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REDUCING ENERGY AND SPACE REQUIREMENTS BY ELECTROSTATIC AUGMENTATION OF A PULSE-JET FABRIC FILTER
Citation:
Felix, L. G., R. F. Heaphy, J. D. McCain, J. P. Gooch, AND C B. Sedman*. REDUCING ENERGY AND SPACE REQUIREMENTS BY ELECTROSTATIC AUGMENTATION OF A PULSE-JET FABRIC FILTER. In Proceedings, A&WMA 93rd Annual Conference and Exhibition, Session AE-1 d, Paper #683, Salt Lake City, UT, June 18 - 22, 2000; also In Proceedings, Mega Symposium and the A&WMA Specialty Conference on Mercury Emissions: Fate, Effects, & Control, Session 19, Paper 343 , Chicago, IL, August 20 - 23, 2001. AWMA, Pittsburgh, PA, ,, (2001).
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Description:
In work performed several years ago by EPA's research lab then known as Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory (EPA/AEERL), small-scale testing and modeling of electrostatically stimulated fabric filtration (ESFF) has indicated than substantial performance benefits could be obtained with electrification. This electrification concept is now being evaluated and developed further through cooperative agreements between EPA and Southern Research Institute (SRI). The experimental work described in this paper identifies performance benefits due to electrification with a pulse-jet-cleaned baghouse collecting fly ash from a pulverized-coal-fired furnace over a range of coal types.
A 16-bag, pilot-scale, pulse jet-cleaned baghouse has been fitted with discharge electrodes at the center of each cluster of four bags allowing application of voltages up to 34 kV with an effective current density of 26 na/cm^2. Preliminary tests of the ESFF concept have been carried out at the SRI/Southern Company's 3.6 million Btu/hr (1.05 MWt) Combustion Research Facility. The value of the specific drag coefficient, K2, essentially the rate of pressure drop increase during a filtering cycle, was reduced by a factor ranging from 2.6 to 4.2 as a result of application of an electric field and a particle-charging corona current between the discharge electrodes and the surface of the bags. Ultrafine aerosol sampling showed that, with electrification, collection of submicron particles was improved by nearly an order of magnitude over conventional fabric filtration. Continuous emission monitors documented mass emission levels near to or below their lower limit of detection (0.1 mg/Nm^3) when ESFF was applied to both Eastern and Western coals. In addition, significant energy savings appear to be possible with the ESFF concept. With electrification, the energy consumed by the particle-charging system could range from only 5 to 25% of the fan energy saved by the reduction of pressure drop.
