THE EFFECT OF HYDROCYCLONE INLET DESIGN VARIATIONS USING CFD SIMULATION TO IMPROVE SALT SEPARATION EFFICIENCY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35261/barometer.v11i3.13166Abstract
This study aims to analyze the performance of a hydrocyclone in separating salt particles from brine solution using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The analyzed hydrocyclone configurations include variations in inlet angles (0° and 90°), inlet velocities (1.5 m/s and 2.25 m/s), and salt particle sizes (210 microns and 250 microns). The simulation results show that the distribution of static pressure follows a characteristic pattern, with the highest pressure around 1130.26 Pa in the S2 (A) configuration and the lowest at -177.36 Pa in the center of the flow, indicating an efficient centrifugal force. The radial velocity in S2 (A) shows a moderate variation, reaching 1.42 m/s at the top and gradually decreasing to -0.19 m/s at the bottom. The tangential velocity in S2 (A) is also relatively stable, with the highest value reaching 1.68 m/s, indicating a more controlled flow compared to other configurations. The S2 (A) configuration also shows the highest separation efficiency of 96.48%, with a moderate pressure drop of 835.07 Pa, indicating that this system is not only effective in separating particles but also energy-efficient in the separation process. Compared to other configurations, such as S1 (A), which has a slightly lower efficiency (95.85%), and S1 (B) and S2 (B), which show lower separation efficiencies, S2 (A) provides an optimal combination of separation efficiency and pressure drop.
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References
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