Electrostatic precipitation particle concentration

Recovered catalyst and blowdown gas (- 3% of the flue gas) exit from the bottom of the separator to an electrostatic precipitator or to a small, fourth-stage cyclone for further concentration of catalyst fines. The flue gas, with 70—90% of the catalyst particles removed, passes from the separator into the power expander. 

The concentration of gas ions significantly influences the particle-charging process. The high ion concentration is essential for the effective charging of fine particles. The distribution of ion concentration in a pipe-type electrostatic precipitator can be approximated by using the equations presented in the previous section. 

Most of the results presented in the previous chapters are based on idealized conditions. In practice, the performance of an electrostatic precipitator can be significantly influenced by the dust layers on discharge and collection electrodes i.e., dust layers may alter the electrical properties of the system. It is also possible that dust layers are not stable i.e., collected particles become loose, increasing the particle concentration in the outlet of the precipitator. These problems play a much smaller role if the surface collection electrode is continuously flushed with water. These wet elearostatic precipitators, however, cannot be used in all applications. 

Ash particles produced in coal combustion are controlled by passing the flue gases through electrostatic precipitators. Since most of the mass of particulate matter is removed by these devices, ash received relatively little attention as an air pollutant until it was shown that the concentrations of many toxic species in the ash particles increase as particle size decreases. Particle removal techniques become less efiective as particle size decreases to the 0.1-0.5 pm range, so that particles in this size range that escape contain disproportionately high concentrations of toxic substances. 

A semi-industrial pilot plant has been developed in which air-borne ultrasound has been applied to the reduction of particle emissions in coal combustion fumes [62]. The installation basically consists of an acoustic agglomeration chamber with a rectangular cross-section, driven by four high-power and highly directional acoustic transducers operating at 10 and/or 20 kHz, and an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). In the experiments, a fluidised bed coal combustor was used as fume generator with fume flow rates up to about 2000 m /h, gas temperatures of about 150 °C. and mass concentrations in the range 1-5 gm. The acoustic filter reduced fine particle emissions by about 40 %. 

Figure 2. Concentration vs. size curves of Fe, Al, Sc, V, U, and Se in aerosol particles collected upstream of an electrostatic precipitator of a coal utility boiler.

Table II. Estimates of the concentrations of selected elements in submicrometer-diameter particles collected upstream of a cold-side electrostatic precipitator, ppm.

Utilities using post-combustion SCR-supported ammonia injection for NOx control as well as those using ammonia conditioning to improve electrostatic precipitator performance will produce fly ash that contains ammonia compounds. The ammonia is primarily physically adsorbed onto the fly ash particles as sulphate and bisulphate species. In many cases, the residual ammonia levels are quite low (<50ppm) however, elevated concentrations can occur as the catalyst ages or due to mechanical problems with the ammonia injection system. While elevated ammonia concentrations in fly ash do not negatively impact pozzolanic properties, it can reduce ash marketability due to odour concerns. For this reason, several processes have been developed to remove or reduce the amount of ammonia in fly ash. 

The collection efficiency of the wire-plate-type of electrostatic precipitator can be estimated by the widely used Deutsch theory [Deutsch, 1922]. To obtain the Deutsch equation, the following assumptions are made (1) because of the turbulent mixing effect, particle concentration at any cross section of the precipitator is uniformly distributed ... 

In an earlier study (15) we addressed some of the problems in obtaining accurate concentration-vs-particle-size distributions for elements in stack aerosols collected downstream of an electrostatic precipitator and a Venturi wet scrubber at a coal-fired power plant. The problems investigated were error associated with the use of the... 

The particle residence time in the charging section of an electrostatic precipitator is 0.6 s. What is the ion concentration such that one-half the maximum charge on the particles is reached diming this residence time ... 

NOx concentration is considerably low comparing with conventional incinerator. Particles in flue gas can be caught easily by the electrostatic precipitator, and it thus easily passes strict regulations for particles emission. 

Mechanical filtration systems are intended to limit the introduction of pollutants from outdoors to indoors. The efficiency of such systems generally depends on the filter properties and the aerodynamic properties of filtered particles [26]. The efficiency of filters varies from 5% to 40% for low-efficiency filters, such as dry media filters, panel and bag filters, from 60% to 90% for electrostatic precipitators to over 99% for high-efficiency particulate air filters. Not only the filters, but the whole heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system contributes to particle reduction, owing to particle losses on the cooling/heating coil and other parts of the system. The selection of a system depends on the type of indoor environment, outdoor and indoor sources, the demand on the level of reduction of pollutant concentrations and the cost associated with purchase, operation and maintenance of the system. 

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