Optimization of the design and performance of hydrocyclones by Differential Evolution technique

Several geometries of the hydrocyclones have been proposed in the literature to improve the separation efficiency or reduce the energy costs. In the present paper, a new geometrical configuration of hydrocyclone has been found through the use of response surface technique combined with the Differential Evolution algorithm. The result obtained with these optimization techniques has been validated by experimental data. The optimized configuration of hydrocyclone presented a high efficiency and a small reduced cut size.

► An optimization study of the hydrocyclone design has been performed.
► The Differential Evolution algorithm has been used in the optimization.
► 25 different hydrocyclones were built to find equations to predict the hydrocyclone performance.
► Tests with the optimized geometry have been performed to validate the proposed methodology.
► The experimental results confirm the better performance of optimized hydrocyclone.