Cost/efficiency analysis of a model wire-plate electrostatic precipitator via DNS based Eulerian particle transport approach

The object of this work is to outline a methodology that can improve the current procedures used to size cost-optimized, efficient electrostatic precipitators (ESP). Focusing on a model wire-plate ESP initially, we develop a two-dimensional Eulerian, advection-diffusion type model for particle transport with distributed parameters. The Eulerian model is assessed against the accurate Lagrangian particle tracking database obtained for a model ESP using the parameter-free, highly accurate direct numerical simulation database obtained in previous work (Soldati 2000; Soldati and Banerjee 1998). Results show that the simplified Eulerian model can have good performances, provided that the functional form of the required transport parameters (i.e., turbulent dispersion coefficient, electromigration velocity, and convection velocity) are properly defined. Next, the cost function for a model ESP is defined and the influence of several design parameters on cost and collection efficiency is examined to identify guidelines to increase the collection efficiency at the lowest cost. Considering the cost associated with variation of precipitator length and width, wire-to-plate distance, and voltage applied to the wires, results show that the most cost-effective way to increase the collection efficiency of a wire-plate ESP is to decrease the wire-to-wire distance. Furthermore, the reasons for cost effectiveness of wider-spacing ESPs are demonstrated from a theoretical viewpoint, thus confirming the experimental observations of Navarrete et al. (1997)