Abstract
Soot particles from wood combustion in the rubber-sheet smoking process darkens the dried sheets, affecting their market price unfavorably. A technique to remove a portion of these particles, especially during the first day of drying, was investigated. A wire-cylinder type corona discharge device or electrostatic precipitator (ESP) was employed to remove the soot particles. Results from a laboratory collection performance test using polystyrene latex particles indicated that the ESP was suitable for use at 220 VAC, which is the highest available voltage supply. The field-test results in a model burner indicated that the device could be used for a period of about 10 hours without cleaning and it could still maintain the collection efficiency at a satisfactory level (higher than 40%). The color of the dried rubber sheets obtained from the smoking chamber in which the collecting device was installed was much lighter than that of the rubber sheets dried in normal operation without removing soot particles. This device could be used in a real rubber smoking chamber by installing 12 identical ESP units in the gas inlet to the chamber.
Highlights
Most of the ribbed smoked sheets (RSS) manufacturers in Thailand reside in the south, where production is shifting from large-scale industries to community-level rubber cooperatives
The results indicate the initial collection performance because the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is cleaned on a regular basis
It can be seen that the collection efficiency decreases as the velocity increases, and the results agree very well with the values obtained from the Deutsch-Anderson equation for the highest input voltage of 220 V when the corona discharge is well-established
Summary
Most of the RSS manufacturers in Thailand reside in the south, where production is shifting from large-scale industries to community-level rubber cooperatives. Because the soot particles are in the submicron range and the concentration is variable, one of the most effective technologies for the collecting device is to make use of a corona discharge device or an electrostatic precipitator (ESP).
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