Interaction of water mists with bibulous filter media and hygroscopic particles in pressure drop jump of fibrous filter media

Abstract

This study aims to quantitatively evaluate the impact of humid airflows (unsaturated and saturated airflows with water mists), water absorption by filters (wood cellulose and polyester fibre filter media) and hygroscopic loading dust (KCl and Al2O3 particles) on the pressure drop jump. Additionally, proposed methods to alleviate this tendency are known as the “wet blockage” of filters in practice. The experimental results demonstrated that the water content of the airflows mainly contributed to the pressure drop jump in the filters. Increasing the water content from 4.2 g/m3 to 11.3 g/m3 resulted in a fourfold decrease in the water-loading capacity of the tested filter medium. However, increasing the water absorption of the filters by a factor of three times caused a reduction in the water-loading capacity of approximately 42 mg/cm2 based on the self-defined parameter tc. Furthermore, the non-hygroscopic particles delayed the pressure drop jump, which is associated with the dust-holding capacity of filters.