Submicrometer Particle Penetration in a Miniature Dielectric Barrier Discharge type Electrostatic Precipitator

In this paper, the performance of a miniature plane-to-plane dielectric barrier discharge electrostatic precipitator (DBD-ESP) is investigated experimentally. The particles under investigation have a sub-micrometer size range. Two different configurations have been studied: the first is one-stage DBD-ESP where the particle charging and collection processes act simultaneously. The second is two-stage DBD-ESP where a DBD stage is used to charge particles, then, they are collected in a uniform electric field in the second stage. The two-stage configuration allows the reduction of the energy cost by restricting the size of the DBD electrodes. The typical characteristic quantities of the filamentary DBD such as the current waveform and the corresponding Q-V curve are presented and discussed. Then, a parametric study is carried out to evaluate the effects of the applied voltage amplitude and frequency on the penetration of particles. The main results indicate that the two-stage configuration can improve the DBD-ESP performance at high frequencies.

I. Introduction

The human industrial activities are responsible for a great part of the pollutant emissions in the atmosphere at both local and global levels. One of the major actors of air pollution is the suspended particles. They have a harmful effect on both nature and human health. The smaller ones could penetrate the respiratory system causing numerous health problems such as asthma and lung cancer. Consequently, environmental standards become increasingly severe [1], [2].