IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 17, No.

1; February 2010 39

Simulation of Dust Loaded V-I Characteristics of a

Commercial Thermal Power Plant Precipitator
B. S. Rajanikanth and M. V. Jayan
High Voltage Lab,
Department. of Electrical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore-560012, India

ABSTRACT
A new approach based on finite difference method, is proposed for the simulation of
electrical conditions in a dc energized wire-duct electrostatic precipitator with and
without dust loading. Simulated voltage-current characteristics with and without dust
loading were compared with the measured characteristics for analyzing the
performance of a precipitator. The simple finite difference method gives sufficiently
accurate results with reduced mesh size. The results for dust free simulation were
validated with published experimental data. Further measurements were conducted at
a thermal power plant in India and the results compares well with the measured ones.
Index Terms - Precipitator, dust simulation, voltage-current characteristics, finite
difference method.

1 INTRODUCTION V-I conditions so as to facilitate easy diagnosis of ESP

problems. Almost all of the ESPs in India are dc energized
WIRE duct electrostatic precipitators are most
and are facing severe back corona problems owing to the use
commercially used for the removal of solid particulate from
of low sulfur content coal. As a first step, in this paper the
combustion of flue gases of industries, thereby preventing the
dust loaded V-I characteristics of an ESP is modeled using
emission of toxic particulate into the atmosphere.
FDM for solving both current continuity equation and
The performance of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) can
Poisson’s equation. In this paper the actual data related to dust
be determined by the voltage-current (V-I) characteristics [1].
characteristics sampled from a thermal power plant
The V-I curves under clean air conditions help in diagnosing
precipitator is incorporated for the prediction of precipitator’s
the electrical problems that occur under various load
V-I characteristics. The finite difference program for dust free
conditions in an existing precipitator. Also, they play an
simulation was extended to incorporate dust simulation. This
important role in predicting the performance when the ESP is
in itself is a new approach reported in this paper.
in the design stage for various mechanical input data such as
wire radius, wire-to-wire spacing, wire-to-plate spacing, etc. Unlike most of the other methods where different grids
Several methods have been employed for simulation of were employed for solving the two governing equations, here
dust-free V-I characteristics in an ESP, starting with FDM [2], in FDM only one grid is employed for solving the Poisson and
FDM-FEM [3], BEM-MOC [4], FDM-BEM [5]. current continuity equations. To the best of our knowledge,
Cristina and Feliziani [6] have modeled the precipitator in such a simple ESP model for prediction of dust laden dc V-I
the presence of dust using charge simulation method. The characteristics will be of much help to the power utility people
numerical method adopted is FEM. The V-I characteristics in our country to diagnose the severe problems faced by our
and precipitation efficiencies for various particle sizes were Indian ESPs which are still running on dc energisation and not
calculated. Bracha and Castle [7] provided an approximate on the state of the art dc+ pulse energisation.
analytical solution for the simulation of dust loaded ESP With the present computational power, the modeling can be
conditions. Abdel-Sattar and Ibrahim [8] modeled cement and done with a very fine mesh, which gives accurate results.
steel particles using charge simulation method. Modeling is Simulation studies were carried out with and without the
done using charge simulation method. The distributions of presence of dust. The results for dust free simulation were
various electrical conditions were obtained. validated with experimental data of Lawless and Sparks [9]
In India due to the increased use of coal in thermal power and Penny and Matick [10]. Further, dust loaded ESP V-I
characteristics were also validated against the data obtained
plants it was found necessary to simulate the dust loaded ESP
from an industrial ESP located at Raichur Thermal Power
Manuscript received on 3 March 2009, in final form 12 July 2009. house in India.

1070-9878/10/$25.00 © 2010 IEEE

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:530 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
40 B.S. Rajanikanth and M.V. Jayan: Simulation of Dust Loaded V-I Characteristics of a Commercial Thermal Power Plant Precipitator

2 MATHEMATICAL MODEL Using FDM the voltage at any grid point Figure 2 can be
estimated as [2]
The assumptions made for the mathematical analysis are
dc voltage is applied to the wire.
The field on the wire is equal to the corona onset gradient ⎛ a2 ρ ⎞
1⎜ 0 ⎟ (4)
given by Peek’s formula. V = V +V +V +V +
The discharge electrode is a round and smooth wire. 0 4 ⎜⎜ 1 2 3 4 ε ⎟⎟
The mobility of charge carriers is constant. ⎝ 0 ⎠
Thermal diffusion of ions is neglected. The problem is
assumed to be two-dimensional one, as the variation of
2
voltage or current density along the length of the wire is
negligible.
ax
The secondary phenomena like corona quenching, back
corona are neglected.
Due to two-way symmetry the mathematical model is 3 0 1
developed for one quarter of the regions between a pair of the ay
wires and the plates. The problem domain is shown in Figure 1.
The various boundary conditions for potential V are, Y

