increases the proportion of solids captured.

The technical objective of this work was to demonstrate a significant improvement in particulate collection efficiency for the novel separator over that of conventional cyclones. A prototype cyclone was constructed, based on an existing commercial test rig. On-line particle sizing was to be used, so that detailed grade efficiency information could be obtained for a range of operating conditions.

The broad objective of demonstrating improved cyclone dust collection was successfully achieved.