Abstract Gasflow fields in four different separators were measured using the five-hole probe technology under the operating conditions of inlet gas velocity varying from 13.12-20.87 m/s. Experimental results showed that tangential gas velocity near the central tube was relatively high and decreased along the radial direction. With the increase of the separator outlet width, the tangential gas velocity in the separation space increased, while radial gas velocity decreased. As a result of air flux balance, the amount of gas flow exhausting from the first slot existed a minimum value, and the circulating flow ratio amounted to 60% of the total flow in the separators. Furthermore, for the same inlet gas velocity, the vertical gas velocity at the outlet became greater for larger outlet area. When the inlet gas velocity was 20.87 m/s and the inlet particle concentration was 91.81 g/m3, the separator with the dimensionless width 0.599 had the highest separation efficiency of 81.6%. Too small particle outlet area (the dimensionless width was 0.344) might lead to significant decrease of the separation efficiency and an increase of the pressure drop.