∂V ∂V ∂V (1)
V =V , V = 0, = 0, = 0, =0 X 4
A 0 DC ∂x AB ∂y BC ∂y AD
Figure 2. Four cells of the grid.
o is obtained from the solution of current continuity
Wires
Earthed Plate equation.
∇.J = 0 (5)
Current density J can be expressed as J= bE, where b is
Y the mobility of charge carriers and E is the electric field
A B
intensity. Using FDM the charge density i,j at any grid point
XC Sx
can be estimated as[2]

Earthed Plate A D C
B Sy ⎛ ⎞
Figure 1. One-Quarter Section of ESP where problem is modeled. ⎜ a xa y ⎟ ρ 2 + (
⎜⎜ ε ⎟⎟ i, j a y E x + a x E y ) ρ i, j
(6)
Finite difference method is applied in the above domain to ⎝ 0 ⎠
solve Poisson’s equation and current continuity equation. A
first estimate of the voltages (V) at the grid points are − (a y E x ρ i −1, j + a x E y ρ i, j − 1) = 0
obtained using Cooperman’s equations [12]
Here, ax and ay are the grid spacing as shown in Figure 2.
w cosh[π ( y − 2 mS ) / 2 S ] − cos(π x / 2 S ) By solving above quadratic Equation, the space charge
y x x
∑ ln{ }
m = −w cosh[π ( y − 2 mS ) / 2 S ] + cos( π x / 2 S ) density at any point (i,j) on the grid can be computed. The
y x x
V ( x, y ) = V equations are iteratively solved, updating space charge
0 w cosh(π mS / S ) − cos(π a / 2 S )
y x x density, voltage and electric field, until the voltages at all grid
∑ ln{ }
m = −w cosh( π mS / S ) + cos( π a / 2 S ) points converge.
y x x
(2) 2.1 SIMULATION OF DUST
where, V0 is the applied at the wire, x,y are the co-ordinate Presence of dust particles affect the electric field and current
position in metres measured with the wire as origin, Sx is wire density distribution in the inter electrode space of an
to plate spacing, Sy is half wire to wire spacing, a is the radius electrostatic precipitator. The total space charge density T is
of the wire, and w is the number of wires. the sum of ionic charge density and particle charge density p.
Voltages are updated by solving Poisson’s equation
ρT = ρ + ρ P (8)
ρ
∇ 2V = − (3)
ε While simulating the dust particles the following
0 assumptions are made:
where, is the charge density and 0 is the permittivity of • The dust particles are of spherical shape and are
free space. homogeneous in nature

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:530 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 17, No. 1; February 2010 41

• All the particles have the same diameter Now Poisson’s equation becomes
• The dust particles have same resistivity and permittivity,
•
ρ+ρ
The electric field at the emitter surface remains p
∇ 2V = − (14)
unchanged by the presence of dust. ε
• The ionic charge density remains unaltered with the 0
introduction of dust.
This equation can be written in two-dimensional discrete
• Diffusion phenomenon is ignored.
form as
ρ+ρ
Charging of dust particles can happen through two Δ 2V Δ 2V p
+ =− (15)
mechanisms viz, field charging and diffusion charging. Field
Δx 2 Δy 2 ε
charging predominates for particles with diameter > 0.5 μm 0
while diffusion charging predominates for particles with Evaluating the second order finite differences by central
radius < 0.2 μm. In the intermediate range both mechanisms difference method we get,
contribute significant charge [1]. Since the particles
considered here have a diameter > 0.5 μm, only field charging Δ 2V V4 + V2 − 2V0 Δ 2V V1 + V3 − 2V0
is considered here. The charge attained by a particle of radius = and = (16)
Δx 2 a 2 Δy 2 a 2
‘R’ subjected to an external field E0 due to field charging is
given by the equation, and substituting these values in the original equation, we
ε get,
q = 12πε R 2 r E0 (9) ⎛V + V + V + V ⎞
s 0 ε +2
1⎜ ⎟
r 1 2 3 4

