Removal of coke powders in coking wastewater using a hydrocyclone optimized by n-value

Coke powders in the coking wastewater generated by petroleum refining industry needs to be removed to achieve water reuse for lack of water resources. This study developed a decoking hydrocyclone in the closed coking wastewater circulation treatment system to remove coke powders, which was highly efficient and environmentally friendly. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method was carried out to study the tangential velocity distribution index n-value to guide design of decoking hydrocyclone and experiment was conducted to verify the coke powders removal effect. It was found that the increase of n-value is conducive to the improvement of coke powders separation efficiency. A decoking hydrocyclone with a cone angle of 15° and an inlet size of 4 × 6 mm is the optimum hydrocyclone and the recovery efficiency of coke powders is stable at more than 90%. It is the first time for hydrocyclone successfully applied to the removal of coke powders in coking wastewater in the decoking process of petroleum refining industry, in which the separation efficiency of coke powders is considerably improved.