Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP)

In an ESP, a gas stream flows in between 2 plates (collecting

plates) whereas the particles are charged by charging wires along
the centre line of the 2 plates, migrated and collected on oppositely
charged plates. ESPs are used in removing acid mist, cement kiln
dust, lead smelter fumes, tar, pulp and paper alkali salts, coal ash
(in power industry), particulates in iron and steel industry.etc..

ESP Page 1 of 15 HDoan CHE615

 (from “Air Pollution Control: A Design Approach” by C.D. Cooper and F.C. Alley,
Waveland Press, Inc., 2011)

1. Advantages:
 Very high efficiency (for small particles for which
cyclone is inefficient)
 Low pressure drop
 Suitable for high gas temperature
 Can handle high dust loading

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  Long service life (e.g. compared to bag filter)

2. Disadvantages:
 High capital cost
 Large footprint
 Not effective for particulates with high electrical
resistivity

3. The Deutsch equation for ESP design

(from “Air Pollution Control: A Design Approach” by C.D. Cooper and F.C. Alley,
Waveland Press, Inc., 2011)

Considering a dusty gas flow at a constant velocity, no

mixing in between 2 parallel collecting plates of a channel,
the mass balance equation for the particles over a very
small section, ∆x, can be written as:
D D
uH C x  u H C x  x  m (1)
2 2

ESP Page 3 of 15 HDoan CHE615

where C is the solid concentration (g/m3), u is the gas
velocity (m/min), H is the plate height (m), D is the
distance between 2 plates (channel width, m) and m is the
mass of solid collected by the differential area H·∆x on a
plate.

m  w  C x  x / 2  H   x (2)

where w is the drift velocity (terminal velocity toward the

collecting plate, m/min)

Combining Equations (1) and (2), dividing the resultant

equation by Δx and taking the limit as Δx approaches zero:

 uHD dC
 wHC (3)
2 dx

Integrating Equation (3) from x = 0 to x = L (length of a

plate):

C  2wHL wA p
ln L     (4)
 Co  uHD Qc

where Co and CL are solid concentrations at the inlet and

the outlet of the ESP, Ap is the area of 1 plate (2 sides, m2)
and Qc is the volumetric flowrate of gas in 1 channel
(m3/min).

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For the whole ESP with the total plate area A, Equation (4)
can be rewritten as:

 CL   wA 
   EXP   (5)
 Co   Q 

where A is the total area of an ESP and Q is the total gas

flowrate to the ESP.

The Deutsch equation for the efficiency of an ESP can be

expressed as:
 wA 
  1  EXP   (6)
 Q 

Applying of the concept of the terminal velocity to an ESP,

the drift velocity can be expressed as:

w  , Fe (7)

where τ’ is corrected characteristic time (s) and Fe is the

electrostatic force applied on particles (N/kg). Note: Fe is
very high (more than 1000 times) compared with the
gravitational force; hence, the gravitational force is ignored
in the overall external force term.

MpFe = q Eo (8)
where Mp is the mass of a particle (kg), Eo is the collecting
field strength near collecting plates (V/m) and q is the
charge on the particle (coulomb, C)

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The theoretical saturation charge on a spherical particle is:

q = π dp2 εo K Ech (9)

where dp is the particle diameter (m), εo is the permittivity

of free space (8.85×10-12 C/V.m or F/m), Ech is the
charging field (V/m, usually represented by peak voltage)
and K is:

K = 3 ε/(ε +2) (10)

where ε is the dielectric constant of the particle
(permittivity of a substance/permittivity of free space).

Combining Equations (7), (8) and (9) and using the

corrected characteristic time τ’= CR τ = CR (ρpdp2/18.µ) and
the mass of the particle Mp = 1/6 π dp3ρp, the drift velocity
can thus be expressed as:

CR d p
w  o KEch Eo (11)
3
CR is the Cunningham correction factor and µ is gas
viscosity.

