Research on separation performance of a rotary drum separator with consideration of sidewall capture

In this paper, the formula for the separation efficiency of the rotary drum separator was modified with consideration of sidewall capture. To further investigate the influence of sidewall capture on the separation performance of the separator, the effects of inflow angular velocity, drum rotation speed and structural parameters on the separation efficiency were numerically analyzed. The results reveal a significant influence of the inflow rotation direction on the separation performance. The flow enters the drum with a reverse rotation speed of −300 rad/s, the separation efficiency exhibits an increase of 33.3%, accompanied by a pressure drop of 33.57 Pa. Certainly, an increase in the rotation speed from 200 rad/s to 400 rad/s leads to a maximum increase of 63.7% in separation efficiency and a corresponding increase of 279.9 Pa in the total pressure. Moreover, Reducing the single channel size of the drum can significantly improve separation efficiency and flow stability.