Separation performance of sub-micron silica particles by electrical hydrocyclone

Separation performance of sub-micron particles by use of a special electrical hydrocyclone was studied. The effects of feed suspension waiting time, applied electrostatic potentials, and the feed suspension concentration, on the separation performance of the electrical hydrocyclone were investigated. An aqueous suspension of sub-micron silica particles with median diameter of about 0.2 µm was used as the test powder. A 20 mm diameter of electrical hydrocyclone operated at 20% of the underflow ratio was used. A negative center wire electrode was inserted vertically inside the conical section, and electrostatic potentials up to 100 V were applied in this electrical hydrocyclone.It was found that the 50% cut size of the electrical hydrocyclone increased with the increase of the feed suspension waiting time after a particle dispersion process by the beads mill. The classification of the sub-micron particles occurred under applied electrostatic potentials greater than about 40 V, while better classification performance was obtained with the increase of the applied electrostatic potentials. The 50% cut size decreased with the increase of the feed suspension concentration up to 1.5 wt.%, and further increasing of the concentration led to the increase of 50% cut size.A simple model based on the time of flight model, was developed in order to predict the 50% cut size of the electrical hydrocyclone. The model results qualitatively agreed with the experimental results.It was found that classification the sub-micron particles is possible by use of the special electrical hydrocyclone proposed in this study.