PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

OF HYDROCYCLONE
PURIFICATION OF KAOLIN
USING COMPUTER SIMULATION
An M.Sc THESIS PROPOSAL
BY

MENTA, VICTOR ALI

P13EGCE8023
TO
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
AUGUST, 2015.

Outline
Introduction
Problem Statements
Aim
Objectives
Justification
Scope
Literature Review
List of Equipment/Materials
Methodology
References
2

Introduction
Computer Aided Design (CAD)
Boost productivity of designer
Improve quality of design
Improve communication through documentation
Create database for manufacturing
Prohibitive cost

Introduction (contd)
Computer Aided Process Equipment Design (CAPED)
Cyclones
Mixers
Dryers

Hydrocyclone Design Software

Developed using Visual Basic (2005)

Problem Statement
The

CAPED

Hydrocyclone

design

software

was

developed using the Microsoft Visual Basic language, a

commercial package. In this work, the software will be
re-developed in Java language.
Validation of the developed software was performed by
comparing with data obtained from literature. In this
work, data will be generated from an experimental
setup for comparison with the software.

Aim
The aim of this work is to re-develop the Hydrocyclone
design software developed by CAPED from the original
language of development (Microsoft Visual Basic) to
Java language and also compare the software output
with experimental data.

Objectives
Investigate whether there exist new developments in the
area of hydrocyclone design that can be included in the
software
Re-develop the hydrocyclone design software in Java
language using NETBEANS IDE (8.0.2)
Use the software to simulate the performance of an existing
hydrocyclone in the purification of kaolin
Perform hydrocyclone purification of kaolin experiment
Compare

the

software

simulation

results

with

the

Justification
The

software

will

be

updated

to

include

new

developments in the field of hydrocyclone design if any

exist
Cost of development of the software will be reduced
The software will become platform-independent

Scope
Re-develop the software in Java using NETBEANS IDE (8.0.2)
to include new developments in the field of hydrocyclone
design if such exist
Generate data by performing a simulation using the software
Generate experimental data of hydrocyclone purification of
kaolin
Compare the simulation results with the experimental results
9

Literature Review

Fig. 1: General description of the hydrocyclone

(Kuye et al., 2005)

Fig. 2: Hydrocyclone nomenclature

10

Literature Review (contd)

Fig. 3: A close-up of forces acting on a particle in the primary vortex of a hydrocyclone

11

Literature Review (contd)

Computer
aided design
of
Hydrocyclon
es
Packages
Computation
based on
al Fluid
Empirical
Dynamics
Rules
packages
Fig. 4: Packages used in computer aided design of hydrocyclones

12

Literature Review (contd)

Commercial software used in the design and simulation of
hydrocyclones include:
Cyclon Plus
CyMod
Fine Particle Software (FPS) Hydrocyclone Design
HCYCLONE
JKSimMet
Limn
MODSIM
13

Literature
review
(contd)
Table 1: Related works
Author

Work Title

Findings

Nageswararao et al., 2004 Two empirical

hydrocyclone models
revisited. Minerals
Engineering 17 (2004)
671687.

A more appropriate form

of the Nageswararao
model for hydrocyclones
is presented.

Tsakalakis, 2004

Use of a New Model to

Represent Hydrocyclone
Corrected-Efficiency
Curves.

Proposed a new model to

represent hydrocyclone
corrected-efficiency
curves. It was in most
cases reliable and
adequate for the
representation of the
classifier efficiency.

Kuye et al., 2005

Computer Aided Process

Equipment Design
(CAPED) (Final Technical
Report on the Design of
Hydrocyclone)

Good agreement was

observed between CAPED
software output and
literature values.

Kuye et al., 2011

Design of Air cyclones:

Outputs from CAPED air

14

List of Equipment/Materials
Table 2: List of equipment/materials that will be used in this work
Equipment/Material

Availability

Computer (Windows 7 Professional, Intel

Celeron-Dual Core@1.8GHz, 3GB RAM,
160GB Disk Size)

Owned

CAPED Hydrocyclone Design Software

Chemical Engineering Department,

A.B.U. Zaria

Netbeans IDE (8.0.2) software

Free download from Internet

Java Development Kit 8 software

Free download from Internet

Kaolin clay

Chemical Engineering Department,

A.B.U. Zaria

Hydrocyclone rig

Chemical Engineering Department,

A.B.U. Zaria

Particle size distribution (PSD) analyser

National Steel Raw Materials

Exploration Agency, Kaduna.

