Influence of gas velocity on the particle collection and reentrainment in an air-cleaning electrostatic precipitator

• Published in: Aerosol science and technology 2018-12, Vol.52 (12), p.1415-1428
• Main Author: Sh Islamov, Rafael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerodynamics; Aerosol research; Air flow; Air pollution; Boundary conditions; Charged particles; Collection; Computational fluid dynamics; Corona; Dimensional analysis; Dust control; Electrodes; Electrostatic precipitators; Fluxes; Indoor air; Indoor air pollution; Indoor environments; Mathematical models; Outdoor air quality; Particle deposition; Particle transport; Positive corona; Precipitators; Reentrainment; Turbulent flow; Two dimensional analysis; Two dimensional flow; Two dimensional models; Velocity; Yannis Drossinos
• ISSN: 0278-6826; 1521-7388
• DOI: 10.1080/02786826.2018.1528003

Particle deposition and reentrainment experiments were performed in a two-stage electrostatic precipitator (ESP), consisting of positive corona precharger and collecting electrode sections. Attention was focused on studying the indoor air pollution deposition and reentrainment into six size ranges from 0.3 to >10 μm. Tests were performed in an office room (200 m 3 ) for airflow velocities from 1.4 to 8 m/s. The effect of airflow velocity on the collection efficiency of the ESP was investigated both experimentally and analytically to study reentrainment phenomena in a turbulent flow. A stationary two-dimensional analytical model was carried out by modeling the particle transport. The boundary conditions for charged particles on collecting and repelling electrodes were determined by physical considerations, including chaotic and drift motions, the reflection of charged particles from a surface, and the reentrainment of charged particles. A decrease in the experimental collection efficiency for large particle diameters (≥0.5 μm), as compared to the theoretical prediction, was interpreted as the reentrainment of particles. The size-resolved dust reentrainment fluxes from the collecting electrode were evaluated in two limiting cases, considering that either the reentrained particles are not charged or that they are charged as the particles in the deposition flux. Dimensional analysis is applied to these results, introducing the wall friction velocity as a universal parameter that determines the flow character. In general, the particles with diameters 5 μm exhibit different reentrainment behavior. Copyright © 2018 American Association for Aerosol Research