A Numerical Approach to Improve the Flow Model of an Electrostatic Precipitator

  • Mr Shah Haque, Process Engineering and Light Metals (PELM) Centre, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health, Central Queensland University, Australia
  • Dr Mohammad Rasul, College of Engineering and Built Environment; Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health; Central Queensland University, Australia
  • A/Prof Masud Khan, College of Engineering and Built Environment; Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health; Central Queensland University, Australia
  • Dr Alex Deev, Process Engineering and Light Metals (PELM) Centre; Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health; Central Queensland University, Australia
  • Dr N Subaschandar, Process Engineering and Light Metals (PELM) Centre; Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health; Central Queensland University, Australia

    • This paper presents a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for a wire-plate electrostatic precipitator (ESP). The influence of the uniform and non uniform velocity profile at the inlet boundary on improving the performance of an electrostatic precipitator is presented in this study. The turbulent gas flow and the particle motion under electrostatic forces are modelled using the CFD code FLUENT. Numerical calculations for the gas flow are carried out by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and turbulence is modelled using the k-ε turbulence model. An extra source term is added to the gas flow equation using user defined functions to capture the effect of electric field. The particle phase is simulated by using Discrete Phase Model (DPM). The simulated results have been validated by the established data. The simulation with the uniform velocity profile at the inlet boundary is found to produce improved performance of ESP.