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Use of Membrane Collectors in Electrostatic Precipitators
Use of Membrane Collectors in Electrostatic Precipitators
ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION
Membrane collection surfaces, developed and patented The focus of this work was the development of membrane
by researchers at Ohio University, were used to replace collection surfaces for dry electrostatic precipitators (ESPs).
steel plates in a dry electrostatic precipitator (ESP). Such Since Frederick Garner Cottrell developed the first practi-
replacement facilitates tension-based rapping, which cal ESP, there have been relatively few major design
shears the adhered particle layer from the collector sur- changes.1 Most work has been done in optimizing exist-
face more effectively than hammer-based rapping. Tests ing systems, such as charging electrodes, rapping controls,
were performed to measure the collection efficiency of and variation of collection plate spacing. Even with the
accumulated operational experience achieved, current
the membranes and to quantify the potential improve-
precipitators remain less than optimal for controlling pri-
ments of this novel cleaning technique with respect to
mary and secondary PM2.5, especially re-entrainment from
re-entrainment. Results indicate that even semiconduc-
rapping.2 Furthermore, solid collecting surfaces negate
tor materials (e.g., carbon fibers) collect ash nearly as
advantageous transport of effects of corona wind by cre-
efficiently as steel plates, potentially indicating that col-
ating a rebound due to mass continuity. Corona wind is
lection surface resistivity is primarily dictated by the ac-
the resulting gas flow toward the collecting plates as the
cumulated ash layer and not by the underlying plate
ions from the corona collide with gas molecules. This
conductivity. In addition, virtually all sheared particles motion assists in transport of particles toward the collect-
separated from the collecting membranes fell within the ing plates until the gas molecules strike the plate, then
boundary layer of the membrane, indicating extremely rebound into the gas channel. This rebound effect not
low potential for re-entrainment. only carries particles away from the collection plates, but
it also disrupts the laminar boundary layer, making re-
entrainment more likely.3
Most dry precipitator collection surfaces are cleaned
IMPLICATIONS
of collected particles by an impact-based process known
Replacing steel collecting plates with membrane collec-
tors offers numerous advantages for electrostatic precipi- as rapping. During rapping, some of the detached ash re-
tation. Membranes kept in tension to maintain a planar enters the bulk gas flow. This re-entrainment of fly ash
surface promote greater laminar boundary-layer stability, can account for 30% of the time-averaged penetration for
potentially minimizing re-entrainment losses. Lighter- cold-side units and as much as 60% for hot-side units.4-7
weight collection surfaces permit alternative rapping
Two effects contribute to the re-entrainment of collected
mechanisms, typically by induced ash layer shear-off.
These mechanisms have been shown to be more efficient
particulates during rapping. The first effect is gas-phase
in cleaning particulates from the collection surfaces. Such transport of the dislodged particles, usually because of a
rapping techniques may also minimize re-entrainment disruption of the boundary layer near the plate surface.2
losses due to elimination of plate buckling. Because some The other effect occurs because of plate buckling caused
of the re-entrained particulate from dry precipitators is of by rapidly delivered impulsive forces during rapping, as
small diameter, primary PM2.5 emissions could be reduced
shown in Figure 1. While the buckling may be very small
with lower re-entrainment losses. Further, the lower cost
and weight of the membranes could facilitate installation for stiffened plates, the result can be dramatic for plates
in new construction and retrofitting in existing units. In with imperfections. Even minor disruptions from buck-
addition, woven membrane collectors may provide a func- ling can push the separated ash into the bulk flow, caus-
tional way to beneficially use corona wind to improve par- ing significant re-entrainment.4-8
ticulate collection.
Numerous studies on rapping have revealed funda-
mental behavior of plates and ash layers that could be
Volume 51 October 2001 Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 1401
Bayless et al.
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Bayless et al.
Figure 3. Image of the precipitator test section with pneumatic rapper. Figure 4. SEM image of fly ash particle.
Volume 51 October 2001 Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 1403
Bayless et al.
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Bayless et al.
Collection Efficiency Experiments Table 1. Collection efficiency results for carbon fiber membranes.
Volume 51 October 2001 Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 1405
Bayless et al.
Table 2. Collection efficiency results for steel plates. known mechanical faults (sets 9–10), all of the
ash fell within the assumed laminar boundary
Voltage Temperature Velocity Experimental Theoretical Ratio of layer of the plate, indicating a lower probability
(kV) (ºC) (m/sec) Efficiency Efficiency Exp./Theor. of the ash being re-entrained into the moving gas.
When including the data from tests with known
34 148.9 1.49 13.6% 12.7% 107.1% excessive lateral vibration, 99% of the total dis-
34 148.9 1.51 12.9% 12.4% 104.1%
lodged ash mass fell within the prescribed bound-
34 157.2 1.52 12.5% 12.1% 102.9%
ary layer. These results indicate that a pulling
technique can be used to clean the surface and
potentially reduce rapping re-entrainment.
its effect on relative collection efficiency, as defined by
the ratio of experimental to theoretical collection effi-
CONCLUSIONS
ciency predicted by the Deutsch-Anderson equation,
A comparison of experimental and theoretical collection
should not be significantly affected by changes in experi-
efficiency results indicated that within experimental un-
mental conditions, because the effects on theoretical cap-
certainty, carbon fiber membranes are as effective as steel
ture and actual experimentation will approximately cancel
plates as a collection surface in a bench-scale ESP. This is
each other in the ratio.
