Improving electrostatic precipitator performance for power stations

Although no new coal-fired power plants have been built in the UKfor a number of years, those remaining in service have had their precipitation plant, for controlling fly ash emissions, cost-effectively upgraded, both in terms of performance and reliability, such that they comply with present environmental regulations. This upgrading, together with possible future measures, is reviewed and there is no reason why many of the present operating plants should not meet proposed EU directives for a number of years to come.

by K. R. Parker
Introduction
Worldwide control of particulate emissions from fossil-fired steam plant used for power generation is mainly accomplished by electrostatic precipitators. Initial applications date back to the 1920s, when pulverisedcoal-fired installations, having higher heat release rates and improved efficiency, largely superseded other forms of steam-raising plant. As combustion occurs in a totally airborne state within the furnace, the carryover of particulate matter can approach 100/~ the total ash in the fuel. To control of particulate discharges from the chimney, the required removal efficiency has steadily increased in line with environmental concerns and, to meet current EU directives/ regulations, collection efficiencies in excess of 99.5% are necessary. In general, although the electrostatic precipitator for a high-resistivity fly ash tends to have a higher capital cost than an equivalent bag filter installation, the total levelised cost over a 15-20 year period, because of the precipitators lower maintenance and o erating cost, favours the precipitation plant. In some countries, electrostatic precipitator suppliers have had to offer firm guaranteed collection efficiencies of 99.9% or more to satisfy special requirements. Not only have these precipitators successfully demonstrated that very low emissions (< 10 mg/Nm3) are obtainable, but also such installations have proved commercially viable against other forms of collection device. In the UK, unlike in developing countries, no new conventional pulverised-coal-fired power plant has been installed over the past 25 years. The decision not to.build new plant is complex in that (a) the 500 and 600 M W plants installed in the 1960s/l970s provided significant spare capacity, (b)the accepted need to reduce acid rain, both SOx and NOx would add considerably to generation costs, and (c) worldwide environmental pressure and agreement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the developed countries favoured new and more efficient forms of generation. In spite of the dash for gas and the growing usage of renewables for generation, a t least one of the major UK generators believes there is a need, in the short term, for maintaining conventional coal-fired plant and is basing electricity generation on a balanced mix of coal, gas and other sources. Most of the retained UK conventional coalfired generation plant have undergone halflife rebuildslretrofits to improve their overall efficiency, reliability and availability. A major effort and cost included in these operations was to make the plant more environmentally friendly. Many plants now have low NO, burners, some have limestone/gypsum plant for S , control, others use low sulphur fuel O and all have had their electrostatic precipitation plants upgraded to meet current and possibly future directives and regulations. This article examines some of the performance upgrading methods in detail and suggests how further measures and developments may be applied if further reductions in emission should prove necessary.

The electrostatic precipitator As indicated, the electrostatic precipitator

has been undoubtedly the first choice for limiting fly ash emissions from pulverisedfuel-fired installations for almost 75 years. With one or two exceptions, where extremely high resistivity fly ashes are encountered, the electrostatic precipitator will continue to retain the major share of the market. The

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particles attracted to collector electrode forming dust layer

high voltage supply from TR

1 Basic principle of precipitator Operation

modern electrostatic precipitator can be regarded largely as a hands off low operating cost plant ancillary, having high availability and reliability, resulting from ongoing developments by the suppliers using the latest scientific disciplines in their approach -for example, material sciences t o improve reliability, computational fluid dynamics t o ensure gas flow and current high-speed electronics and microprocessor technologies for electrical energisation. The basic principle of operation for a single-stage precipitator (Fig. 1) is that the gas-borne particles are passed through a corona or charging field where they receive an electric charge. The charged particles are then deflected by the electric field producing the charging regime t o move across the gas stream away from the negative electrode t o be deposited on the positive electrode, which for convenience is normally earthed. The collected particles are subsequently removed by mechanical shock impulse rapping t o fall under gravity into hoppers or troughs situated beneath the field. The mechanism of operation can be considered as having five distinct regimes:

