Dust Control Handbook for Industrial Minerals Mining and Processing

Figure 1.15. Typical design of a cyclone dust collector.Cyclones are cost-effective and low-maintenance devices, and they can handle hightemperatures. They also reduce loading on the primary collector and allow for the dry recoveryof product. However, it is difficult to predict the performance of cyclones and they poseparticular design challenges. Accurate inlet data are necessary and they require significant plantspace.Cyclones have low efficiencies in removing fine particulate. They are typically used as aprecleaner to remove coarser particles that could otherwise damage the bags in fabric collectorsor plug wet scrubbers. It should be noted that adding a cyclone to a ventilation system may notreduce the overall system resistance because the drop in resistance at the baghouse, due to lowerdust loading, may be more than offset by the pressure drop of the inertial cyclone collector.Pressure drops range from 3 inches wg for low efficiency inertial cyclone collectors and up to 8inches wg for higher efficiency models.30 Fundamentals of Dust Collection Systems