Enhancement of collection efficiency for capturing submicron particles emitted from biomass burning: a novel design of semi-circular corrugated plate electrostatic precipitator

Abstract

This paper presents the study of a novel semi-circular corrugated wire-plate electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for capturing submicron particles emitted from the burning of biomass residue. The discharge of residual gases from biomass combustion is widely acknowledged to be hazardous to human health. The main objective of ESP is to control the release of residual gases. The numerical simulation was performed to evaluate the collection efficiency, space charge density, electric field, gas dynamics, and flow behaviour in the ESP with flat and semi-circular corrugated plates. The influence of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow and flow velocity on collection efficiency and particle trajectory had also been investigated at different applied voltages with various gas velocities. The results showed that the flow velocity had a significant influence on ESP performance and vortices formed in the flat plate ESP could be suppressed using a semi-circular corrugated plate ESP, which would be beneficial for collecting particles efficiently. The numerical results showed that the collection efficiency of semi-circular corrugated plate ESP compared to flat plate ESP is 33.33% higher for 2 µm and 25% for 5 µm particles.