Designing the Spigot Structure of Hydrocyclones to Reduce Fine Particle Misplacement in Underflow

Abstract

Hydrocyclones can be used to concentrate the entrained sands in sewage and alleviate the clogging and erosion of the drainage network, but in practical application, there are problems such as low concentrations of underflow and a high content of fine particles, which cause a significant load on the subsequent sand dewatering and recycling. This paper designs five spigot structures of hydrocyclones and investigates the separation performance by numerical simulation, aiming to improve the applicability of hydrocyclones in the sewage treatment process by optimizing the spigot structure. The research results show that a large cone spigot delays the external downward swirling flow and reduces fine particle content in the underflow, but its effective separation space is reduced, and the turbulence in the cone section area is more intensive, which influences the separation accuracy. An elongated spigot has a reduced underflow water distribution; fine particles are more enriched in the internal swirling flow, and the underflow recoveries of 1 μm and 5 μm particles drop by 2.34% and 2.31%. The spigot structure affects the downward fluid and air intake states; complicated spigot structures contribute to increasing the resistance of particle discharge through underflow, alleviating fine particle misplacement.