In hydrocyclone, the centrifugal force which accelerates the sedimentation is provided by introducing the feed tangentially at high velocity. The particles are subjected to high shear so hydrocyclone are not suitable for delicate crystals.
A hydrocyclone is a mechanical device designed to reduce or increase the concentration of a dispersed phase, solid, liquid or gas of different density, by means of centripetal forces or centrifugal forces within a vortex. Hydrocyclone can also be used to classify, separate or sort particles in a liquid suspension based.
A hydrocyclone is a classifier that has two exits on the axis: one on the bottom (underflow) and one at the top (overflow). The underflow is generally the denser or coarser fraction, while the overflow is the lighter or finer fraction. It has no moving parts and its operation depends two major parameters:
To achieve a small cut size, it is necessary to use a small hydrocyclone but this will have low capacity. For this reason, hydrocyclone are often supplied in assembly of multiple parallel unit, such an assembly is generally referred as a cyclone pack or cluster.
Type of Hydrocyclone: