Deposition of Polydisperse Ultrafine Particles in a Gas Flow Using an Advanced Electro-Cyclone Apparatus

To achieve high efficiency in cleaning the gas flow from pollutants, more and more advanced technologies are required. The main problem of purification from particulate matter is the insufficient efficiency of precipitation of small and ultrafine fractions. The application of complex and demanding operating conditions cleaning apparatuses still are unable to achieve complete deposition of particulate matter with high efficiency. With a wide range of particle sizes, the efficiency of the discrete fractions decreases even further. Variation in particle concentrations prior to cleaning also limits operating time of cleaning system due to adhesion to the filtration surface, and some types of filter must be regenerated or replaced. In this study, an improved apparatus based on centrifugal and electrostatic cleaning in combination is studied. The test results showed a high efficiency of this technology, over 90%. The results of the study indicated that ultra-fine particles 0.3-1 microns in size were deposited at least 50% efficiency, and the numerical concentration of particles larger than 2 microns before the purification was between 1–5 microns per liter.