Predictions of the gas–liquid flow in wet electrostatic precipitators

Based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), the present paper aims to simulate several important phenomena in a wet type ESP from the liquid spray generation to gas-droplet flow in electric field. A single passage between the adjacent plates is considered for the simulation domain. Firstly, the electric field intensity and ion charge density are solved locally around a corona emitter of a barbed wire electrode, which are applied to the entire ESP using periodic conditions. Next, the Euler–Lagrange method is used to simulate the gas-droplet flow. Water droplets are tracked statistically along their trajectories, together with evaporation and particle charging. Finally, the deposition density on the plate is taken as the input for the liquid film model. The liquid film is simulated separately using the homogenous Eulerian approach in ANSYS-CFX. In the current case, since the free surface of the thin water film is difficult to resolve, a special method is devised to determine the film thickness. As parametric study, the variables considered include the nozzle pressure, initial spray spreading patterns (solid versus hollow spray) and plate wettability. The droplet emission rate and film thickness distribution are the results of interest. Main findings: electric field has strong effect on the droplet trajectories. Hollow spray is preferred to solid spray for its lower droplet emission. The liquid film uniformity is sensitive to the plate wettability.