Numerical Simulation of Particle Concentration in a Gas Cyclone Separator

The particle concentration inside a cyclone separator at different operation parameters was simulated with the FLUENT software. The Advanced Reynolds Stress Model （ARSM） was used in gas phase turbulence modeling. Stochastic Particle Tracking Model （SPTM） and the Particle-Source-In-Cell （PSIC） method were adopted for particles computing. The interaction between particles and the gas phase was also taken into account. The numerical simulation results were in agreement with the experimental data. The simulation revealed that an unsteady spiral dust strand appeared near the cyclone wall and a non-axi-symmetrical dust ring appeared in the annular space and under the cover plate of the cyclone. There were two regions in the radial particle concentration distribution, in which particle concentration was low in the inner region （r/R≤0.75） and increased greatly in the outer region （r/R〉0.75）. Large particles generally had higher concentration in the near-wall region and small particles had higher concentration in the inner swirling flow region. The axial distribution of particle concentration in the inner swirling flow （r/R≤0.3） region showed that there existed serious fine particle entrainment within the height of 0.SD above the dust discharge port and a short-cut flow at a distance of about 0.25D below the entrance of the vortex finder. The dimensionless concentration in the high-concentration region increased obviously in the upper part of the cyclone separation space when inlet particle loading was large. With increasing gas temperature, the particle separation ability of the cyclone was obviously weakened.

Particle concentration effect in adsorption/desorption of Zn(Ⅱ) on anatase type nano TiO_2

Adsorption/desorption in a new Zn（Ⅱ）-TiO2 adsorption system was investigated at different particle concentrations （Cp）. TEM, SEM and XRD analyses revealed that the TiO2 particles were an aggregation of nano-sized （approximately 10 nm） pure anatase-type TiO2. Adsorption experiments were carried out with particle concentrations of 100, 400 and 1000 mg/L, and their adsorption isotherms were found to decline successively, showing an obvious Cp effect. Desorption experiments indicated that adsorption in this system was irreversible, and the irreversibility increased with increasing Cp. These phenomena could be explained by the MEA （metastable equilibrium adsorption） theory and the Cp effect could be modeled well with an MEA-Freundlich-type Cp effect isotherm equation. This study may heln understand environmental behavior of contaminants on ultrafine natural particles.

Effect of traffic restriction on atmospheric particle concentrations and their size distributions in urban Lanzhou, Northwestern China

During the 2012 Lanzhou International Marathon, the local government made a significant effort to improve traffic conditions and air quality by implementing traffic restriction measures. To evaluate the direct effect of these measures on urban air quality, especially particle concentrations and their size distributions, atmospheric particle size distributions （0.5-20μm） obtained using an aerodynamic particle sizer （model 3321, TSI, USA） in June 2012 were analyzed. It was found that the particle number, surface area and volume concentrations for size range 0.5-10 μm were （15.0±2.1） cm-3, （11.8±2.6） μm2/cm3 and （1.9±0.6） μm2/cm3, respectively, on the traffic-restricted day （Sunday）, which is 63.2%, 53.0% and 47.2% lower than those on a normal Sunday. For number and surface area concentrations, the most affected size range was 0.5-0.7 and 0.5-0.8 μm, respectively, while for volume concentration, the most affected size ranges were 0.5-0.8, 1.7-2.0 and 5.0-5.4 μm. Number and volume concentrations of particles in size range 0.5-1.0μm correlated well with the number of non-CNG （Compressed Natural Gas） powered vehicles, while their correlation with the number of CNG-powered vehicles was very low, suggesting that reasonable urban traffic controls along with vehicle technology improvements could play an important role in improving urban air quality.

Influence of air masses on particle number concentration and size distribution at Mt. Waliguan, Qinghai Province, China

Particle size distribution of 12-500 nm was measured at Mt. Waliguan, China Global Atmosphere Watch Baseline Observatory, from Aug. in 2005 to May in 2007.72-hr back-trajectories at 100-m arrival height above ground level for the same period were calculated at 6：00, 12：00, and 21：00 （Beijing Time） for each day using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory （HYSPLIT-4） model developed by NOAA/ARL. It was found that air mass sources significantly impact particle number concentration and size distribution at Mt. Waliguan. Cluster analysis of back-trajectories show that higher Aitken mode particle number concentration was observed when air masses came from or passed by the northeastern section of Mt. Waliguan, with short trajectory length. High number concentration of nucleation mode was associated with air masses from clean regions, with long trajectory length.

