Abstract
The present study is concerned with the modeling of electrically charged particles in a model plate-plate and a single wire-plate electrostatic precipitator (ESP). The particle concentration distributions for both a plate-plate and a wire-plate ESP are calculated using a modified drift flux model. Numerical investigations are performed using the modified drift flux model for particle number concentration, in addition to the RNG k - e model for the mean turbulent flow field and the Poisson equation for the electric field. The proposed model and the outlined methodology for coupling the flow field, electric field, charging kinetics and particle concentration is applied to two model precipitators that are truly representative of a wide class of commercialized ESPs. The present investigation is quite different from the earlier studies as it does not make assumptions like a homogeneous electric field or an infinite turbulent diffusivity. The electric field calculated is a strong function of position and controls the migration velocity of particles. Hence, the proposed model can be implemented in a flow solver to obtain a full-fledged solution for any kind of ESP with no limitations on the particle number concentration, as encountered in a Lagrangian approach. The effect of turbulent diffusivity on particle number concentration in a plate-plate ESP is investigated in detail and the results obtained are compared with available experimental data. Similarly, the effect of particle size/diameter and applied electric potential on the accumulative collection performance in the case of a wire-plate ESP is studied and the results obtained are compared with available numerical data. The numerical results obtained using the modified drift flux model for both the plate-plate and wire-plate ESP are in close agreement with available experimental and numerical data.
Highlights
Electrostatic precipitators have been commercialized in a wide range of industries and pulverized coal fired power plants since the beginning of this century
Industrial and power plant electrostatic precipitators consist of a series of grounded parallel plates through which stack emission/flue gas is passed
The dispersed ions leads to a secondary flow field that is totally dependent on the corona discharge
Summary
Electrostatic precipitators have been commercialized in a wide range of industries and pulverized coal fired power plants since the beginning of this century. It is a device collecting particulate matter from stack emission for preventing air pollution. The dispersed ions leads to a secondary flow field that is totally dependent on the corona discharge. The particles in the flue gas/stack emission acquire an electric charge of the same polarity of that of the discharge electrode. Electrical discharge from the wire/discharge electrodes that are usually maintained at high negative potential produces gaseous ions by attachment of free electrons to gaseous molecules. The particles are charged by frequent collisions with the gaseous molecules
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