Fluid flow analysis in electrostatic precipitator of a coal fired power plant considering electrode with two different shape of baflles

Sustainable clean energy production is one of the important challenges in the modern world, especially in case of coal based power generation it is more applicable as it involves a huge amount of emission including hazardous particulate matters. Coal fired power plant is one of the main sources of electrical energy due to the low cost of coal compared to other fossil fuels and proven reserves in Australia and in many countries of the world. However, a major problem of the coal fired power plant is the exhaust emission of fine particulate matter. Among available technologies, ‘Electrostatic Precipitators (ESP)’ are the most reliable control devices to capture the fine particles and its efficiency is almost 99% or above. Most of the coal power plants and other process industries generally use ESP because of their effectiveness and reliability in controlling particulate matters. To capture the particulate matter through ESP, the electrode diameter and shapes of baffles is very important. In this study, two different shapes of baffles inside the ESP including electrode have been considered to assess their influence on the flow pattern using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code ‘ANSYS FLUENT’. Due to different shapes of baffles and electrodes, the flow distribution was changed inside the ESP which increases the residence time of flue gases. The results indicate that the proposed shapes can influence to collect more fine particles. The influence of the presence of the electrodes and back pressure on the flow phenomena is discussed.