(a) ion production (b) particle charging (c) particle migration toward collecting electrodes ( d ) removal of deposited layer (e) transfer of particulates t o the hoppers.
For power plant applications, a typical precipitator has a horizontal gas flow passing between an arrangement of earthed parallel collector plates with discharge electrode elements suspended and insulated such that they are positioned midway between the collectors. Fig. 1 illustrates a single duct, but in practice a large number of such ducts make up an individual field. To obtain the high efficiencies now required, the precipitator would comprise three or more

fields in series, each being electrically energised t o optimise individual field performance. With larger plants having c4as flows approaching 1000 actual m3/s (am /s), the installation, because of operational and mechanical constraints, is normally divided into t w o or more separate casings. Collector plates can be up t o 5000 x 15 000 m m in size, and precipitation/ exposure times can be 12 s or more, dependent on the efficiency required and electrical resistivity of the fly ash. For a collector/collector spacing of 300 mm, an operating voltage of around - 60 kV would be applied t o the discharging elements, the resultant high field intensity causing ionisation of the gas molecules producing a tufted corona glow around the elements. The positive ions are immediately captured by the discharge electrodes, while the negative ions and electrons move across the electric field toward the collectors. During migration they either charge the particles through collision or bombardment, or pass close t o them resulting in diffusion charging. It is considered that the particles reach 80% of their saturation charge within 0.1, so for practical purposes all particles can be regarded as being fully charged within the precipitation field. The larger particles, having the greatest charge, are more readily precipitated than the submicron ones. As a result of Brownian motion, however, very small particles of <0.1 v m tend t o be collected better than those of 0.5 pm, so there is a characteristic dip in the particle fractional efficiency relationship, as indicated in Fig. 2.2 The method of sizing precipitators has traditionally been the preserve of the precipitator supplier using factors (effective migration velocity etc.) derived from efficiency measurements using precipitators operating on similar process plant. Originally the approach was based on the Deutsch POWER ENGINEERINGJOURNAL AUGUST 1997

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e q ~ a t i o n but as higher efficiency/lower ,~ emissions were demanded, designs based on the Deutsch equation were found t o be unsatisfactory. More recently, suppliers have found it necessary to use a modified form of equation, such as that derived by MattsOhnfeld4or Petersen'. While the use of these modified equations has resulted in significantly improved prediction levels, the basic data is still derived from units operating on similar processes, inlet conditions etc. The rapid development of high-speed computers over the past two decades, enabling solutions to be derived for both Poisson and Laplace functions, has led t o a number of investigators approaching design from a theoretical standpoint. A number of programs have been developed, but to date, although the investigators and research organisations consider the derived data to be reliable, the programs are not so readily accepted by the precipitation industry for sizing purposes.

99'99

90
0.01 0.1

1 particle diameter, pm

10

100

mechanical integrity of the system will lead t o a significant fall in collection efficiency. TO overcome what was considered t o be one of the major problems suffered by older precipitators, namely the breakage of discharge elements taking the form of a tensioned wire, modern designs tend t o incorporate a rigid form of electrode having a much larger cross-section (Fig. 3), better fixing for rapping transmission and improved stabilisation of the total discharge electrode system. Another area, which has gained from material science investigations is associated with mechanical rapping systems, used for removing the deposited dust layers from the internals, particularly around the anvils and fixings. Although the rapping frequency is relatively low, the impact intensity imparted to the anvil can exceed 1000 g , which with

2 Fractional efficiency of a precipitator

Measuresto improve precipitator reliability (a)Mechanical changes The basic internal configuration of an electrostatic precipitator has remained fairly consistent for many years, with various suppliers having their own preferred arrangements. Recent changes in design, fabrication and erection techniques have, however, led to significant improvements in reliability, availability and hence overa II performance, which are essential if the plant is t o remain in environmental compliance. As the performance of any precipitator is dependent on maximising the electrical field across the collector-discharge electrode system, any damage or change in the