Equation (11) can be used to estimate the drift velocity

adequately for spherical particles. However, in many cases
particles are non-spherical. In addition, the gas distribution
in the channels is not uniform and re-entrainment of
particles from the walls. Consequently, the theoretical drift
velocity is inaccurate in those situations. The effective drift
velocity, generated from pilot plant data, is thus often used
in ESP design.

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Note: Fly ash resistivity changes with T and its
composition

4. ESP Design
Design of an ESP for a specific dust removal essentially
includes:
 Determination of the configuration of plates, plate size
and number of plates
 Estimation of the electrical power required

4.1 Plate sizing

The total area of the plates is:

A = Ap(n-1)Ns = Ap (N-Ns) (12)

where Ap is the area of 2 sides of a plate, n is the number of

parallel plates across the width of the ESP, Ns is the
number of sections along the length of the ESP and N is the
total number of plates in the ESP.

ESP Page 7 of 15 HDoan CHE615

(“Air Pollution Control: A Design Approach” by C.D. Cooper and F.C. Alley, Waveland
Press, Inc., 2011)

4.2 Power requirement

Power is required to establish an electric field to charge
particles. Corona charging is used for this purpose, which is
the ionization of gas molecules in a strong electric field (up
to 100,000 V). The gas ions are adsorbed on the particles,

ESP Page 8 of 15 HDoan CHE615

and hence, the particles become charged and migrated to
the collecting plates. There are 2 types of corona charging:
negative and positive. Negative corona is more efficient;
hence, it is more common. However, more ozone is also
produced with negative corona. Therefore, for indoor
applications, positive corona is used. Corona power can be
estimated using the following equation:

Pc = Ic Vavg (13)
where Pc is the corona power (W), Ic is the corona current
(A) and Vavg is the average voltage (V).

The relationship between the effective drift velocity and the

corona power can be expressed as (White, 1984):

kPc
we  (14)
A
Pc/A is the power density

4.3 Particle resistivity and ESP efficiency

 If the particle resistivity is too low (less than 108
ohm.cm), charges on particles are drained off too fast
at the collecting plates, resulting in re-entrainment of
particles back to the gas stream.
 If the particle resistivity is too high resistivity (above
1011 ohm.cm), back corona can occur, causing a
decrease in the ESP efficiency. In addition, particles
attach strongly to the collecting plates; and hence, they
are difficult to be rapped off the plates.
 Particle volume resistivity deceases while the surface
resistivity increases in temperature. For fly-ash, the

ESP Page 9 of 15 HDoan CHE615

(“Air Pollution Control: A Design Approach” by C.D. Cooper and F.C. Alley, Waveland
Press, Inc., 2011)

ESP Page 10 of 15 HDoan CHE615

5. WET ESP

Wet ESPs are used to remove particulates in wet (saturated)

gases. Water is sprayed to condition and trap particles for
collection and also to clean particles off the collection
plates. Wet ESPs are used for sticky, moist, flammable,
explosive, or high resistivity solids that are not suitable for
dry ESPs. In addition, wet ESPs can also capture very fine
particles that dry ESPs can’t remove effectively. However,
wet ESPs have several disadvantages:
 More expensive than dry ESPs
 Constructed by anti-corrosive materials that are more
expensive
 Particulates are collected as a slurry instead of dry
solid
 Requirement for water recycle and purification facility

ESP Page 11 of 15 HDoan CHE615

The tubes may be formed as a circular, square, or
hexagonal honeycomb with gas flowing upward or
downward. Tube diameters typically vary from 0.15 to 0.31
m (0.5 to 1 ft), with lengths usually varying from 1.85 to
4.0 m (6 to 15 ft). Collected dust and/or liquid are removed
by washing the tubes with water sprays located directly
above the tubes. Tubular precipitators are generally used to
collect mists or fogs, and are most commonly used when
collecting particles that are wet or sticky. Tubular ESPs
have been used to control particulate emissions from
sulphuric acid plants, coke oven by-product gas cleaning
(tar removal), and iron and steel sinter plants.
http://www.neundorfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ESP-KnowledgeBase-01-
Operation.pdf