significant because a semiconducting material, such as car-
bon fibers, could only have collection efficiencies approach-
Rapping Experiments ing that of conductive steel collection surfaces if no
After it was proved that carbon fibers may collect fly ash additional back corona was generated from the semicon-
at reasonable relative collection efficiencies, carbon fiber ducting collection surface. This leads to the conclusion that
fabric #1150 was tested to determine if a pulling tech- the time-averaged conductivity of the collecting plate is
nique could be used to clean the surface of the membrane. primarily limited by the conductivity of the collected ash
For the experiments, a carbon fiber membrane ~1 ft2 in layer and not that of the underlying collection surface. In
area was placed in sudden tension with a pneumatic cyl- addition, experimental results of impulse rapping tests us-
inder to dislodge the attached particulate. The pressure ing a carbon fiber membrane, coupled with a boundary
supplied to the pneumatic cylinder provided a shearing layer thickness analysis, indicated that impulse-tension
force of 1116 N on the carbon fiber membrane. The fly cleaning might reduce re-entrainment from the rapping
ash sheared from the membrane was collected in sheet process when membrane collection surfaces are used.
metal troughs placed at the bottom of the membrane. Despite these encouraging results, the application of
The ash collected in each bin of the trough was weighed, membrane collectors in real ESPs requires further investi-
and the percentage of the total separated fly ash mass in gation. First, while carbon fibers may require slightly more
each bin was calculated. The results are shown in Table 3. collection area to be as effective as steel for particulate col-
The results should be examined in two parts: first, lection, other materials may be at least as effective as steel
without considering the last two data sets, and second, for the same collection area. Further, the effects on trans-
considering all data, including the two data sets where port by corona wind from the use of woven membrane
membrane agitation occurred due to large lateral forces collectors must be examined. As described earlier, a woven
in the rapping mechanism. Excluding the data with membrane could allow for dissipation of the corona wind
rebound effect that plagues solid collection surfaces, thus
Table 3. Rapping test results. giving a beneficial transport of particulates to the collec-
tion surface without the negative counter-transport that
Mass Percentage Falling into the Bin results with rebound. This effect was not quantified dur-
Experiment % at 0.5 cm % at 1 cm % at 2 cm % at 3 cm ing this work and should be the subject of future work. In
addition, alternative rapping techniques, specifically ones
1 86.3 12.6 1.1 0.0 that do not induce side forces (shaking), must be explored
2 82.8 14.4 2.7 0.0
in future work to further minimize re-entrainment.
3 84.7 12.6 2.7 0.0
4 84.0 11.7 4.4 0.0
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
5 83.5 12.0 4.5 0.0
This work was partially funded by the Ohio Coal Devel-
6 86.9 12.2 0.9 0.0
7 86.3 11.3 2.5 0.0
opment Office, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
8 85.5 11.8 2.6 0.0 and Ohio University. Thanks also go to Mr. Randy Sheidler
9 88.2 9.0 0.9 1.8 of American Electric Power’s Gavin Plant for supplying
10 74.5 9.4 7.3 8.9 the fly ash and to Mr. John Caine of Southern Environ-
mental Inc. for his encouragement of our work.
1406 Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association Volume 51 October 2001
Bayless et al.
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1984, 19, 155-164. About the Authors
9. Cutress, K.A.; Dalmon, J. Investigation into the Forces Required to Dis-
lodge Precipitated Particulate from an Electrode; Laboratory Report No. David Bayless (corresponding author) is an associate pro-
844; Central Electricity Research Laboratories: London, 1959. fessor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and
10. Sproull, W.T. Minimizing Rapping Loss in Precipitators at a 2000-
Megawatt Coal-Fired Power Station; J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc. 1972,
associate director of the Ohio Coal Research Center at Ohio
22, 181-186. University. His address is 248 Stocker Center, Ohio Univer-
11. Koschany, E.M. Basic Investigations Concerning the Cleaning of Col- sity, Athens, Ohio 45701-2979. He can be reached by phone:
lection Electrodes in Electrostatic Precipitators; Staub-Reinhaltung der
Luft. 1968, 7, 28. (740) 593-0264; fax: (740) 593-4902 (or -0476); or e-mail:
12. Juricic, D.; Herrmann, G. High Speed Photography of Particulate Layer bayless@ohio.edu. Hajrudin Pasic is a principal investiga-
Dislodgment. Presented at the Electric Power Research Institute Work- tor on the ESP project and professor of mechanical engi-
shop for Electrical Precipitator and Fabric Filter Manufacturers, Den-
ver, CO, November 1-2, 1977. neering at Ohio University. M. Khairul Alam is the director of
13. Juricic, D.; Herrmann, G. The Effect of Traveling Waves on the Re- the Center for Advanced Materials Processing at Ohio Uni-
sponse of Collecting Plates in Electrostatic Precipitators. In Pfluger-
Festschrifft; Hanover, Germany, 1977; pp 111-121.
versity and holds the title of Moss Professor of Mechanical
14. Juricic, D.; Herrmann, G. On the Dynamics of Electrostatically Pre- Engineering. Liming Shi is a postdoctoral researcher in the
cipitated Fly Ash; ASME J. Eng. Power 1979, 101, 584-591. Ohio Coal Research Center at Ohio University. Brian Haynes,
15. Pasic, H.; Herrmann, G. Dynamic Shear Response of Rectangular Plates
with Initial Imperfections; ASME J. Mech. Des. 1980, 102, 769-775. Joe Cochran, and Wajahat Khan were graduate students in the
16. Pasic, H.; Juricic, D.; Herrmann, G. Dynamic Response of a Rectangu- Mechanical Engineering Department at the time of this writing.
lar Plate with Initial Imperfections under Large In-Plane Forces; ASME
J. Mech. Des. 1982, 104, 432-438.
Volume 51 October 2001 Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 1407