Analysis of Correlation between Concentration of Atmospheric Particulates and Humidity Based on the Aerodynamic Particle Sizer

The TSI-3321 APS was used to measure concentration of atmospheric particulates in Ranjiaba region of Yubei District in Chongqing City during March 21- 29,2014,and the temporal variations in the hourly average mass and number concentration and median particle diameter of PM10 and PM2.5 as well as their correlation with relative humidity were analyzed. The results showed that the three indicators of PM10 and PM2.5 except for the mass concentration correlated with relative humidity,of which the correlation between the mass median particle diameter and relative humidity was the best. The correlation coefficient R^2 between the mass median particle diameter of PM10（ PM2.5） and relative humidity was up to 0. 943（ 0. 832）. Therefore,relative humidity and pressure are key impact factors of indicators of particles.

The influence of nano-particle tracers on the slip length measurements by microPTV

Direct measurement of slip length is based on the measured fluid velocity near solid boundary. However, previous micro particle image velocimetry/particle tracking velocimetry （microPIV/PTV） measurements have reported surprisingly large measured near-wall velocities of pressure-driven flow in apparent contradiction with the no-slip hy-pothesis and experimental results from other techniques. To better interpret the measured results of the microPIV/PTV, we performed velocity profile measurements near a hy-drophilic wall （z = 0.25-1.5 μm） with two sizes of tracer particles （φ 50 nm and φ200 nm）. The experimental results indicate that, at less than 1 μm from the wall, the deviations between the measured velocities and no-slip theoretical values obviously decrease from 93% of φ200 nm particles to 48% of φ50 nm particles. The Boltzmann-like exponential measured particle concentrations near wall were found. Based on the non linear Boltzmann distribution of particle concentration and the effective focus plane thickness, we illustrated the reason of the apparent velocity increase near wall and proposed a method to correct the measured velocity profile. By this method, the deviations between the corrected measured velocities and the no-slip theoretical velocity decrease from 45.8% to 10%, and the measured slip length on hy-drophilic glass is revised from 75 nm to 16 nm. These results indicated that the particle size and the biased particle concentration distribution can significantly affect near wall velocity measurement via microPIV/PTV, and result in larger measured velocity and slip length close to wall.

Distribution of non-spherical nanoparticles in turbulent flow of ventilation chamber considering fluctuating particle number density

The Reynolds-averaged general dynamic equation(RAGDE)for the nanoparticle size distribution function is derived,including the contribution to particle coagulation resulting from the fluctuating concentration.The equation together with that of a turbulent gas flow is solved numerically in the turbulent flow of a ventilation chamber with a jet on the wall based on the proposed model relating the fluctuating coagulation to the gradient of mean concentration.Some results are compared with the experimental data.The results show that the proposed model relating the fluctuating coagulation to the gradient of mean concentration is reasonable,and it is necessary to consider the contribution to coagulation resulting from the fluctuating concentration in such a flow.The changes of the particle number concentration M_(0) and the geometric mean diameter dg are more obvious in the core area of the jet,but less obvious in other areas.With the increase in the initial particle number concentration m00,the values of M_(0) and the standard deviation of the particle sizeσdecrease,but the value of d_(g) increases.The decrease in the initial particle diameter leads to the reduction of M_(0) andσand the increase in d_(g).With the increase in the Reynolds number,particles have few chances of collision,and hence the coagulation rate is reduced,leading to the increase in M_(0) andσand the decrease in d_(g).

