(511r) Design Optimization and Experimental Study of A Wet Laminar Electrostatic Precipitator for Enhancing Collection Efficiency of Aerosols

Power plants and Industries emit pollutants containing Particulate Matter (PM) that form hazardous gases, acid rain, smog, and thus accelerate global warming. Particulates are a combination of liquid and solid droplets in gas. These particulates are of serious concern affecting not only the environment but also the human physiology, which includes respiratory problems and birth defects among others. Due to this hazard and federal regulations, industries had to develop techniques to capture the particulates. Past many years has seen the development of such equipments, one of them being the ?ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR (ESP)?. The basic operation of ESP involves charging of particles and collecting via electrostatic attraction. There is tremendous pressure on the industry which compels them to optimize the operation and thus prevent any legal consequence. The Ohio Coal Research Center at Ohio University, has developed a prototype Laminar Wet-Membrane Electrostatic Precipitator (LESP), designed to improve collection efficiency of sub-micron aerosols, especially sulfur acid aerosols and mercury, keeping in mind the high sulfur content coals in Ohio Valley. Research presented here focuses on characterizing and evaluating the overall collection efficiency of the prototype unit as a function of flow velocity and the voltage of the pre-charging section. Sub-micron sulfur acid aerosols are introduced into a heated flow with variation in the bulk gas flow rates. Prediction models of collection efficiency, the flow, and charging mechanisms help to analyze the parameters that impact collection efficiency. Experimental testing will follow soon to evaluate the predictions.