Abstract: To address the issue of poor recovery efficiency of low-density particles by a cyclone separator in a chemical plant, a cold model test method was employed to investigate the separation performance of the industrial cyclone separator. Based on the experimental phenomena, results, and theoretical analysis, improvements to the key structural parameters of the cyclone separator were proposed, and four new cyclone separator configurations were manufactured, featuring a tapered split exhaust pipe, an optimized aspect ratio, and improved dust discharge ports. A comparison of the cold model test results between the new configurations and the original structure (currently used by the plant) reveals that, under different airflow rates, the separation efficiency of the new cyclone separators is increased by approximately 6.5 percentage points compared to the original design, while the pressure drop across the separator slightly increases，with a maximum value of7.8 kPa. This indicates that the new cyclone separators significantly enhance the separation efficiency of low-density particles while meeting the plant’s pressure drop requirement（<10 kPa）. Furthermore, theoretical models were used to calculate the separation efficiency and pressure drop of the new cyclone separators. The calculated values were found to be slightly lower than the experimental measurements, but the trends were highly consistent, demonstrating that the new cyclone separator configurations are feasible for engineering applications in separating low-density particles.

Key words: cyclone separator, structural optimization, separation efficiency, pressure drop