Characteristics of particulate matter collection efficiency and ozone emission rate of an electrostatic precipitator by thickness of high-voltage electrode and distance of collection plates

Abstract

To optimize the shape of the electrostatic precipitator for the removal of particulate matter in subway environments, the wind-tunnel experiments were carried out to characterize collection efficiency and ozone emission rate. As a standardized parameter, power consumption divided by the square of flow velocity, was increased, the PM10 collection efficiency increased. If the standardized parameter is higher than 1.0 due to high power consumption or low flow velocity, increase in thickness of electrodes from 1 to 2 mm, or increase in distance of collection plates from 5 to 10 cm did not change the PM10 collection efficiency much. Increase in thickness of high-voltage electrodes, however, can cause decrease in PM10 collection efficiency by 28% for low power consumption and high flow velocity. The ozone emission rate decreased as distance of collection plates became wider, because the ozone emission rate per unit channel was constant, and the number of collection channels decreased as the distance of collection plates increased. When the distance of collection plates was narrow, the ozone emission rate increased with the increase of the thickness of electrodes, but the difference was negligible when the distance of collection plates was wide. It was found that the electrostatic precipitator having a thin high-voltage electrodes and a narrow distance of collection plates is advantageous. However, to increase the thickness of high-voltage electrodes, or to increase the distance of collection plates is needed, it is necessary to increase the applied voltage or reduce the flow rate to compensate reduction of the collection efficiency.