( )
Where, qs is the saturation charge acquired by a particle, r V = ⎜ a2 ⎟
is the dielectric constant, R is the radius of the particle, and E 0 4 ⎜+ ρ + ρ ⎟
(17)
is the magnitude of electric field. ⎜ ε 0 p0 ⎟
The particle charge density per unit volume ⎝ 0 ⎠
Rewriting current continuity equation
ρP = NqS
∇.E ⎜⎛ ρ b + ρ b ⎟⎞ = 0
(10)
(18)
⎝ p p⎠
Where N is the number of dust particles per unit volume,
which can be calculated from the concentration C of dust
⎛ ⎞
⎜ ρ b + ρ p b p ⎟ ∇.E + E.∇ρ b
particles as, specific gravity g and the radius R of the
particle. ⎝ ⎠ (19)
N=
C
;
4
W= π R3 g (11) + E.∇ρ b = 0
W 3 p p
The last term will be zero since pbp is a constant. Since bi
Now the current density is is a constant we can further expand the above equation as

J = ( ρ b + ρ P bP ) E ⎛ ⎞
⎜ ρ b + ρ p b p ⎟ ∇.E + bE.∇ρ = 0
(12)
(20)
⎝ ⎠
The mobility of dust particles bp can be calculated from the
following equation [6]
⎛ ρ b + ρ b ⎞ ∇.E
⎜ p p ⎟⎠
⎛ (1 + λ / R )2 + ⎞ ⎝
b = 2ε E / (3ν ) R ⎜ ⎟ (1 + A / (λ / R ) ) (13)
P 0 ⎜ 2 / (1 + λ / R ) ⎟ i.e. ⎛ ∂ρ ∂ρ ⎞ (21)
⎝ ⎠ + b⎜ E +E ⎟=0
⎝ x ∂x y ∂y ⎠
Where is the air viscosity = 184x10-7 Ns/m2, E the
charging field and the ion mean free path = 9.4x10-8 m [11].
The empirical constant ‘A’ is equal to 0.86 for air at normal Evaluating the partial derivatives using backward
temperature and pressure [6]. derivatives,

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:530 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
42 B.S. Rajanikanth and M.V. Jayan: Simulation of Dust Loaded V-I Characteristics of a Commercial Thermal Power Plant Precipitator

( )
ρ +ρ Penny and Matick [10]. The calculated current densities lie
i, j p within 3% of the measured value. Figure 4 shows the
ρ b+ρ b comparison of the present simulation with the experimental
i, j p p ε results published by Lawless and Sparks [9]. The calculated
0
values of current densities lie within 1% of the measured
⎛ ρ −ρ ρ −ρ ⎞ (22) value for applied voltages below 55 kV. Above that the error
b⎜E
i, j i − 1, j i, j i, j − 1 ⎟ gradually increases to 4%.
+E =0
⎜ x a y a ⎟
⎝ x y ⎠ 8
Simplifying we get,
a=1.016mm, Sx=11.43cm,

Current Density (X0.0001 A/m2)

7 -4 2
Sy=7.62cm, b= 2.0X10 m /Vs
⎛ ⎛ E E ⎞⎞ 6
2 ⎜
+ k + 1 + ε ⎜ x + ⎟⎟ ρ
y
ρ 5
i, j ⎜ 0⎜ a a ⎟⎟ i, j
⎝ x y ⎠⎠
4
⎝
3
⎛ρ ρ ⎞ (23)
2 ⎜ i −1, j i, j −1 ⎟ 2
+ kρ − ε + =0
p 0⎜ a a ⎟ 1 ♦ Penny & Matick’s Expt Result
⎝ x y ⎠
0
––-— Present Simulation

Solving this quadratic equation i,j can be calculated. 25 35 45 55

Substituting the value of i,j the new estimate of voltage can Voltage (kV)
be arrived at. The equations are iteratively solved, updating
space charge density, voltage and electric field, until the
Figure 3. Comparison of the present simulation (Clean air) with Penny
voltages at all grid points converge. and Matick’s experimental results.
Now the current density at the plate can be calculated as
1 n
j avg = ∑ (ρ b + ρ p b ) E x
14 a=1.59mm, Sx=11.4cm,
(24)
n j =1 j
Current Density (X 0.0001 A/m2)

