Electrostatic separator particle recoveries

Particle recovery is currently performed in metallic or porous polymeric baskets this method is satisfactory for bench scale studies whose aim is, in most cases, limited to studying morphology and particle size. At the industrial scale, this solution may prove to be inadequate. Besides such conventional separation techniques as cyclones, scrubbers, and electrostatic precipitators, different approaches were recently explored (183,184). 

The carbon black (soot) produced in the partial combustion and electrical discharge processes is of rather small particle si2e and contains substantial amounts of higher (mostly aromatic) hydrocarbons which may render it hydrophobic, sticky, and difficult to remove by filtration. Electrostatic units, combined with water scmbbers, moving coke beds, and bag filters, are used for the removal of soot. The recovery is illustrated by the BASF separation and purification system (23). The bulk of the carbon in the reactor effluent is removed by a water scmbber (quencher). Residual carbon clean-up is by electrostatic filtering in the case of methane feedstock, and by coke particles if the feed is naphtha. Carbon in the quench water is concentrated by flotation, then burned. 

The basic operations in dust collection by any device are (1) separation of the gas-borne particles from the gas stream by deposition on a collecting surface (2) retention of the deposit on the surface and (3) removal of the deposit from the surface for recovery or disposal. The separation step requires (1) application of a force that produces a differential motion of a particle relative to the gas and (2) a gas retention time sufficient for the particle to migrate to the coUecting surface. The principal mechanisms of aerosol deposition that are apphed in dust collectors are (1) gravitational deposition, (2) flow-line interception, (3) inertial deposition, (4) diffusional deposition, and (5) electrostatic deposition. Thermal deposition is only a minor factor in practical dust-collectiou equipment because the thermophoretic force is small. Table 17-2 lists these six mechanisms and presents the characteristic... 

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