Effect of Particle Size on Collection Efficiency of ESP and RABH: A Case Study

Abstract

Electro Static Precipitator (ESP) is a conventional dust collecting equipment used in various process industries. Nowadays bag houses and Reverse Air Bag Houses (RABH) are also widely used in place of ESP. RABH is comparatively new technology which is used in cement plants and also other industrial facilities for dust collection. The dust collection efficiency of the ESP and RABH depend on many factors and particle size is one of those factors. Many researchers have done research on the collection efficiency of ESP with respect to the particle size distribution in dust-laden inlet gas, however, there is merely any study done on RABH collection efficiency with respect to the dust particle size distribution. A case study has been conducted in this research to find out the relationship between particle size distribution and collection efficiency of RABH in a cement plant. In addition to this, the collection efficiency of ESP is also studied with respect to the dust particle size distribution in inlet gas. The study has been conducted by taking the samples at inlet and outlet of ESP and RABH for calculation of efficiency and different particle size percentage at inlet side. It is found that the collection efficiency of both ESP and RABH is dependent on the size of the incoming dust load. In ESP the collection efficiency is higher when the particle size is smaller than 0.2 μm (PM0.2) and larger than 1 μm i.e., PM2.5 and PM10. The collection efficiency is lower when the particle size lies between 0.2 and 1 μm. In RABH it is observed that the collection efficiency increases with increase in the size of dust particles. Also a comparative study has been conducted to find out the better system between ESP and RABH by the help of sampling analysis (t test), field survey and performance parameter study. It is found that RABH is better than ESP in terms of collection efficiency and other performance parameters.