Effect of Supersonic Fine Particles Bombarding on the Service Life of Thermal Barrier Coating

Thermally Grown Oxide（TGO） is a dominating component in controlling the effectiveness of thermal barrier coating.During the growth of TGO,whether we could homogeneously distribute Al atom on the TGO and the intermediate metal layer will be the key factor in forming TGO with continuous,uniform and single-ingredient（Al2O3）.In this experiment,we bombarded particles on to the metallic bound layer.We studied the influence of supersonic particle bombardment on the diffusion of Al.We hope to control the growth of TGO by monitoring the diffusion of Al.Thermal barrier coating（TBC）,which consists of a NiCoCrAlY bond coat and a ZrO2-8Y2O3（wt.%） topcoat（TC）,is fabricated on the nickel-base superalloy by air plasma spray（APS）.NiCoCrAlY bond coat is treated by supersonic fine particles bombarding（SFPB）.The morphology,oxidation behavior of TBC and phase are characterized by scanning electron microscope（SEM） equipped with an energy dispersive spectromrter（EDS） and X-ray diffractometer（XRD）.The influence of supersonic fine particles bombarding technique on the service life of thermal barrier coating is studied.The results show that SFPB technique improves the flaw of excessive surface undulation in the as-sprayed bond coat.A continuous,uniform and single-ingredient（Al2O3） TGO can quickly form in the SFPB TBC during high temperature oxidation process.The thickening of TGO is relatively slow.These will effectively suppress the formation of other non-protective oxides.Therefore,SFPB technique reduces the growth stress level generated by the continuous growth of TGO,and also avoids the stress concentration induced by formation of the large particle spinal oxide.Thermal barrier coating still remains well after 350 thermal cycles.The service life of TBC is improved.The proposed research provides theoretical basis and technical references to further improve and enhance the SFPB technique.

Micro-particle in surface snow at Princess Elizabeth Land,East Antarctic

During the Austral summer of 1996/1997, the First Chinese Antarctic Inland Expedition reached the inland area about 330 km along the direction around 76°E from Zhongshan Station, and collected 84 surface snow samples at an interval of 4 km . Micro particle analysis of the samples indicates that the micro particle concentration apparently decreases with the increasing of altitude, and the amplitudes of micro particle concentration is much larger in the lower altitude than in the higher altitude. Further analysis of grain size distributions of micro particle, percentage of micro particles from different sources and variations with altitude suggest that micro particles in this area are from a considerably dominant source. Although this area is controlled by polar easterly wind and katabatic wind, transportation and deposition of the micro particles are mainly influenced by marine transportation in coastal area.

Effect of inlet area on the performance of a two-stage cyclone separator

The cyclone separator is an important separation device.This paper presents a new type of embedded two-stage cyclone,which includes a 2 nd-stage cyclone(internal traditional cyclone)with multiple inlets and a 1 st-stage cyclone(outer cylinder)that unifies the 2 nd-stage cyclone inlets into one inlet.The Taguchi experimental method was used to study the two-stage cyclone separator’s inlet area on its performance.Studies have shown that the increase of the 1 st-stage cyclone inlet area and the increase in the number of 2 nd-stage cyclone inlets(N)positively affect reducing the pressure drop and a negative effect on efficiency.It is recommended to use 2 S(the original 1 st-stage cyclone inlet area)of the 1 st-stage cyclone inlet area and 2 N of the 2 nd-stage cyclone inlets when separating fine particles.Compared with a traditional cyclone,the pressure drop is reduced by 1303 Pa,the mass separation efficiency(Eq)is increased by 0.56%,and the number separation efficiency(En)is increased by 2.05%.When separating larger particles,it is recommended to use 2 S of the 1 st-stage cyclone inlet area and 4 N of the 2 nd-stage cyclone inlets.Compared with a traditional cyclone,although Endecreases slightly,the pressure drop is reduced by 3055 Pa,and the Eqis increased by 0.56%.The research results provide new insight into the design of the cyclone.

Analysis of spectrum characteristics of optical scintillation in stack gas flow

Based on the analysis of spectrum characteristics of intensity fluctuations while light beams pass through stack gas flow in an industrial setting, this paper puts emphasis upon discussing the spectrum of optical intensity fluctuations by the variety of particle concentration in stack gas flow. This paper also gives the primary theoretical explanation of the measurement results in the stack of coal-fired utility boilers. Meanwhile, the cross-correlation formula is given as the theoretical basis of velocity measurement by using particle concentration scintillation.

