SIMULATING MULTI-COMPONENT PARTICLES BEHAVIOUR DURING THE CLASSIFICATION PROCESS IN A HYDROCYCLONE USING MULTIPHASE CFD MODEL

Numerical simulation of the hydrocyclone is known for its complexity and non-trivial solving strategies. The flow inside the hydrocyclone is highly turbulent and intricate in nature. Most of the mathematical model reflects the single average mineral density for the hydrocyclone multiphase classification performance. The behaviour of multicomponent particles in a hydrocyclone is superficially understood and the component interactions are unaccounted for most of the available mathematical models .In this work, multi size and density simulation of hydrocyclone are carried out using CFD approach. The turbulence is solved using the large eddy simulation (LES) model. The multiphase is modelled using the volume of fluid (VOF) and algebraic slip mixture (ASM) model. The multi-phase numerical simulation contains 10 phases at an instant i.e. water, air, 4 phases of magnetite and silica each, having different sizes and volume fractions. The mixture of magnetite and silica ratios i.e. 1:9, 2:8, 1:1 is considered for the understanding of interaction between components and sizes in complex flow system at optimized hydrocyclone conditions. The CFD model is able to predict the salient features of the cyclone flow fields in great detail, thus providing a better understanding of the solid recovery to the underflow, where authors have observed high Rs for the heavier particle i.e. magnetite. Separation characteristics of the silica and magnetite particles are explained using locus of zero vertical velocities (LZVV) and equilibrium radius