Atomized Droplets Separation Dynamics in a Cyclone Separator

With the development of microchemical technology, generating specific droplets with the required diameter has become an extremely challenging task. The present article proposes a droplet separation device. A lattice Boltzmann (LB) model is formulated to analyze the motion dynamics in the droplet separation process. The research indicates that the separation mechanism primarily relies on the synergistic effects of centrifugal and drag forces. The experimental results demonstrate that in the context of volume distribution, without separation, droplets exhibit a bimodal diameter profile with the range of 1–140 μm. After separation, the droplets migrate to the region (1–15 μm), with the primary distribution concentrated within 1–10 μm. Meanwhile, the droplet diameter corresponding to a cumulative volume fraction of 90% (d90) was 48.81 μm before separation, and it decreased to 8.33 μm after separation, representing a diameter reduction of 82.9%. The research reveals the droplet motion during the separation process and demonstrates that the developed separation device can effectively remove large droplets to achieve concentrated control of droplet diameters.