A new hydrocyclone was designed with a volute chamber positioned prior to the inlet. Since the volute chamber prior to the inlet has a pre-sedimentation function due to the centrifugal sedimentation effect, coarse particles are concentrated on the outer side and fine particles are concentrated on the inner side as the particles reach the entrance of the hydrocyclone. Consequently, coarse particles in the hydrocyclone are easily separated into the underflow and fine particles are easily transferred into the overflow. As a result, the separation or classification performance of the hydrocyclone was improved effectively. Compared with the traditional type of hydrocyclone, this new type of hydrocyclone with a volute chamber before the inlet was shown to possess a much higher classification efficiency for fine particles.