Separation performance of an 8 mm mini-hydrocyclone and its application to the treatment of rice starch wastewater

The rice starch particles are difficult to separate from starch suspensions for its fine diameter. In this work, an 8 mm mini-hydrocyclone is designed, and its separation performance and potential for the treatment of rice starch wastewater is investigated. The capacities, total separation efficiencies of an 8 mm mini-hydrocyclone and a 10 mm mini-hydrocyclone are compared. The experimental results reveal that the total separation efficiency of the 8 mm mini-hydrocyclone is approximately 13% higher than that of the 10 mm mini-hydrocyclone. A total separation efficiency of 92.1% was obtained using a two-stage hydrocyclone separation process comprising two 8 mm mini-hydrocyclones connected in series. The research findings can be utilized to efficiently treat the rice starch wastewater.