Experimental Investigations of the Resistance Performance of Commercial Cylinder Filters and Effect Factors under Humid Airflows

Abstract

Experiments were performed to summarize the variations in the resistance of commercial cylinder filters applied in the air intake filtration systems of gas power plants under humid airflows. Seven clean cylinder filters composed of various materials (including synthetic, wood cellulose, nanofibers, and polyester fibers) are subjected to the airflow containing water mist. The results show that the resistance of polyester fiber filters and synthetic fiber filters was increased by the large droplets on the surface of the hydrophobic filter media when loaded with water droplets generated. Several factors including the water-holding capacity (WHC) of fibers, low filtration efficiency, and the unique composite structure of nanofiber filters media can limit the "Pjump" of cylinder filters, increasing the mass of water droplets loaded or avoiding the high resistance. By contrast, the resistance trends of nanofiber media increased significantly from the initial resistance when singly subjected to airflows with water mist at 5.96 g m-3 and 90% relative humidity, differing from the nanofiber filter whose resistance tends to stabilize. These differences were primarily caused by the pleat-free structures and the install directions of the nanofiber medium in the clamp, indicating differences in the filtration performance between the filter medium and its filters.