AbstractCyclone separators are one of the most widely used gas‐solid separators. Although the optimal design of cyclone separators has been suggested earlier, the earlier works do not include all the critical parameters responsible for minimizing the pressure drop which is quite decisive to obtain a correct optimal design. In this article, the optimal design of the cyclone separator has been formulated as a geometric programming with a single degree of difficulty. The solution of the problem yields the optimum values of the number of cyclones to be used in parallel, and the inside diameter of cyclone shell and exit pipe, when a specified flow rate of gas is to be separated from solid particles, when the cut diameter is already specified. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009