Design of hydrocyclone for solids-liquid separation

Hydrocyclone is device contain no moving parts and use theory of centrifugal force to achieve solids-liquid separation. It uses in various industries such as oil drilling and waste water management to achieve purpose of environmental protection.  Field operators in various fields are being introduced hydrocyclone by discovered as engineers and project supervisors become familiar with the Hydrocyclones’ versatility in liquid/solids separation, classification, and operation.

Hydrocyclones can be defined as fixed wall solids-liquid separator devices that separate particles according to density and mass by use centrifugal force. Unlike other kind of centrifugal-concept separators, the liquid mixture rotates within the chamber, it have a tangential feed inlet leading into the cylinder portion of the cyclone body. There are two axial outlets: one at the tip of the cone, referred to as the “apex”, and a second outlet at the top of the cyclone, known as the “vortex finder”.

The hydrocyclone is a bottle-like container with cylinder part, the cylinder part of upper cone is mud inlet room; the outboard install a tangential stock inlet; the under-part of cone is open mouth, the size of caliber is changeable and uses it for discharging the solid particles. There is a down inserted overflow pipe on the top center of close vertical cylinder, and extend to below the stock inlet tangent location. The structure is made by cylinder, mud inlet pipe, overflow pipe, sand settling tube.

Hydrocyclones can be construct of metal (mostly steel), ceramic or plastic (such as polyurethane, polypropylene). Metal or ceramic hydrocyclones are used for situations that requiring more strength, or durability in terms of heats and/ or pressure. When there is an occurrence of much abrasion (such as occurs with sand particles) polyurethane performs better than metals or ceramics. Metal lined with polyurethane is used in cases of combined abrasion and high pressure.