Executive Summary : | Cyclone separators are used to separate solid particles with different geometries – some of them may have simple and smooth shapes, whereas others may have complex shapes with sharp edges. The latter could potentially damage the surface texture of the cyclone walls. This, in turn, will have two effects; first, the thickness of cyclone walls will reduce and second, the separation efficiency of the cyclone will reduce with an increase in wall roughness. In gas cyclones, the suspended solid particles are separated from the gaseous medium. The clean fluid is then released into the atmosphere or redirected for further use, whereas a large fraction of the solid particles are retained by the cyclone. Cyclones are subjected to different loading conditions, wherein the flow field is largely affected by the presence of these particles. Two major issues with the increase in the solid loading are enhancement in the material losses due to wall erosion by solid particles and reduction in the collection efficiency. Since cyclones operate continuously throughout the year, such abrasive action leads to failure and an unplanned shutdown of the plant, which is highly uneconomical. Two very important applications of cyclone separators are found in power plants and fluidized reactors. In the former, fly ash is removed from the flue gas, whereas, in the latter, the catalyst particles are recovered for reuse. Therefore, to enhance the life span of cyclone separators, an optimization of the coating bath formulation of electroless Ni-B-W coating would be carried out first to achieve high erosion resistance coating that suits well to cyclone separators. The next novel idea is to optimize the cyclone geometry to lower the abrasion rate prior to the application of the coating. This would be done by conducting a series of numerical experiments. Once the geometry is optimized for a lower erosion rate, the prepared electroless Ni-B-W coating will be applied to the walls of the fabricated cyclone model. Finally, the field trials of the developed wear-resistant cyclone separator model will be done to ensure the expected operation and performance of the cyclone separator. |
Co-PI: | Dr. Om Prakash, Birla Institute Of Technology, Mesra, Jharkhand-835215, Dr. Arkadeb Mukhopadhyay, Birla Institute Of Technology, Mesra, Jharkhand-835215 |