INCREASED SEPARATION EFFICIENCY OF ELECTR OSTATIC PRECIPITATORS BY ACOUSTIC PRECONDITIONING OF AEROSOLS

In a flue gas test facility aerosols have been treated with sound wave s. It is shown that acoustic preconditioning of a condensation aerosol is capable of increasing the separation efficiency of an electrostati c precipitator and of reducing the mass emitted by a third. This impro vement is caused mostly by the acoustically induced particle agglomera tion and to a lesser extent by the reduction of the space charge withi n the precipita tor. The laboratory scale experiments dearly demonstra te that particle agglomeration induced by high intensity sound waves c an increase the particle separation efficiency of an electrostatic pre cipitator.