LAUSR

Abstract Attrition of particulate materials can bring unwanted effects, such as variation in the properties of solids as well as the generation of fines which may be emitted into the atmosphere. Therefore, it is important to know how the particle size varies when manipulating solids. In the present study, a model is proposed to account for the particle size variation in cyclones, considering five particle size classes. Experiments were conducted using FCC catalyst particles, flowing in a cyclone with different inlet velocity and load ratios. An Arrhenius type equation was used to generalize the regressed kinetic parameters for other operating conditions. Results indicate that the cyclone inlet velocity and solids load ratio affect significantly the particles size reduction in cyclones. The proposed model was able to predict the variation trends, which highlights its usefulness for the evaluation of FCC units, where the catalyst is recirculated several times through cyclones.