Improving the removal of particles via electrostatic precipitator by optimizing the corona wire arrangement

Abstract

The severe current reduction and a significant drop in collection efficiency appear when containing ultrafine particles. In this study, a comprehensive model was developed to investigate the role of optimizing the corona wire arrangement in the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) performance enhancement. The total current increased initially and then decreased with the increase in wire-wire distance (without PM0.1). The decrease in the wire-plate distance could enhance the corona discharge. The collection efficiencies for 1, 2.5, and 5 μm enhanced by 58.1%, 45.2%, and 37.4% when the wire-plate distance decreased from 300 mm to 100 mm (without PM0.1), respectively. Compared with the wire-wire distance optimization, the ESP performance enhancement was more obvious for wire-plate distance optimization when containing ultrafine particles. The collection efficiency of 5 μm particles could increase by 323.2% when the PM0.1 concentration reached 50 mg/m3. Meanwhile, some potential methods were proposed to improve ESP performance in treating ultrafine particles.