15

Methodology

Software
redevelopment

Simulation

Experiment

Comparison
of simulation
and
experimental
results

Fig. 5: Work flow diagram of project work

16

Project Timeline

Fig. 8: Timeline of Project

19

References
Anonymous
(n.d.)
8
Centrifugal
separation.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.particles.org.uk/particle_technology_book/chapter_8.pdf
Bloodworth, A. J., Highley D. E., (1993) Industrial Minerals Laboratory Manual: Kaolin (BGS Technical
Report
WG/93/1)
Retrieved
from:
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/international/dfidkar/WG93001_col.pdf
Cyclones/Hydrocyclones (n.d.) Encyclopedia of Chemical Engineering Equipment. Retrieved: July 6,
2015
from:
http://encyclopedia.che.engin.umich.edu/Pages/SeparationsMechanical/CyclonesHydroCyclones/C
yclonesHydroCyclones.html
Great
Migrations
LLC
(2007)
Comparing
Migration
Methodologies.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.greatmigrations.com/pubs/Comparing%20Migration%20Methodologies.pdf
Gushit, J. S., Olotu, P. N., Maikudi, S. and Gyang J. D. (2010). Overview of the Availability and
Utilization of Kaolin as a Potential Raw Material in Chemicals & Drugs Formulation in Nigeria.
Continental J. Sustainable Development 1: 17 - 22. Available at: http://www.scribd.com
Hydrocyclone (2014). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved: March 12, 2015 from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocyclone
Kuye, A.O, Ayo, D. B., Okpala, K.O, Folami, T.O., Chukwuma, F.O, Ahmed, A.S, Mumah, S.N, Ismail, I. I.,
Ayoola, M. O., Hamilton, C., Ejuya, I. O and Mansur, U. M (2006) Computer Aided Design of
Hydrocyclones. Technical Transaction on Software Engineering, 1, 79-89. Port Harcourt: Institute
of Petroleum Studies, University of Port Harcourt.
Kuye, A.O, Okpala, K.O, Folami, T.O., Chukwuma, F.O, Ahmed, A.S, Mumah, S.N, Ismail, I. I., Ayoola, M.
20
O., Hamilton, C., Okereke, A. I., Ejuya, I. O and Mansur, U. M (2005) Computer Aided Process

References Contd
Marot, F., Ringeling, R. H. P. and Thomas, A. G. (n.d.). Application of the hydrocyclone in soil washing.
Available at: http://www.ta.tudelft.nl
McCabe, Warren L., Smith, Julian C. and Harriott, Peter (1993). Unit Operations of Chemical
Engineering, 5th ed. Singapore: McGraw-Hill
Nageswararao, K., Wiseman, D.M., Napier-Munn, T.J. (2004). Two empirical hydrocyclone models
revisited. Minerals Engineering 17 (2004) 671687. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com
New Technologies (2010). History of Hydrocyclones Development. Retrieved: July 1, 2015 from:
http://newtech.dp.ua/articles/eng/hydrocyclone_history_eng.html
Richardson, J. F., Harker, J. H. and Backhurst, J. R. (2002). Chemical Engineering, Volume 2, Fifth
Edition. Particle Technology and Separation Processes. London: Butterworth Heinemann
Slack, M. D., Del Porte, S. and Engelman, M. S. (2003) Design Automated Computational Fluid
Dynamics
Modelling
Tools
for
Hydrocyclone
Design.
Retrieved
from:
http://
www.enductive.com/pdf/paper_hydrocyc_2003.pdf
TSAKALAKIS, K.G. (2004). Use of a New Model to Represent Hydrocyclone Corrected-Efficiency
Curves. [Presentation Slides]. Retrieved from: http://users.ntua.gr/mmmskt/NEW%20MODEL
%20REPRESENTING%20HYDROCYCLONE%20EFFICIENCY%20CURVES-Tsakalakis%20K.G.
%20(NTUA).pdf

21

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