-4 2
p Sy=11.4cm, b= 1.82X10 m /Vs
j 12

10
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
8
In the previous section the procedure for obtaining the
solution of Poisson’s equation and current continuity equation 6
simultaneously, is described. The calculations were done 4
using a computer program. The problem domain was divided ♦ Lawless & Spark’s Expt Result
into 100x100 and the solution was obtained by iterative 2 –– Present Simulation
solution of the equations. Assumed initial voltage at the wire, 0
wire radius, half wire-to-wire spacing, wire to plate spacing, 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
measured (or assumed) current density at the plate, effective Voltage (kV)
mobility of charge carriers, air density factor at NTP and
roughness factor of the wire are the required input data for
Figure 4. Comparison of the present simulation (Clean air) with Lawless
dust free simulation. For simulation of dust the additional data and Spark’s experimental results.
required are radius, specific gravity and relative permittivity
of the dust particle, dust concentration, air viscosity and mean
3. 2 VALIDATION OF THE PRESENT MODEL WITH
ion free path. Initial estimate of voltages at grid points are
PUBLISHED RESULTS
obtained from Cooperman’s equations. The space charge
densities at grid points are calculate by iterative solution of The present dust simulation model is validated with the
Poisson’s equation and current continuity equation, using results published by Abdel-Sattar and Ibrahim [8]. Figures 5
FDM. to 8 shows various results for cement dust having diameter
60 m, specific gravity 1.69 g/cm3 and dust concentration
3.1 VALIDATION OF THE PRESENT MODEL WITH 18g/m3 and steel dust having diameter 3 m, specific gravity
DUST FREE AIR EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 5.7 g/cm3, dust concentration 18 g/cm3 and relative
The present dust free air model is validated with the two permittivity 14.2 F/m. In both cases ion mobility was taken as
experimental results. Figure 3 shows the comparison of the 1.8x10-4 m2/V.secand applied voltage = 35 kV. The wire to
present simulation with the experimental results published by wire spacing as well as plate to plate spacing are taken as 0.2

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:530 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 17, No. 1; February 2010 43

m and the wire radius 0.127 mm. In all cases the error is less
than 2%. -6
x 10
5 x 10
5 11
___ Present Simulation
- - - Published [8] ___ Present Simulation
10 - - - Published [8]
4.5 Steel
Steel

Particle Current Density (A/m2)

9
Electric Field (V/m)

3.5
7
Cement

Cement
3
6

2.5 5
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
Distance along grounded plate (m) Distance along grounded plate (m)

Figure 5. Variation of electric field for steel and cement dust. Figure 8. Variation of particle current density for steel and cement dust.
3. 2 VALIDATION OF THE PRESENT MODEL WITH
PUBLISHED RESULTS
4.5
x 10
-4
Experiments were conducted on the ESP’s at Raichur
___ Present Simulation thermal power station, in Karnataka state of India. The
4
- - - Published [8] technical details of the precipitator are, wire diameter 2.7 mm,
3.5 Steel wire to wire spacing 30 cm and plate to plate spacing 30 cm.
The permittivity of ash is taken as 12.7 F/m, as obtained from
Charge Density (C/m3)

3
the fly ash analysis conducted by the central power research
2.5
institute, Bangalore.
2 The thermal plant ESP has six serial units for the ESP
1.5 attached to each generator. The coarse particles get collected
in the first few units and the fine particles at the last units. In
1
unit No.6 the particle collection is very low. So the simulated
0.5
Cement
clean air VI characteristics is compared with the readings
0
obtained from unit 6 as shown in Figure 9. The simulated
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
curve shows the same trend as the measured curve, but there is
Distance along grounded plate (m)
an error of about 6%.
Figure 6. Variation of charge density for steel and cement dust.

-3
x 10
1.2 100
90 Clean Air(Simulated)
___ Present Simulation
Currrent Density (mA/m2)

1 - - - Published [8] 80 Measured (Section 6)

70
Ion Current Density (A/m2)

Cement
0.8 60
50
0.6 40
30
0.4
Steel 20
10
0.2 0
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
0 Voltage (kV)
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1

Distance along grounded plate (m) Figure 9. Simulated Clean air characteristics along with the measured
Figure 7. Variation of ion current density for steel and cement dust. characteristics of Section 6 of ESP at Raichur thermal power house.

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:530 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
 44 B.S. Rajanikanth and M.V. Jayan: Simulation of Dust Loaded V-I Characteristics of a Commercial Thermal Power Plant Precipitator

