In order to further reduce the number of particles in the overflow port of a cyclone clarifier, a cone-plate structure with an equiproportionally varying cone-plate radius is proposed. This includes two structures, namely, an equal–proportional gradually shrinking cone-plate radius and an equal–proportional gradually expanding cone-plate radius. In this paper, numerical simulation is used to comparatively study the flow field characteristics and particle separation inside the traditional equal radius, the gradually shrinking radius, and the gradually expanding radius cone-plate cyclone clarifier. The simulation results show that compared with the traditional equal radius cone-plate structure, the gradual shrinking of the cone-plate structure, due to the bottom of the cone-plate radius being small, can better give full play to the cone-plate settling capacity. The gradually expanding cone-plate cyclone clarifier, due to the bottom of the cone-plate radius being large, results in more fine particles entering the overflow pipe and being discharged from the overflow port. Compared with the traditional cone-plate cyclone clarifier, the gradually shrinking cone-plate cyclone clarifier has a significant increase in the removal efficiency of particles of different sizes than the traditional cyclone clarifier overflow port. The removal efficiency of all particles at the overflow of the gradually shrinking cyclone clarifier was increased by 10.32% compared to the conventional cone-plate cyclone clarifier.

To improve fine particle retention in cyclone clarifiers for mine water treatment, we developed three baffle-structured cyclone clarifiers based on the traditional design: flat-baffle cyclone clarifier, convex-baffle cyclone clarifier, and concave-baffle cyclone clarifier. Using numerical simulation, a comparative analysis was conducted on the differences in flow field characteristics and particle separation performance between the traditional cyclone clarifier and the three types of baffle-structured cyclone clarifiers. The convex-baffle cyclone clarifier showed the highest pressure drop. At Section II-II, low tangential velocity minimized internal swirl, while Section I-I exhibited high axial velocity near the wall. The low upward axial velocity in the central region of Section II-II enhanced fine particle settling. The convex baffle also promoted uniform streamlines and efficient space utilization. The concave-baffle cyclone clarifier exhibited a larger flow angle relative to the baffle than the flat-baffle cyclone clarifier, causing stronger impingement and turbulence that transported particles to the overflow outlet. In contrast, the convex-baffle cyclone clarifier’s smaller flow angle yielded weaker impingement and more stable flow, reducing particle escape. Simulations confirmed that baffle-structured cyclone clarifiers improve particle removal. The removal efficiency of the convex-baffle cyclone clarifier reaches 78.19%, representing a 5.22% improvement compared to the traditional cyclone clarifier. Furthermore, the convex-baffle cyclone clarifier demonstrated the most effective removal of 5 μm particles compared with both the flat-baffle and concave-baffle cyclone clarifier.