Electro Static Precipitator (ESP)

It is an electro-mechanical device that utilizes electric energy for removing the

impurities
fly ash, dust particles from the flue gases in steam power plant.
This is commonly used device for controlling air pollution.
It is essential for removing carbon particles from flue gases becuase it can harm
human health.

Construction
ESP consists of
1. Source of high voltage (440 V, 50Hz, 3 phase supply)
2. Emitting and collective Electrods
3. A High voltage transformer
4. A rectifier to convert AC to DC

fig no. 3
There is no positive charge in collecting electrodes. As they are grounded, they
have zero charge.
Since zero is higher than negative, collecting electodes act as a positively
charged electrodes.
The second set of electrods consists of wires and they are called as discharge or
emitting electrodes.
The discharge or emitting electrodes are centrally located between each pair of
collecting electrodes.
The discharge or emitting electrodes carry the negatively charged high voltage ( 40
to 80 kV)
from DC source.
The negative charge is achieved using a Transformer-Rectifier set called TR set.

Advantages
1. ESP can remove fine dust particles efficiently.
2. Low maintainance charges
3. Easy to operate.
4. Dust is collected in dry and wet form.

Disadvantages
1. Capital cost is High.
2. Operational charges are high.
3. Space requirement is more as compared to other dust collectors.
4. If gas velocity above the designed speed increases, its collection efficiency is
reduced.
5. A pre-filter is necessary before electrostatic filter to reduce the load on this
filter.
6. The Direct current is not available with modern power plant, so electrical
equipment is require
to convert low AC voltage to high DC voltage.