Experimental Study of the Influence of Vortex Finder Geometry on Hydrocyclones Performance

Hydrocyclones are widely used for particle separation due to advantages such as: low cost, simple structure, large capacity and small volume. Several geometric changes have been suggested to improve the particle separation efficiency and reduce energy costs of hydrocyclones. In a previous work of hydrocyclones optimization, our research group has found a hydrocyclone with good separation efficiency and low cost energy, the so-called HC11. In the present paper, a mantle type vortex finder is developed for the HC11 hydrocyclone and the impact of this structural modification on the equipment's performance is evaluated. Three configurations of the mantle vortex finder were built and the experimental results were compared with those of the conventional HC11. The new vortex finder configuration did not lead to great changes in the Euler number (energy cost) but in all of them the cut size was significantly reduced.