(414h) Comparison of Filtration Performance for Sea Salt Particles Between Nonwoven and Woven Activated Carbon Fiber Media

Presence of sea salt particles (SSP) and other gaseous contaminants in the ocean atmosphere could cause severe degradation to performance of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs), which are currently being considered for use as power sources on ships. Therefore, the removal of these particles and gas impurities from the air stream fed to fuel cells has become an issue of major concern. In this study, different activated carbon fiber media were tested for evaluation of filtration performance for salt particles, including pressure drop across the filter media, filtration efficiency and salt particles loading capacity. Sodium chloride (NaCl) solution (15% w/w) was applied to generate salt particles by being nebulized using an aerosol generator which can produce particles in the range of 100 to 2000 nm. Nonwoven activated carbon fiber media combined with polyester fiber and cellulose, and woven media made entirely of activated carbon fiber, such as knit and single weave, were tested and the experimental results were compared in order to understand their different filtration performance of salt particles due to their various media structures. Moreover, relative humidity (RH) is significantly higher in the ocean environment and it can affect the filtration performance for salt particles, including both pressure drop and particles removal efficiency. Thus, it is highly essential to evaluate the filtration performance under different relative humidities (RHs). Three different RHs (0%, 30% and 50%) below deliquescent point of sodium chloride (75%) and one RH (80%) above the deliquescent point were selected for this study and effect of various RHs on filtration performance was experimentally tested. The results and discussions will be presented in depth.