Experimental study on electrostatic removal of high-carbon particle in high temperature coal pyrolysis gas

A high-temperature electrostatic precipitator (ESP) presents a good solution for hot gas cleaning, which can remove fly ash from pyrolysis gas at temperatures higher than the tar dew point. In this paper, the characteristics of negative DC corona discharge in air and simulated coal pyrolysis gas were studied. The removal of coal pyrolysis furnace fly ash (ash A) was investigated and compared with that of coal-fired power plant fly ash (ash B) in ESP with a temperature ranging from 300 K to 900 K. The current density of simulated gas was higher than that of air under the same discharge voltage and at different temperatures. The simulated gas also had a higher spark voltage and a lower onset voltage compared with air. The fractional collection efficiency of ash A was lower for particles with diameters of larger than 0.1 mu m at high temperature, compared with ash B. A lower collection efficiency in simulated gas was obtained for particles with diameters of less than 0.1 mu m compared with air. The collection efficiency of submicron particles in simulated gas was usually higher than it in air, especially for particles with diameters of less than 0.04 mu m. In simulated gas, the overall collection efficiency of ash A was obviously lower than that of ash B, especially at high temperature. From 300 K to 700 K, the collection efficiencies of both ash samples were as high as above 93%, but the collection efficiency of ash A in simulated gas decreased to 78.7% at 900 K. (C) 2018 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.