Typical rigid discharge electrodes

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Comparison of narrow and wide plate spacing precipitator performances

99

10

12

14

16

18

contact time, s

time can induce fatigue failure within the material, but by careful component design the problem can be minimised, resulting in improved plant reliability. In some installations, as an alternative to replacing internals on a like-for-like basis, the collector spacings have been increased to 400 mm, giving a substantial saving in components and costs. The wider spacing, with correct positioning of the discharge elements, produces a better field and current distribution leading t o an improvement in collection efficiency, as shown in Fig. 4.6 Against the saving of internal components, because of the higher operating voltages, one must consider the cost of higher voltage rectifier equipment and insulators. Careful attention also needs to be paid to electrical clearances outside the field proper. For example, bus rings on rapping shafts and all HV leads etc. must be adequate to support the higher voltages if an enhanced performance is to be obtained.

(b)Electrical changes
All modern precipitator installations

employ silicon rectifiers for AC t o DC conversion and anti-parallel thyristors for controlling power output. The main change in operational plant is in the use of microprocessor-based automatic voltage control (AVC) systems. Developments in this area, in addition to control of individual rectifiers and rapping frequency, include the use of communication bus systems enabling the plant to be remotely controlled in essentially a 'hands-off' mode. The addition of the communication system also facilitiates data logging and fault recording, as well as normal remote functions. Fig. 5 indicates a generic arrangement of such a system. Recent advances feature feedback control loops operating typically from some form of opacity device to minimise power consumption, detailed fault-finding 'menus' to aid operators in identifying any problem and performance improvements in the case of 'difficult' fly ash using intermittent energisation. In this instance energisation is applied as a series of pulses which enables the particle charge to dissipate during the 'non-pulsed' mode, rather than build up to

local AVCs

5 Generic arrangement of modern automatic voltage control system

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initiate possible reverse ionisation as could occur with normal energisation. By arranging the programs to include operational default values, determined for specific fueWconditions, it should be possible for the AVC system t o find the best operating parameters within the scope of its operation.

(c) Gas distribution

Ideally a uniform gas velocity within the precipitator of some 1.5 m/s needs to be achieved from a nominal duct velocity of 15-20 m/s in as short a distance as possible. Such a deceleration presents the designer with various difficulties in attaining an acceptable standard of distribution, e.g. an RMS deviation of 15%. In the past this standard has been achieved either by the use of accurate large scale modelling of the precipitator and ductwork, which enables any necessary flow corrective devices to be fitted during erection, or by correcting the flow from site tests during precipitator commissioning, which may delay commercial operation of the boiler unit. The advent over the past few years of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) programmes and high-speed computers offers an alternative approach to achieve a saqsfactory gas distribution within the precipitator. Unlike model or field testing, the computer programs can incorporate the effects of ionic wind and the presence of charged particles, which should produce data more representative of actual field operation. The CFD approach also enables field gas bypass, i.e. where part of the flow escapes around the precipitation field without treatment, to be studied in greater detail and, as far as possible, eliminated. With the high removal efficiencies now demanded, even a field bypass of 0.1 7 can have a 0 deleterious impact on the final emission.

and operated precipitator, can account for some 30% of the final chimney emission. With dust exhibiting low cohesive properties, the re-entrainment factor can be far higher. for example, if, as a result of fitting low NOx burners, the resultant carbon carryover is in excess of 1O%, final emissions can contain as high as 90% carbon. It is important that, during commissioning, or to accommodate any fuel change, a routine is established whereby boiler operation and precipitator rapping frequency/intensity is optimised. Investigations to minimise re-entrainment losses are ongoing to enhance performance; some installations find a slight reduction in operating voltage, just prior t o rapping, of advantage while, on others, particularly for very friable and easily entrained dust, off flow rapping is practised. Research into (i) rapping after a certain mass has been collected and (ii) individual duct isolation with dampers or air curtains during rapping have shown promise, but the cost of instrumentation etc. has t o date prevented widespread usage. A problem which can seriously impact on performance is that of re-entrainment from the hopper region. If during dedusting, air ingresses into the hopper, this air can pick up high concentrations of dust. In the outlet field this can pass directly into the ducting and be discharged t o atmosphere, so this problem cannot be overemphasised.

