Performance of reduction on particle emission by combining the charged water drop atomization and electric field in wet electrostatic precipitator

In this study, a wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP) with combination of electric field and charged water drop atomization was designed for fine particle collection, which replaced the traditional water film and mechanically spray. The removal performance was evaluated considering applied voltage, water flow rate, gas residence time, dust concentration, and continuous operation time. Results indicated that supplying charged droplets could acquire higher discharge current and better agglomeration effect than the dry type. The maximum penetration ratio was reduced from 3.8%-11.56% in the dry ESP to 3.58%-8.6% with charged droplets, as the applied voltage increased from 30 kV to 60 kV. Meanwhile, increase of water flow rate improved the total removal efficiency. The advantage of the WESP was more obvious under short gas residence time. The route of synergistically increasing gas residence time and applied voltage could largely reduce the penetration ratio, which decreased from 6.99%-19.81% to 1.03%-2.43% as they were enhanced from 1.50 s and 30 kV to 3.33 s and 60 kV. Increasing the dust concentration led to the trend that the total removal efficiency first increasing and then decreasing gradually, resulted from combined mechanisms of particle agglomeration and suppression of corona current. Moreover, the atomization of charged water drop maintained the advantage on particle removal under continuous operation, and the efficiency drop after long-term operation could be avoided. In particular, the WESP achieved significant reduction on water consumption compared to conventional large-scale and on-site WESPs in application with equivalent levels of removal efficiency. (c) 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.