In unit No.4 the average size of the dust collected is 100 μm. REFERENCES
So the simulated characteristic with 100 μm dust is compared [1] S. Oglesby Jr. and G.B. Nichols, Electrostatic Precipitation, Marcel-
with readings of unit No. 4 as shown in Figure 10. At low Dekker, New York, USA, 1978.
voltages the simulated current density is around 10% less than [2] J.R. McDonald, W.B. Smith, H. W. Spencer III and L.E. Sparks, “A
the measured values. But for the working voltages of the mathematical model for calculatingelectrical conditions in wire-duct
electrostatic precipitator devices”, J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 48, pp. 2231-
precipitator (45 to 60 kV) the simulated value lies within 3% 2243, 1977.
of the measured value. Finally, the experimental data [3] G.A. Kallio and D.E. Stock, “Computation of electrical conditions inside
corresponding to 200 μm fly ash dust of Unit-3 was validated wire-duct precipitator using combined finite-element, finite-difference
technique”, J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 59, pp. 1799 – 1806, 1986.
with the calculated results. The average diameter of dust was
[4] K. Adamiak, “Simulation of corona in wire-duct electrostatic
200 μm. Figure 11 shows the comparison of experimental and precipitator by means of the boundary-element method”, IEEE Trans.
simulated values. The error in the validation is less than 3%. Industry Applications, Vol. 30, pp. 381-386, 1994.
[5] B.S. Rajanikanth and N. Thirumaran, “Prediction of pre-breakdown V-I
characteristics of an electrostatic precipitator using a combined boundary
element-finite difference approach”, Fuel Processing Technology, Vol.
120 Clean Air(Simulated) 76, pp. 159 – 186, 2002.
[6] S. Cristina and M. Feliziani, “Calculation of ionized fields in DC
Current Density(mA/m2)

100 Dust100(Simulated electrostatic precipitators in the presence of dust and electric wind”,
C 11 7 / 3)
IEEE Trans. Industry Applications, Vol. 31, pp. 1446 – 1451, 1995.
80 [7] W.S. Bracha and G.S.P. Castle, “Electrical conditions in dust loaded
wire-duct precipitators”, IEEE Industrial Applications Society Annual
60
Meeting, Vol.2, pp. 1652-1656, 1988.
40 [8] S. Abdel-Sattar and A.A. Ibrahim, “On the wire-duct electrostatic
precipitator”, IEEE Industrial Applications Soc. Annual. Meeting
20 Denver, CO, pp.1113-1118, 1986.
[9] P.A. Lawless and L.E. Sparks, “A mathematical model for back corona
0 in wire-duct precipitators”, J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 51, pp. 242 – 256, 1980.
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 [10] [10] G.W. Penny and R.E. Matick, “Potentials in DC corona fields”,
Trans. AIEE, part I, Vol. 79, pp. 91 – 99, 1960.
Voltage(kV) [11] M. Abdel Salam and L. Fouad, “Modelling for particle charging in wire-
tube electrostatic precipitator study of corona quenching and
precipitation in humid air”, IEEE Industrial Applications Soc. Annual-
Meeting 1986.
[12] G. Cooperman, “A new voltage-current relation for low and high current
Figure 10. Simulated characteristics for dust size of 100μm and the
densities”, IEEE Trans. Indust. Appl. Soc., Vol. 17, pp. 236 – 239, 1981.
measured characteristics of Section 4 of ESP at Raichur thermal power
house along with Clean air characteristics.
B.S. Rajanikanth (S’93-M’95-SM’00) was born in
Bangalore, India on 1 May 1965. He received the BE
degree in electrical engineering from Bangalore
University in 1987 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
100 Clean Air(Simulated) high voltage engineering from the Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore, in 1990 and 1993, respectively.
90 Dust200(Simulated
He was a post-doctoral research fellow at Toyohashi
Conc=5.9g/m3)
University of Technology, Japan, from 1994 to 1996.
80 Measured (Section 2)
He then joined Kirloskar Systems Limited, Bangalore,
Current Density(mA/m2)

70 where he was heading the R&D department. He was a visiting researcher at

Tokyo Metropolitan University during the winter of 1996 and a visiting
60 Professor at Osaka Metropolitan University during the summers of 2001 and
2008. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical
50 Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His research interests are
mainly in the applications of high voltage for air pollution control and
40 modeling of electrical characteristics of precipitators. He has several
publications in reputed international Journals and Conferences. Two of his
30 papers on air pollution control have received IEEE committee prize paper
awards.
20

10 Jayan M.V. was born in Kerala, India on 15 May

1965. He received the B.Tech. degree from the M.A.
0 College of Engineering, Kothamangalam, Kerala, India
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 in 1987, and the M.E. degree from the PSG College of
Technology, Coimbatore, India in 2003. Presently he is
Voltage(kV)
writing the Ph.D. dissertation at the Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore, India

Figure 11. Simulated characteristics for dust size of 200μm and the
measured characteristics of Section 2 of ESP at Raichur thermal power
house along with Clean air characteristics.

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:530 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.