Enhancement of solid particle separation efficiency in gas cyclones using electro-hydrodynamic method

Abstract This paper investigates the feasibility of using electro-hydrodynamic forces to enhance the efficiency of solid-gas separation in cyclone separators. Electro-hydrodynamic forces are applied using electrostatic coating of particles on which the lateral forces are increased in the presence of a radial static charge. It is shown that these additional forces are larger than the centrifugal force. The experimental and theoretical results show that the proposed method enhances the efficiency by 33% for the particle sizes of 4 μm, and hence can be used as an enhancement to the conventional cyclone designs.