ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATION

BY:
RIYA TOTEJA 160010007
JAGDISH CHANDRA 160020007
ANURAG ARJUNAN 160030007

CONTENTS

• Definition and working principle.

• Types of precipitators and pollutants they remove.
• Why is it used?
• Limitations and drawbacks.
• Statistics and Our views.
A. DEFINITION AND WORKING PRINCIPLE:

Electrostatic precipitation is a process in which certain impurities either solid particles or liquid
droplets from air or other gases in smokestacks and other flues, are removed using electric
charge. The device that handles this process is electrostatic precipitator.

• Flowing particles acquire negative charge from the negative electrode.

• Higher up the pipe, these particles attach to the positively charged plate.
• Finally clean gas flows through the precipitator.

• Mechanical rappers remove of

the dust.

• Conveyor system for transport of

this waste.

• Denitrification units remove

nitrogen oxides.

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B. TYPES OF PRECIPITATORS AND POLLUTANTS THEY REMOVE:

• DRY ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR:

It collects the pollutants, also known as ash or cement, in a dry state hence known by that name.

• WET ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR:

Wet electrostatic precipitators are used to remove wet particles such as resin, oil, paint, tar, acid
or anything that is not dry in the conventional sense. They are used in industrial applications
where the potential for explosion is high. They are used for particles with high resistivity or high
corrosive nature. The collectors are continuously sprayed with a liquid, generally water. Thus the
particles collected from a sludge.

 Removing dirt from flue gases in steam plants.

 Removing oil mists in machine shops.

 Removing acid mists in chemical process plants.

 Cleaning blast-furnace gases.

 Purifying air in ventilation and air conditioning systems.

 Separating rutile from zirconium sand in dry mills and rutile recovery plants.

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C. WHY ARE THEY USED:

ESPs separate and collect the unwanted particles without hindering the flow. Some of
its features and advantages include:

 Low operating cost (except at very high efficiencies).

 Very high efficiency, even for smaller particles.

 Ability to handle very large gas flow rates with low pressure losses.

 Ability to remove dry as well as wet particles.

 Temperature flexibility in design.

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D. LIMITATIONS AND DISADVANTAGES:

1) Major disadvantage: Ozone generation.

O + O2 + M -> O3 (1)
e + O3 -> O + O2 +e (4)
Rate of reaction 1 is more than 4, thus there is a net generation of ozone gas.

2) High capital cost.

3) Much space required.

4) Not flexible once installed.

But , overall ESPs are advantageous when used for large-scale, industrial or broad purposes.
Generated ozone can be released into atmosphere at higher altitudes. However they cannot be
used in human vicinity/ homes.

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E. STATS AND OUR VIEWS:

ESPs are common installations on coal-fired

power plants to remove over 99% of ash
particles from million ft3 per minute of
fumes. They stand tens of meters tall.

Air pollution has become a serious problem in current period. E.g. Delhi.

We believe disposal of waste gases and ashes should be responsibly by the industries.

Purifiers/ESPs should be used to precipitate majority of the pollutants and dispose it.
Though ESPs are costly, this factor gets easily compensated when put into use.