FWF - Zyklon Agglomeration - Cyclone Agglomeration

The separation of micro- and nanoscale particles from a gas stream is becoming increasingly important. A cyclone is generally not suitable for separating such fine particles, but separation is possible if many of these particles form “agglomerates”. A certain degree of agglomeration happens in most cyclones. Only by gaining a better understanding of this effect can we manipulate it as required. It is for these reasons that we want to investigate agglomeration in a gas cyclone and the underlying mechanisms and forces in a two-year project. In the experimental part we will use the existing cyclone test rig. We will try to collect agglomerates out of the flow, to position them on different substrates and analyse them by scanning electron microscopy. We will see how many elementary particles comprise an agglomerate, what the particle size distribution of the agglomerates and of the elementary particles is. We will document at what place and frequency the agglomerates appear in the cyclone and whether they are of different types. The shape and the structure of the particles can help to elucidate the mechanisms of agglomeration and to find out which kind of force makes the particles adhere to each other. In the theoretical part, CFD-calculations will be performed with commercial software. The main purpose is to simulate particle motion by an Euler-Lagrange approach under consideration of wall-roughness, particle collisions and agglomeration. not assigned KP: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. M. Sommerfeld