Investigation on separation performance and structural optimization of a two-stage series cyclone using CPFD and RSM.

• The flow characteristics in the two-stage series cyclone separator were simulated. • The separation performance was interpreted by analyzing particle distribution. • The two-stage cyclone separator was optimized using response surface methodology. Cyclones are generally operated in series when the efficiency of a single cyclone is not sufficient for the process. This study firstly used computational particle fluid dynamics (CPFD) to simulate the gas-solid two-phase flow characteristics in a two-stage series cyclone separator. The separation efficiency and distribution of energy consumption was interpreted by analyzing particle distribution characteristics. Secondly, the structure of the two-stage cyclone separator was optimized via response surface methodology (RSM) to make up for the disadvantage that the distribution of the separation load was non-uniform. The results showed that the grade efficiency for 3 μm of the first-stage cyclone separator was increased from 45.408% to 59.932% compared to the original model. The pressure drop of the first-stage cyclone separator is about 2.147 kPa while the second-stage cyclone separator is about 2.774 kPa. It can be seen that the overall optimized two-stage cyclone separator has the advantages of high efficiency, low energy consumption and load-balanced separation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]