Optimization of vane positions in a mechanical draft wet-cooling tower is presented in this paper. The originally installed, equally spaced, vanes produced non-uniform air velocity distribution reducing the performance of the fill of the cooling tower. A 2D CFD model of the tower has been created. The model has then been used to determine the objective function in the optimization procedure. The selected objective function was the standard deviation of the velocity of air entering the fill. The Goal Driven Optimization tools of the ANSYSWorkbench 2.0 have been used for the optimization and the ANSYS Fluent 13.0 as a flow solver. The optimization allowed reduction of the objective function and producing a more uniform air flow.

This paper deals with the numerical simulation of a pilot-scale axial cyclone separator. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a numerical model that is able to foresee the cyclone separator cut-off point. This is crucial in blast furnace gas installation to capture large particles containing carbon and iron, while allowing smaller particles such as zinc and lead to pass through. The cut-off point must be designed to give a sufficiently high zinc and lead content in the sludge created after the second cleaning stage. This allows the sludge to become a commercial product. To design this cut-off point, an investigation of the influence of inlet gas velocity, temperature, and the angle of guiding vanes at the inlet was done. The developed CFD model was validated against experimental data on the fractional efficiency of the cyclone separator. The results were in good agreement with the experimental data for all parameters tested. The behavior of the particles inside the cyclone was also physically correct.