Effects of Electrohydrodynamic Flow and Turbulent Diffusion on Collection Efficiency of an Electrostatic Precipitator with Cavity Walls

The effects of the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow and turbulent diffusion on the collection efficiency of a model ESP composed of the plates with a cavity were studied through numerical computation. The electric field and ion space charge density were calculated by the Poisson equation of the electrical potential and the current continuity equation. The EHD flow field was solved by the continuity and momentum equations of the gas phase including the electrical body force induced by the movement of ions under the electric field. The RNG $k-{\varepsilon}$ model was used to analyze the turbulent flow. The particle concentration distribution was calculated from the convective diffusion equation of the particle phase. As the ion space charge increased, the particulate collection efficiency increased because the electrical potential increased over the entire domain in the ESP. The collection efficiency decreased and then increased, i.e. had a minimum value, as the EHD circulating flow became stronger when the electrical migration velocity of the charged particle was low. However, the collection efficiency decreased with the stronger EHD flow when the electrical migration of the particle was higher relatively. The collection efficiency of the model ESP increased as the turbulent diffusivity of the particle increased when the electrical migration velocity of the particle was low. However, the collection efficiency decreased for increasing the turbulent diffusivity when the electrical migration of the particle was higher relatively.