In this paper, the separation black powder from air flow experimentally have been studied by spiral-channels dust separator and the efficiency and pressure drop of spiral-channels dust separator has been investigated by CFD simulations in different operating conditions. Powder particles have been tested from a sample of powders of Saveh Strengthening Station, whose average particle size has been determined by DLS and SEM images processing, 0.327 micrometers. CFD simulation of spiral-channels dust separator has been done with FLUENT software. The RNG k-ε turbulent model as an optimal turbulence model has been used. The difference between the experimental and the simulation results was revealed around 16% and 7.15% for efficiency and pressure drop parameters respectively. To illustrating the effect of operating condition, the various flow rate and solids mass fraction were investigated and results showed that maximum efficiency is the highest input volumetric flow rate. Also, the results showed that this system has the efficiency of more than 80% for separating Black Powder particles and with increasing 40% of the volumetric flow rate, the separation efficiency increased up to 10%. If, by increasing the mass fraction of solids by 5 times, the efficiency increased only by 3%. The pressure drop of the separator increased up to about 50% with increasing the volumetric flow rate from 80 to 140 m3/hr.

In this paper, black powder of the separation from air flow by a helical one-channel dust concentrator have been experimentally studied and the efficiency and pressure drop have been investigated by Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations in different operating conditions. Experimental set-up is a helical one-channel including 29 branches for exporting diluted stream out. It also has two suction devices at the ends of channels in order to provide testing in high inlet flow. Black powder particles with certain particle size distribution have been tested, whose average particle size has been determined 0.327 µm by DLS and SEM images processing. CFD simulation of helical one-channel dust concentrator for air-black powder separation has been done with FLUENT software. The Realizable k-ε turbulent model, as an optimal turbulence model in terms of accuracy and speed in simulation, has been used. According to evaluation of the results, the experimental results have been compared and it showed 5.2% error. To investigate the effect of operating condition, the various air flow rate and solids mass fractions were investigated and the results showed that the simulation efficiency has increased more than 4.1% by increasing 58% of the inlet volumetric flow rate. The separation efficiency had no change by increasing the solid mass fraction from 7% up to 20%.

In the current study, experimental and numerical methods have been used to investigate the pressure drop and the separation efficiency of wire mesh demisters in an air-water system. Using the designed and manufactured experimental model, various parameters such as air velocity, packing density, and wire diameter in plastic and metallic demisters have been studied. Numerical simulation was carried out in two-dimensional and transient form using K-epsilon (k-ε) turbulence model in commercial software ANSYS Fluent and validated against experimental results. The Eulerian-Lagrangian discrete phase model was also used to simulate the water droplet trajectory at diameters of 0.2 and 0.05mm. The numerical simulation results are sufficiently accurate compared to the experimental data. The numerical solver predicts separation efficiency with error of about 20% and pressure drop with error of less than 20% compared to experimental data. The numerical simulation results show that increasing the diameter of water droplets at higher air velocities and higher packing densities is more effective and increases the separation efficiency up to 36%. Also, increasing the packing density increases the separation efficiency for droplets with a diameter of 0.2mm and decreases the separation efficiency for droplets with a diameter of 0.05mm. The results show that the separation efficiency of plastic demister is more than the separation efficiency of metallic demister and in lower packing densities, the use of plastic demister is advisable.