(d)Rapping and hopper re-entrainment

Rapping re-entrainment as a result of collector rapping, even on a well designed
Table 1 Typical evaluation procedure

Precipitator performance enhancement (a)Change in precipitator size Although the foregoing measures assist in optimising the performance of existing plant, these may not result in sufficient improvement to satisfy legislation. This could be the impact of (i) purchasing fuel on the spot market, giving rise to a more difficult or higher resistivity fly ash, (ii) the boiler plant no longer achieving the original design gas flows and temperatures, even after a halflife rebuild program, or (iii) the fly ash containing a high percentage of

36 000 plate area of existing precipitator, A measured gas flow, V 760 specific collecting area, N V 51.32 gas velocity, v 1-53 measured gas temperature 120 inlet dust loading 15 measured emission 100 calculated efficiency 99.33 N = normalised conditions: temperature 0C and pressure 101-3 kPa

m2

m3/s

m2/m/s
m/s

C
g/N m3
mg/Nm3

Deutsch velocity

w = log
e
.--

1 1 -effic

xz- = 0.0976 mjs

modified Deutsch velocity Wk

. =

0-4892 m/s

To meet an emission of 50 mg/Nm3,a collection efficiency of 99.67% is required. The necessary increase in plant size to achieve thiscan be obtained from the modified Deutsch velocity relationship, nameiy:

plate area required = V x POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL AUGUST 1997 173

carbonaceous matter following fitting of low NOx b u rners . The initial action, regardless of reason, is t o determine accurately the performance of the existing installation, under what should be typical operating conditions, e.g. volume, temperature, dust loading and carbon carryover, after ensuring that the precipitators are in a first-class mechanical and electrical condition. From this data a performance factor can be calculated; this factor, e.g. a modified Deutsch velocity, Wk, can then be used t o evaluate the increase in plant size necessary for a specific efficiency. A typical evaluation procedure is illustrated in the example in Table 1 for an existing 500 M W unit, which has t o meet a maximum particulate emission of 50 mg/Nm3, firing a typical UK coal producing a normal fly ash in terms of electrical resistivity. A generic precipitator installation would comprise three separate casings, each having three precipitation fields in series, with collectors of 3.65 m x 9.14 m, arranged as sixty 300 m m wide ducts. (In some instances a low-efficiency mechanical collector may be found preceding the precipitator.) Faced with a 29.5% plate area increase t o achieve an emission of 50 mg/Nm3, there are various options t o be considered:
0

stand alone parallel approach, a bag filter having a booster fan, rather than an electrostatic precipitator, may provide an economic aIternat ive.) This precipitator assessment, while being ideal for existing operating conditions, may require reassessing t o accommodate different fuels, temperatures etc. Equipment suppliers have sufficient background data and information, however, t o accurately predict the effect of such changes, hence the final 'modified' plant should still prove satisfactory.

(b)Flue gas conditioning

In practice the electrical resistivity of fly ash is primarily governed by surface conditioning as a result of trace materials rather than the chemical matrix of the particles. Among these surface conditioning agents, sulphur trioxide and water vapour are probably the most important and widely used for modifying the fly ash resistivity. Plants firing reduced sulphur fuels, either as part of a conscious effort t o limit sulphur dioxide emissions, or by spot coal purchasing, can produce a 'difficult' fly ash, i.e. that having a high electrical resistivity giving rise t o back or reverse ionisation where positive ions can be emitted from the dust deposited on the collectors. These positive ions flow counter current t o the electrons, negative ions and charged particles t o impact on the electrical field condition, such that a significant deterioration in performance occurs. To minimise back ionisation effects, the fly ash resistivity can be reduced t o acceptable levels by the addition of sulphur trioxide t o the gas stream at injection rates of some 1 5 ppm. To eliminate the need and cost of using a feedstock of sulphur or sulphur dioxide, systems for converting naturally occurring sulphur dioxide in the flue gases are being actively investigated in the USA, where the SO, conversion is controlled, either by varying the gas flow through a fixed catalyst bed, or by varying the amount of catalyst exposed t o a fixed gas flow.8 For dusts having poor cohesive properties, for example, those with high carbon contents, 15 ppm ammonia additions to the

