Improvements to dust filtration through acoustic agglomeration and atomization

<p>Based on the theories of acoustic agglomeration and dust wet removal, an experimental apparatus was constructed to study the combined effects of acoustic agglomeration and atomization humidification in the pretreatment process to analyze the filtration performance of filter material. According to the concentration of coal-fired fly ash chosen in the experiments, the proper amount of atomization humidification and the proper sound pressure level (SPL) were determined. Under the relative humidity (RH) of 69% and with SPL in the range of 100 dB to 135 dB, the removal efficiency of fly-ash, the compressibility of the fly-ash particle layer on the filter media, and the performance of pulse filter cleaning were studied. The results indicate that the combined effects of sound fields and atomization humidification can effectively remove PM₁₀ and PM_2.5, and change the interaction and movement of particles, which can improve the pore structure of the fly-ash particle layer and increase the porosity of the dust layer. The results also indicate that with the proper amount of atomization humidification and appropriate SPL, the joint acoustic-atomization pretreatment can delay the filter material blocking, which reduces the pulse filter cleaning frequency and extends the filter cleaning cycle. It can also reduce the residual resistance after filter cleaning and prolong the operating lifetime of the filter media.</p> <p>© 2017 American Association for Aerosol Research