A practical model for estimating pressure drop in cyclone separators: An experimental study

•A new model has been proposed to estimate cyclone pressure drop with R2 = 0.976.•The model offers simplicity and accuracy together unlike the former ones.•The model uses body, conical, and vortex finder heights for cyclone pressure drop.•Model can be used for clean pressure drop which is very useful for cyclone designers.

An experimental study regarding the effects of body height (hb), conical height (hc), and vortex finder height (S) on cyclone pressure drop was performed. Pressure drops were measured at six different inlet velocities in the range of 10 to 24 m/s. The dimensions of hb, hc, and S were in the range of D to 2D, 2D to 3D, and 0.5D to 0.7D, respectively. The experimental results suggested that the pressure drop decreases with an increase in hb and hc, while it increases as S increases. Several models in current literature were tested for their performance in explaining the pressure drop components in cyclones. Besides, a new model was suggested to estimate cyclone pressure drop. Agreement between experimental and calculated pressure drops were weak to moderate for all models in current literature. In contrast, the new model fitted the experimental data very well and this model is suggested for clean pressure drop in cyclone separators. Ratios of predicted to measured pressure drops for the new model ranged between 0.388 and 1.785. The average value was 1.059. The residuals from the new model were normally distributed around the mean value of zero with a negligible positive skewness. The new model can be confidently used for estimating clean pressure drop with R2 = 0.976.

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