Effect of Vortex Stirring on the Dilution of Copper Slag

In order to solve the problem that the vulcanizing agent utilization rate is low and the dilution effect of copper slag is poor,the vortex stirring dilution method was used to improve the conditions of the dilution kinetics and copper recovery.The water model was used to simulate the effect of copper slag dilution.Under the premise of keeping the Reynolds number consistent,silicone oil and glass beads were used instead of copper slag and vulcanizing agent.Based on the relationship between voltage and concentration,the PC6D dual-channel particle concentration measuring instrument was used to study the stirring speed and the insertion depth of the stirring paddle in model experiments,and the suitable conditions were speed 250 rpm and insertion depth 70 mm.The fire dilution of copper slag was done under the conditions.After stirring and sedimentation,the Fe_(3)O_(4) in slag decreased from 22.58% to 4.65%,and the copper content of the slag decreased from 2.94% to 0.34%.The copper recovery was 88.44%.

An indoor air aerosol model for outdoor contaminant transmission into occupied rooms

The paper presents a simple model for outdoor air contaminant transmission into occupied rooms. In the model, several factors such as filtration, ventilation, deposition, re-emission, outdoor concentration and indoor sources are included. The model results show that the air exchange rate plays an important role in the transmission of outdoor contaminants into the indoor environment. The model shows that increasing the value of the filtration efficiency decreases the mass concentration of indoor particles. In addition, if outdoor aerosol particles have a periodic behaviour, indoor aerosol particles also behave periodically but smoother. Indoor sources are found to be able to increase indoor concentrations greatly and continuously.

Incorporating truncated fractal distribution into Maxwell model to quantify thermal conductivity and its uncertainty in heterogeneous multiparticle systems

An approach is developed to examine the mean and uncertainty of thermal conductivity of a heterogeneous multiparticle system,where the particle concentration or void fraction is treated as a truncated fractal distribution.The truncated fractal distribution is then integrated into the Maxwell model,which is equivalent to a cell model in which the multiparticle system is conceptualized as a spherical fluid cell that envelopes a solid particle.The developed mean thermal conductivity is compared with four experimental data sets of liquid-saturated media from the literature.The effect of fractal characteristics is quantified and discussed.Incorporating particle concentration or void fraction truncated fractal distribution can better capture scatters in the experimental results.The thermal conductivity and its standard deviation decrease with increasing fractal dimensions.When the void fraction is truncated fractal,the uncertainty increases mostly in the low mean void fraction range and drops more quickly with the increasing mean void fraction compared to the case where the particle concentration is truncated fractal.In a typical case of multiparticle system when the solid particles are more conductive than the fluid,the faster increase rate of standard deviation with the ratio of solid over fluid conductivities occurs when the mean void fraction is smaller.

RELATIVE LEVELS OF INDOOR AND OUTDOOR PARTICLE NUMBER CONCENTRATIONS IN A RESIDENTIAL BUILDING IN XI'AN

The time series of indoor and outdoor particle number concentrations in a naturally ventilated residential building in Xi＇an were tested simultaneously for 7 days in summer. The relationships between indoor and outdoor concentrations were examined and discussed, and linear regression analysis was employed to correlate the indoor and outdoor concentrations. The diurnal cycles of indoor and outdoor particle concentrations of different particle size ranges all showed positive correlations between indoor and outdoor number concentrations, The I/O ratios of number concentrations varied with the increase of particle size in the range of 0.89 （±0.19） to 0.99 （±0.15）.

A model for aerosol mass concentration using an optical particle counter

A model for measuring aerosol mass concentration by an optical particle counter is presented using the conception of the average mass. In this model, to understand the meaning of the pulse height distribution of particles which is used to inverse mass concentration, the relationship among intensity distribution in the optical sensing volume, particle shape, and the pulse height distribution is discussed. To solve the instability of the equivalent factor, a novel two-step calibration method is proposed. The experimental results demonstrate that mass concentrations calculated by the model are in good agreement with those measured by a norm-referenced instrument. For samples of soot and air, the slopes of fitting lines of data points are 0.9582 and 0.9220, and the correlation coefficients are 0.9991 and 0.9965, respectively.

