Fine particulate emission control by optimizing process parameters of an electrostatic precipitator

This paper presents a numerical model of a wire-plate electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for analysing its fine particulate collection behaviour. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT is used to solve the two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations for the gas flow and the realizable k-ε turbulence model for the turbulence. The effect of electric field has been captured by adding a source term in the momentum equation. This additional source term is obtained by solving a coupled system of the electric field and charge transport equations. The particle phase is simulated by using Discrete Phase Model (DPM). The results of the simulation revealed that the particle collection and its movement depend not only on the size of the particle but also on the velocity of the gas flow and the electric potential applied at the discharge electrodes.