Design of the Cyclone Separator for Eco Sandblasting System with CFD Method

Abstract The sandblasting products currently available on the market come in various types and serve multiple purposes, but they often need more environmental friendliness. This has prompted an analysis leading to developing an Eco Sandblasting system to reduce harmful dust emissions. The research focuses on the cyclone separator using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as a simulation method. In the study, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) and PSA (Particle Size Analysis) laboratory tests were conducted to examine the characteristics of silica sand particles before (pre-) and after (post-) the sandblasting process. The results indicated that the particle diameter of sand before the sandblasting process (pre-) ranged from 192.513 μm to 1068.063 μm with a Polydispersity Index (PDI) of 0.4405. After the sandblasting process (post-), the particle diameter ranged from 80.311 μm to 576.70 μm with a PDI of 0.8257. The study aimed to determine the efficiency of the cyclone separator design using the Stairmand method. Based on the design calculations for particle scales ranging from 80.31 μm to 576.70μm, with a constant inlet velocity of 23.73 m/s, the cyclone separator achieved an efficiency of 86.58% and a pressure drop of 11.06 Mbar. In the CFD DPM simulation, the cyclone separator attained an efficiency of 83.42% with a pressure drop of 12.1 mbar. Correcting the efficiency discrepancy between these two methods, an error correction of 3.6% was determined.