Identifying Supercooled Liquid Water in Cloud Based on Airborne Observations: Correlation of Cloud Particle Number Concentration with Icing Probability and Proportion of Spherical Particles

Identifying supercooled liquid water(SLW)in clouds is critical for weather modification,aviation safety,and atmospheric radiation calculations.Currently,aircraft identification in the SLW area mostly depends on emprical estimation of cloud particle number concentration(N_(c))in China,and scientific verification and quantitative identification criteria are urgently needed.In this study,the observations are from the Fast Cloud Droplets Probe,Rosemount ice detector(RICE),and Cloud Particle Imager(CP_(i))onboard a King Air aircraft during seven flights in 2018 and 2019 over central and eastern China.Based on this,the correlation among N_(c),the proportion of spherical particles(P_(s)),and the probability of icing(P_(i))in supercooled stratiform and cumulus-stratus clouds is statistically analyzed.Subsequently,this study proposes a method to identify SLW areas using N_(c) in combination with ambient temperature.The reliability of this method is evaluated through the true skill statistics(TSS)and threat score(TS)methods.Numerous airborne observations during the seven flights reveal a strong correlation among Nc,P_(s),and P_(i)at the temperature from 0 to−18°C.When Nc is greater than a certain threshold of 5 cm^(−3),there is always the SLW,i.e.,P_(i)and P_(s)are high.Evaluation results demonstrate that the TSS and TS values for Nc=5 cm^(−3)are higher than those for Nc<5 cm^(−3),and a larger Nc threshold(>5 cm^(−3))corresponds to a higher SLW identification hit rate and a higher SLW content.Therefore,Nc=5 cm^(−3)can be used as the minimum criterion for identifying the SLW in clouds at temperature lower than 0°C.The SLW identification method proposed in this study is especially helpful in common situations where aircraft are equipped with only Nc probes and without the CP_(i)and RICE.

Origin of high particle number concentrations reaching the St. Louis, Midwest Supersite

Ultrafine particles are associated with adverse health effects. Total Particle Number Concentration（TNC） of fine particles were measured during 2002 at the St. Louis — Midwest supersite. The time series showed overall low level with frequent large peaks. The time series was analyzed alongside criteria pollutant measurements and meteorological observations. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify further contributing factors and to determine the association of different pollutants with TNC levels. This showed the strong contribution of sulfur dioxide（SO2） and nitrogen oxides（NO x） to high TNC levels. The analysis also suggested that increased dispersion resulting from faster winds and higher mixing heights led to higher TNC levels. Overall, the results show that there were intense particle nucleation events in a SO2 rich plume reaching the site which contributed around 29% of TNC. A further 40% was associated with primary emissions from mobile sources. By separating the remaining TNC by time of day and clear sky conditions,we suggest that most likely 8% of TNC are due to regional nucleation events and 23% are associated with the general urban background.

Landmarks in the application of electrical tomography in particle science and technology

Selected milestones in the development and use of electrical tomography in powder conveying, slurry processing and multi-phase flow are highlighted. The ability to map concentration in opaque mixtures under process-realistic conditions was a major innovation for the method and has had far reaching implications. Subsequent developments have enabled velocity information to be abstracted resulting in the ability to measure component flux and motion.

Application of nanoparticle tracking analysis for characterising the fate of engineered nanoparticles in sediment-water systems

Novel applications of nanotechnology may lead to the release of engineered nanoparticles（ENPs）, which result in concerns over their potential environmental hazardous impact. It is essential for the research workers to be able to quantitatively characterise ENPs in the environment and subsequently to assist the risk assessment of the ENPs. This study hence explored the application of nanoparticle tracking system（NTA） to quantitatively describe the behaviour of the ENPs in natural sediment-water systems. The NTA allows the measurement of both particle number concentration（PNC） and particle size distribution（PSD） of the ENPs. The developed NTA method was applied to a range of gold and magnetite ENPs with a selection of surface properties. The results showed that the positively-charged ENPs interacted more strongly with the sediment than neutral and negatively-charged ENPs. It was also found that the citrate coated Au ENPs had a higher distribution percentage（53%） than 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid coated Au ENPs（20%） and citrate coated magnetite ENPs（21%）. The principles of the electrostatic interactions between hard（and soft） acids and bases（HSAB） are used to explain such behaviours; the hard base coating（i.e. citrate ions） will interact more strongly with hard acid（i.e. magnetite） than soft acid（i.e. gold）.The results indicate that NTA is a complementary method to existing approaches to characterise the fate and behaviour of ENPs in natural sediment.