Numerical evaluation of thefog collection potential of electrostatically enhanced fog collector

Abstract

Collecting fog from atmospheric environment or industrial processes can provide supplementary water resource. However, the collection efficiency of conventional inertial-impaction fog collectors is not satisfactory. Charging fog droplets by corona discharge process and collecting fog in an electric field are promising methods to enhance the collection efficiency of conventional inertial-impaction fog collectors. Several fog collectors consisting of wire arrays are proposed and these wires play the role of electrodes. A numerical model is established to reveal the mechanism of droplets charging and migration behaviors. It is found that charged droplets are repelled by the discharge electrode and attracted by the grounded collection electrode due to the Coulomb force, and accordingly the collection efficiency is enhanced. The collection efficiency enhancement depends on the arrangement of wires. Droplets with a diameter of more than 5 μm can be collected with a high collection efficiency by the newly designed fog collector consisting of discharge, repelling and collection electrodes. The current simulation reveals that the electrostatic force can be applied with suitable designs to realize perfect fog collection.