0
0

0
0

adding series fields t o the existing casing adding a stand alone series precipitator adding a stand alone parallel flow handling 29.5% of the flow increasing the collector height by 29.59'0, by lifting precipitator roof a combination of raising the roof and widening the casing.

Of the options, while all are feasible assuming space can be made available, the stand alone approach reduces the final break in and hot commissioning t o only a few days. Modifying the existing casings needs considerable unit down time and potential revenue loss. Usually as existing plants tend t o operate with increased gas flow rates, the parallel flow option also offers a lower precipitator gas velocity, which can assist in reducing re-entrainment losses. (Although outside the scope of the present article, as a

6 Block diagram of a high-frequency power conversion (HFPC) unit

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7 Voltage oscillograms of HFPC operation: (a) Constant current and (b) Free running

-55 kV

0 kV

FPC

-55 kV

0 kV

conventional power supply

flue gas have reduced re-entrainment losses to acceptable levels. In Australia, for fly ash comprising 95% or more silica plus alumina, dual conditioning of sulphur trioxide plus ammonia has proved effective in enhancing precipitator efficiency. In the USA, as an alternative to chemical conditioning, water injection, as used in a number of industries, is being actively pursued. Ensuring complete evaporation of the water droplets a t normal boiler back and temperatures is difficult and low-throughput two-fluid (air water) atomisers are used t o produce as small a droplet as possible. In addition t o modifying the resistivity, water injection also has the advantage of reducing the gas volume being handled and the higher moisture content of the flue gases also improves electrical operating conditions t o produce a higher efficiency. In Japan to eliminate the difficulty of ensuring complete evaporation, precipitators

have been fitted with upstream gas/gas heat exchangers to reduce inlet gas temperatures by some 20-30C. This approach, although not increasing the gas moisture content, increases the relative humidity of the gases and also reduces the gas volume being handled, while reducing the partide resistivity, all assisting in significantly raising the performance.

(c)Electrical energisation ofprecipitators

For optimum collection efficiency, it is important to electrically operate the precipitator as near to the breakdown condition as possible. This condition provides the maximum voltage and hence field strength, so that performance, which is theoretically proportional to the field strength squared, is maximised. Unfortunately, even on well regulated and operated processes, changes in inlet conditions invariably lead to flashover and 175

