A Study on the Erosion Mechanism of an Axial Cyclone Separator for Gas Purification

Severe erosion occurs in the cone bottom and the joint part between the cone and cylinder of the cyclone separator used in high-pressure natural gas transportation. The main objective of this study is to reveal the mechanism and influencing factors of erosion. To address these issues, the numerical simulations were used to investigate the parameters, such as inlet gas velocity, particle concentration, particle size, the cone length, the diameter of dust exit and the vortex finder. The results indicate that wall erosion is significantly affected by the inlet gas velocity and particle diameter. Increasing the cone length and the dust exit diameter can effectively reduce wall erosion, whereas the cyclone separation efficiency would be reduced simultaneously. It is worth noting that the vortex finder with spiral slits is of benefit to increase the cyclone separation efficiency but decreases the maximum erosion rate of the cyclone cone by at least 80%.