cyclone separation question

[photoman290]

cyclone separator for WMO


anyone used a cyclone for filtering oil? i want to filter some WMO and am not sure how far a cyclone will filter down to. anyone know? being WMO i want to make the system as hands off as possible. i know there are equations that help but they only give you a rough idea apparently. anyone know how much a suitable cyclone costs?

[Jamesrl]

If you heat the wmo to about 70ish and use an 80ltr/min pump you should get some sort of separation but how small the particles will be, your guess is as good as mine.

BTW I've ordered all the 28mm fittings for your reactor and the repairs have been completed.

May I offer a little advice?

Get some one else to hold your willy when peeing seeing as everything you touch breaks. 

[photoman290]

cheers jim. let me know when they arrive and i will send you some(more) money.

RE willy: i reckon the only piss involved was the state of  the manufacturer  when they made the parts. bet his trumpet was full of it.

[therecklessengineer]

I presume you mean a hydrocyclone and not a centrifuge?

IIRC there's a pretty standard particle size distribution for a hydrocyclone. But you must always have throughput from the bottom of the unit for it to apply - no good if you're recirculating from the same container.

[photoman290]

I presume you mean a hydrocyclone and not a centrifuge?

IIRC there's a pretty standard particle size distribution for a hydrocyclone. But you must always have throughput from the bottom of the unit for it to apply - no good if you're recirculating from the same container.

hi, yes i did mean a hydrocyclone. throughput from the bottom is not a problem. can connect the bottom to another container. was looking at the system the american who was on here is using. cant seem to find prices for small hydrocyclones to see if it is worthwhile trying to make one. i have a centrifuge for final filtering but thought a hydrocyclone might help to reduce the particle size down to the 200 um i need for the centrifuge.

[therecklessengineer]

I'm pretty sure they should manage 200 micron without a problem.

[Rotary-Motion]

hate dysons all money and more parts than a car....

 

[knighty]

if you only need to filter if to 200microns for your centrifuge...

why not just have a very coarse sheet filter on your storage drum where you tip/pump it in ?

200microns is only going to take out the really really big stuff, so it should last pretty much forever and go through pretty fast ?

[photoman290]

if you only need to filter if to 200microns for your centrifuge...

why not just have a very coarse sheet filter on your storage drum where you tip/pump it in ?

200microns is only going to take out the really really big stuff, so it should last pretty much forever and go through pretty fast ?

mainly because i want as little contact with the oil as possible. if i have a sheet filter i know i will end up with waste oil everywhere. being able to just stick some tubes in a couple of drums and switch on a pump sounds much more preferable. plus i like  experimenting with new ideas.

[photoman290]

a progress report on my hydrocyclone project. i have made a hydrocyclone to the dimensions given on the wiki page. tested it with water and i get the correct spray pattern out of the bottom of the cone ,around 20 to 30 degrees.
tried it on cold oil and it didnt do much except produce an emulsion due to water in the oil or left in the pump from the water experiments. tried heating the oil and it sprayed correctly at around 30c heated the oil some more and got up to 55c before i got bored.
no change in the pattern so it looks like 30c o is enough with the oil  i used anyway. took some samples of the output from the cone and the outlet pipe plus a control. they are settling so will have a look tommorow.
did a couple of vids of the spray pattern which i am about to upload to you tube.
why am i bothering? firstly because it is there. secondly i am waiting for bits to finish the processor and  most importantly of all, if it works i will be able to filter 200 liters of oil down to less than 50um, 10um if i am lucky, in around 5 minutes.
the plan is to use 3 200 litre drums. pump feed goes in  drum one. the  hydrocyclone goes  in the 2 inch hole in the second drum, outlet pipe from the hydrcyclone goes  into the 2inch hole of the third drum. cleaned  oil in the third drum, dirty oil in the second drum, which can then  be topped up with dirty oil ,settled, and become the first drum for next 200 litres. thats the plan anyway. the hydrocyclone is 50mm in diameter so fits nicely in the top of a 200 drum.

[photoman290]

did some more testing today.changed the underflow nozzle size to 10mm from 15mm and added a 15mm restricter, a copper washer, in the outlet compression fitting. seems to have improved things.
 tried running sandy water though the pump and collected samples of the output.

 i will have a look at the samples though the microscope. it is  definitely filtering quite well as there is a marked difference between the samples. the pump tam105, didn't like the sand much and jammed a couple of times.
i am using a 300 watt inverter so would probably be ok on mains power. i will use my clarke submersible in future experiments as that is more tolerant of grit and sand. will have to check its flow rate and pressure unless anyone knows.

here is a link to a short clip of the hydrocyclone running on water. this was before i modified it. the pics give a good idea of how well it is filtering sandy water.

http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/ad98/photoman290/?action=view&current=1375129927_zpscf2aafcc.jpg