Efficient electrostatic precipitator (ESP) operation is crucial in achieving maximum removal of particulate matter from gas flow streams. The performance of these systems is a function of many process variables including the gas flow, particulate, and temperature distributions entering the system’s collection plates.
Alden has many years of experience developing inlet and outlet flow controls to ensure even gas and particulate distributions within ESPs. These controls are designed using physical and/or computational models of the ESP and its inlet and outlet ducting. Controls are developed both to meet the levels of inlet and outlet gas flow uniformity specified for optimum ESP performance (such as those detailed in ICAC Publication No. EP-7) and to minimize overall system pressure losses.
Attention is also paid to particulate re-entrainment from the ESP dust collection hoppers and drop out within the associated ductwork. Physical modeling with appropriately scaled particles is used to determine locations of dust drop out, accumulation, and re-entrainment. An analytical approach using computational modeling techniques can also be used to evaluate the velocities within sections of the ductwork to determine whether the particles will remain entrained in the gas stream. In each case, flow controls are developed to minimize the drop out in the associated ductwork while minimizing the impact on the system-wide pressure drop.
