Challenges for Reduction in Emission in Old Electrostatic Precipitators at Lower Cost

Abstract

Industrial plants are one of the major users of Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs) for particulate emission control. These are primarily Cement, Metallurgy, Pulp & Paper and Aluminum industries. The paper generally speaks about the challenges that we face with the old Industrial Precipitators to cope with stringent emission norms in spite of Physical dimensional and plant layout Restrictions. The Precipitators in such Industrial applications are used not only for emission control but also to recover the dust either to recycle or to use as end product. In such conditions, ESPs really face challenges in front of Fabric Filters in spite of quite a few Operation and Maintenance advantages. Today’s technology has advanced very fast, particularly in the area of High Frequency Power Supplies and really shows extremely promising results beginning usually at 30% emission reduction, but commonly much better than this — in spite of all the constraints. Present market scenario for such Industrial plants may sometimes not even allow a proper shut-down period to replace/rectify defective Mechanical components or to realign critical ESP internals or to carry out a reasonable Gas Distribution and sneakage Tests. For obvious reason, thrust is more and more towards Electronics and Controls to overcome problems in other areas as a substantial portion of the work can be carried out without a shutdown.

In this paper we discuss and compare the emission performance enhancement of two Industrial ESPs plants in Australia.