ESP Page 12 of 15 HDoan CHE615

6. Electrical Sectionalisation of ESPs
An ESP can be divided into a series of independently
energized bus sections or fields (also called stages) in the
direction of the gas flow. Each field has individual
transformer-rectifier (T-R) set, voltage-stabilization
control, and high-voltage conductors that energize the
discharge electrodes within the field. This design feature,
called field electrical sectionalisation, allows greater
flexibility for energizing individual fields to accommodate
different conditions within the precipitator.

Field sectionalisation does not depend on number of

hoppers but on number of independently energized bus
sections or fields. There may be more than one field in a
hopper. Most ESPs have at least three or more fields in the
precipitator. However, to attain a collection efficiency of
more than 99%, some ESPs have been designed with as
many as seven or more fields.

The need for separate fields arises mainly because power

input requirements differ at various locations within a
precipitator. The maximum voltage at which a given field
can be maintained depends on the properties of the gas and
dust being collected. The particulate matter concentration is
generally high at the inlet fields of the precipitator. High
dust concentrations tend to suppress corona current,
requiring a greater power to generate corona discharge for
optimum particle charging. In the downstream fields of a
precipitator, the dust loading is usually lighter, because
most of the dust is collected in the inlet fields.

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Consequently, corona current flows more freely in
downstream fields. Particle charging will more likely be
limited by excessive sparking in the downstream than in the
inlet fields. If the precipitator had only one power set, the
excessive sparking would limit the power input to the entire
precipitator, thus reducing the overall collection efficiency.

The rating of each power set in the ESP varies depending

on the specific design of the ESP. Besides allowing for
independent voltage control, another important reason for
having a number of fields in an ESP is that electrical failure
may occur in one or more fields. Electrical failure may
occur due to several factors, such as: over-filling hoppers,
discharge-wire breakage, or power supply failure. ESPs
having a greater number of fields are less dependent on the
operation of all fields concurrently to achieve high
collection efficiency.

In parallel sectionalisation, the series of fields is electrically

divided into two or more sections so that each field has
parallel components. Such divisions are referred to as
chambers (or streams) and each individual unit is called a
cell. Each cell can be independently energized by a bus line
from its own separate transformer rectifier set. One
important reason for providing sectionalisation across the
width of the ESP is to provide a means of handling varying
levels of flue gas temperature, dust concentration, and
problems with gas flow distribution. When treating flue gas
from a boiler, an ESP may experience gas temperatures that
vary from one side of the ESP to the other, especially if a
rotary air preheater is used in the system. Since fly ash

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resistivity is a function of the flue gas temperature, this
temperature gradient may cause variations in the electrical
characteristics of the dust from one side of the ESP to the
other. It is recommended to provide approximately one T-R
set for every 930 to 2970 m2 (10,000 to 30,000 ft2) of
collection-plate area.

7. Single Stage and Two-Stage ESPs

Large-scale ESPs for industrial applications are single-
stage designed. In single-stage ESPs, both particles
charging and particle collection occur in the same
chamber. Most ESPs that reduce particulate emissions
from boilers and other industrial processes are single-
stage ESPs. Single-stage ESPs use very high voltage (50
to 70 kV) to charge particles.

On the other hand, in two-stage ESP particles are

charged by low voltage in the first stage and the charged
particles are removed in the second stage. The direct-
current voltage applied for charging the particles is
approximately 12 to 13 kV. Two-stage precipitators were
originally designed for air purification in conjunction
with air conditioning systems (They are also referred to
as “electronic” air filters).

Further information can be found in the following

website:
http://www.neundorfer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ESP-KnowledgeBase-01-
Operation.pdf

ESP Page 15 of 15 HDoan CHE615