Prediction of acoustic agglomeration enhanced by solid seed particles using the DSMC method

Abstract

Acoustic agglomeration enhanced by large-sized solid seed particles is investigated using the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The process of acoustic agglomeration is revealed in terms of temporal evolution of velocities, diameters, and number weights of simulated particles, as well as normalized concentration and average diameter of small particles. Furthermore, the enhancement of acoustic agglomeration by the solid seed particles is evaluated at varying parameters. The results show that the agglomeration performance is enhanced within a shorter residence time when the solid seed particles are present. Increasing acoustic intensity or solid seed particle concentration leads to more efficient acoustic agglomeration, while the acoustic frequency, particularly beyond 2 kHz, has little effect on agglomeration performance. Moreover, a noticeable increase in agglomeration efficiency is observed when the seed particle diameter increases from 20 to 40 µm. However, once it exceeds 40 µm, the increase in agglomeration efficiency diminishes.