Design and development of a PM10 multi-inlet cyclone and comparison with reference cyclones

AbstractSize-segregated sampling of particulate matter (PM) using impactor suffers from D50 cutoff shift due to particle loading and re-entrainment problems. Cyclonic separation is a viable option to overcome the above problem. However, conventional reverse flow cyclone design having a single inlet and upward-facing outlet also presents a common issue of sample (particle) loss during sampling and requires several arrangements to convert it into an efficient PM sampler. Therefore, here we present a high-volume (HV) PM10 multi-inlet cyclone (MIC) design with a downward-facing outlet, which overcomes existing problems and has additional advantages, such as omnidirectional sampling where a filter collector is placed in a straight line below the cyclone outlet to minimize sample loss. Moreover, like the existing USEPA reference low-volume PM2.5 sampler inlet  design, which consists of 2-impactor stages (PM10 followed by PM2.5) in a straight path, this developed HV PM10 MIC sampler can accommodate a second size fractionator (e.g., PM2.5 impactor) to sample finer-size PM on a filter. D50 cutoff of developed PM10 MIC is numerically and experimentally investigated. Since the study regarding cutoff size of another type PM10 cyclone, called respirable dust sampler (RDS) is not available in the public domain and is widely used for PM10 monitoring in India, we investigated its cutoff size empirically and experimentally, and also performed field comparisons. Collocating field evaluation o...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research