Characterization of the emission behavior of pulse-jet cleaned filters using a low-cost particulate matter sensor

The reduction of fine dust emissions with pulse jet cleaned filters plays an important role in industrial gas cleaning to meet emission standards and protect the environment.The dust emission of technical facilities is typically measured "end of pipe", so that no information about the local emission contribution of individual filter elements exists. Cheap and compact low-cost sensors for the detection of particulate matter (PM) concentrations, which have been prominently applied for immission monitoring in recent years have the potential for emission measurement of filters to improve process monitoring.This publication discusses the suitability of a low-cost PM-sensor, the model SPS30 from the manufacturer Sensirion, in terms of the potential for particle emission measurement of surface filters in a filter test rig based on DIN ISO 11057. A Promo (R) 2000 in combination with a Welas (R) 2100 sensor serves as the optical reference device for the evaluation of the detected PM2.5 concentration and particle size distribution of the emission measured by the low-cost sensor. The Sensirion sensor shows qualitatively similar results of the detected PM2.5 emission as the low-cost sensor SDS011 from the manufacturer Nova Fitness, which was investigated by Schwarz et al. in a former study. The typical emission peak after jet-pulse cleaning of the filter, due to the penetration of particles through the filter medium, is detected during Delta p-controlled operation.The particle size distribution calculated from the size resolved number concentrations of the low-cost sensor yields a distinct distribution for three different employed filter media and qualitatively fits the size distribution detected by the Palas (R) reference.The emission of these three different types of filter media can be distinguished clearly by the measured PM2.5 concentration and the emitted mass per cycle and filter area, demonstrating the potential for PM emission monitoring by the low-cost PM-sensor. During the period of Delta t-controlled filter aging, a decreasing emission, caused by an increasing amount of stored particles in the filter medium, is detected. Due to the reduced particle emission after filter aging, the specified maximum concentration of the low-cost sensor is not exceeded so that coincidence is unlikely to affect the measurement results of the sensor for all but the very first stage of filter life.