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hence discharging of the capacitive component of the precipitator so that, during this time, the performance IS compromised The operational problems of interrupting any power supply, t o quench an ardflashover and re-establish current t o the precipitator, can be considerably reduced by operation a t high frequency, since a't 10 kHz the minimum switching time is 0 05 ms, compared t o 10 ms at 50 Hz The general availability of high-frequency power conversion devices now widely used industrially, together with improved ferrite materials having low losses, has led t o the development of a new approach t o precipitator electrical energ isation using highfrequency power conversion (HFPC) A block diagram of such a system is shown in Fig. 6 In this Figure, an incoming three-phase supply feeds a power converter, an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) package, operating at a frequency of some 20 kHz This facilitates an initial DC link, which can be modulated, or 'chopped', by semiconductor power switches, before feeding the ferrite cored HV transformer, whose output, after rectification, supplies the precipitator The output from the HV transformer is controlled by varying the switching times of the network switches using a feedback system, which continuously monitors the output voltage and current levels t o achieve optimum conditions on the precipitator Initial trials using HFPC units on a precipitator handling particulates from a wood chip installation have been carried out and the results compared with the same unit under conventional energisation. The results of these trialsg are illustrated in the form of voltage oscillograms. Fig. 7a was obtained with both power supplies adjusted without flashover arising, t o give the same secondary current. Under this condition, the conventional supply produced a peak voltage some 10 kV higher than the HFPC system, but at a lower mean voltage level. In Fig. 7b, the power supplies were free running, with the current limited only by flashover/ sparkover conditions, here the corresponding mean currents were 120 and 230 mA, respectively These results indicate that HFPC energisation is capable of operationally achieving higher mean voltages and secondary current levels, thereby providi ng significantly increased power inputs and consequently a much higher performance for a given size of precipitator This development could have a greater impact on future precipitator technology than flue gas conditioning or pulse charger systems, which although ideal for improving precipitator performance for 'difficult' dusts, does little for typical dusts In the case of pulse charging, high-voltage short duration (80 kV 100 ps) pulses are periodically superimposed on a reduced DC precipitation voltage, the time interval between successive pulses being sufficient t o dissipate particle charge and thus avoid reverse ionisation 176

With the smaller and lighter HFPC units, resulting from the three-phase supply having lower duty primary components, plus the use of ferrite-cored transformers, all leading t o reduced costs, it is possible t o consider dividing any precipitator into smaller bus sections, each with its own power supply. This would further improve the overall particulate collection efficiency, or alternatively lead t o a reduction in size for a completely new unit.

Conclusions This article shows how an existing electrostatic precipitator installation can be cost-effectively upgraded t o improve its performance, reliability and availability, in order t o satisfy current environmental regulations, as an alternative t o completely replacing the unit with a much larger and costlier new installation. References 1 SLOAT, D. G. eta/.: 'The potential of pulse jet baghouses for utility boilers. Part 3: Comparative economics of pulse jet baghouses, precipitators and reverse gas baghouses', Airand Waste, January 1993,43, pp. 120-27 2 RIEHLE, C.: 'Applied electrostatic precipitation', in PARKER, K. R. (Ed.)(Blackie Academic & Professional, London, January 1997) 3 DEUSTCH, W.: 'Bewegung and ladung der elekrizitatstragerim zylingerkondensator', Ann der Phys., 1922, 68, pp. 335-344 4 MATT, S., and OHNFELDT, P. 0.: 'Efficient gas cleaning with SF precipitators', Hakt Review, 1963 and 1964,6 and 7, pp. 105-122 5 PETERSEN, H. H.: 'A precipitator sizing formula', Fourth International Conference on Electrostatic Precipitation, Beijing China, September 1990 (InternationalAcademic Publishers, Beijing 1992, pp. 330-388) 6 DARBY, K., and NOVOGORATZ, D. M.: 'Increased plate spacing in electrostatic precipitators', E PRI/E PA 8t h Pa rticulate Control Symposium, San Diego, CA, USA, Session 5A, 1990 7 SCHWAB, M. A., and JOHNSON, R. W.: 'Numerical design method for improving gas , distribution within electrostatic precipitators', American Power Conference, 56th Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, USA, 25th-27th April 1994 8 WORACEK, D. et al.: 'Catalytic conversion of native sulphur dioxide in flue gas for resistivity conditioning', 10th EPRI Particulate Control Symposium and 5th International Conference on Electrostatic Precipitators, October 1993, Washington, DC, USA (EPRI PublicationTR-103048 pl3.1-16 Palo Alto. CA) 9 RANSTEAD, P., and PORLE, K.: 'High frequency power conversion: a new techniquefor ESP energisation', EPRI/DOE International Conferenceon Managing Hazardous and Particulate Air Pollutants, 15th-I7th August 1995, Toronto, Canada

0 IEE: 1997
Ken Parker is a Consultant. He may be contacted a t 17 Somerville Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B73 6JD, UK. POWER ENGINEERINGJOURNAL AUGUST 1997