Effect of face velocity and the nature of aerosol on the collection of submicrometer particles by electrostatic precipitator

Despite the electrostatic collection of aerosol particles as one of the most widely used air cleaning methods, there has not been sufficient amount of effort devoted to investigate its performance in the full range of operating conditions. This paper reports results of the tests of a two-stage electrostatic precipitator (ESP) conducted in the particle size range of 0.018-1.2 microns over a range of flow rates using NaCl and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) test aerosols. The total collection efficiency of the precipitator was found to increase with an increase in the count median diameter (CMD) of the particles, to have polynomial dependence on flow rate and no significant dependence on the type of test aerosol. The fractional efficiency of the precipitator was found to be dependent on flow rate. However, the 'critical' particle size of about 1.2 microns was found to exist when the fractional collection efficiency becomes independent of flow rate. For submicrometer particles, the collection efficiency was found to be independent of particle size at flow rates below 560 l/s. A minimum in the efficiency was observed in the 0.1-0.45 micron particle size range and for particles smaller than about 0.02 micron.