AIR TREAMENT

ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR

Electrostatic precipitator, also

called electrostatic air cleaner, a device that
uses an electric charge to remove certain
impurities—either solid particles or liquid
droplets—from air or other gases in
smokestacks and other flues. The precipitator
functions by applying energy only to the
particulate matter being collected, without
significantly impeding the flow of gases.
Originally designed for recovery of valuable
industrial-process materials, electrostatic
precipitators are used for air pollution control,
particularly for removing particles from waste gases at industrial facilities and power-generating
stations.

Design
In many industrial plants, particulate matter created in the manufacturing process is
released as dust in the hot exhaust gases. If released into the atmosphere, the particulates reduce
visibility, can contribute to climate change, and lead to serious health problems in humans,
including lung damage and bronchitis. Fine particles that are smaller than 2.5 microns (0.0001
inch) in diameter can be especially dangerous because they are drawn deep into the lungs and
can trigger inflammatory reactions.

The most basic precipitator design consists of a row of thin vertical wires and a stack of
large flat vertical metal plates. The plates are spaced from less than 0.5 inch (1.3 cm) to about 7
inches (about 17.8 cm) apart, depending on the application. The gas stream flows horizontally
between the wires and through the stack of plates. A negative charge of several thousand volts is
applied between the wires and plates to remove impurities from the gas stream.
Process
Precipitators function by electrostatically charging
particles in the gas stream. The charged particles are
attracted to and deposited on plates or other collection
devices. The treated air then passes out of the precipitator
and through a stack to the atmosphere. When enough
particles have accumulated on the collection devices, they
are shaken off the collectors by mechanical rappers. The
particulates, which can be either wet or dry, fall into a
hopper at the bottom of the unit, and a conveyor system
transports them away for disposal or recycling.
Precipitators are often deployed with denitrification units that remove nitrogen oxides and
scrubbers or other devices that remove sulfur dioxide.

Electrostatic precipitators are available in many different sizes and types, designed for
various dust and water droplet characteristics and gas volume flows. Some types are designed to
work with a gas streams with particular temperature and moisture characteristics. Dry
electrostatic precipitators operate above the dew point of the gas stream to remove impurities
from smoke and dust. Wet electrostatic precipitators, in contrast, operate with saturated
airstreams that have 100 percent relative humidity. Wet precipitators are commonly used to
remove liquid droplets, including oil, resin, tar, and sulfuric acid mist, from gas streams in
industrial settings. They are applied where the gases are laden with humidity, contain
combustible particulates, or have particles that can be sticky. They have been used in the
following industrial and household applications:

 Removing dirt from flue gases in steam plants

 Removing oil mists in machine shops
 Removing acid mists in chemical process plants
 Cleaning blast furnace gases
 Removing bacteria and fungi in medical settings and pharmaceutical production
facilities
 Purifying air in ventilation and air conditioning systems
 Material recovery from gas flow (including oxides of copper, lead and tin)
 Separating rutile from zirconium sand in dry mills and rutile recovery plants

BAGHOUSE FILTERS
One of the most efficient devices for removing
suspended particulates is an assembly of fabric-filter
bags, commonly called a baghouse. A typical
baghouse comprises an array of long, narrow bags—
each about 25 cm (10 inches) in diameter—that are
suspended upside down in a large enclosure. Dust-
laden air is blown upward through the bottom of the
enclosure by fans. Particulates are trapped inside the
filter bags, while the clean air passes through the
fabric and exits at the top of the baghouse.
A fabric-filter dust collector can remove very nearly
100 percent of particles as small as 1 μm and a significant fraction of particles as small as 0.01
μm. Fabric filters, however, offer relatively high resistance to airflow, which leads to substantial
energy usage for the fan system. In addition, in order to prolong the useful life of the filter fabric,
the air to be cleaned must be cooled (usually below 300 °C [570 °F]) before it is passed through
the unit; cooling coils needed for this purpose add to the energy usage. (Certain filter fabrics—
e.g., those made of ceramic or mineral materials—can operate at higher temperatures.)
How Baghouses Trap The Pollution
A baghouse filter is basically a sequence of
fabric or composite filters that polluted air passes
through. At each of the baghouse filters, particles of
pollution are removed and the subsequent air is
cleaner. In most factories that produce polluted air as
a byproduct of an industrial process – for example the
burning of coal to produce electricity – there are
government requirements in place with regards to
emissions. To ensure that these emissions guidelines
are met a series of filters contained within the
baghouse are installed over the gas exhaust system. The polluted air that passes through these
filters is a combination of heated air and the very small particles suspended in it.

In order to thoroughly and efficiently filter the air, the baghouse must be attached to a
sealed exhaust system that rises from the boiler or other industrial equipment into the
baghouse system. At the baghouse system, there is an intake valve that the dirty air passes
into the filtration system, and a specialized exhaust valve is directly connected to the last filter
so that only clean air passes out of the system. These filters are typically incredibly effective
and are able to filter out up to 99% of the polluted particulates. One of the major advances
that made baghouse filters possible was the invention of heat-stable fabrics made out of
materials like fiberglass that are not consumed by high heat.

GAS ADSORPTION
Gas adsorption, as contrasted with
absorption, is a surface phenomenon. The gas
molecules are sorbed—attracted to and held—
on the surface of a solid. Gas adsorption
methods are used for odour control at various
types of chemical-manufacturing and food-
processing facilities, in the recovery of a
number of volatile solvents (e.g., benzene),
and in the control of VOCs at industrial
facilities.

Activated carbon (heated charcoal) is one of the most common adsorbent materials. It is

very porous and has an extremely high ratio of surface area to volume. Activated carbon is
particularly useful as an adsorbent for cleaning airstreams that contain VOCs and for solvent
recovery and odour control. A properly designed carbon adsorption unit can remove gas with
an efficiency exceeding 95 percent.
Activated Carbon (Charcoal) Filters
(Used mostly for water, but also can remove gas
pollutants from air)
Activated charcoal is charcoal that has been treated
with oxygen to open up millions of tiny pores between the
carbon atoms. Carbon filtering is a method of
filtering that uses a bed of activated carbon to remove
contaminants and impurities, using chemical absorption.
Each particle/granule of carbon provides a large surface
area/pore structure, allowing contaminants the maximum
possible exposure to the active sites within the filter
media. One pound (450 g) of activated carbon contains a
surface area of approximately 100 acres (40 Hectares).
Activated carbon works via a process called adsorption,
whereby pollutant molecules in the fluid to be treated are trapped inside the pore structure of the
carbon substrate. Carbon filtering is commonly used for water purification, in air purifiers and
industrial gas processing, for example the removal of siloxanes and hydrogen sulfide from
biogas. It is also used in a number of other applications, including respirator masks, the
purification of sugarcane and in the recovery of precious metals, especially gold. It is also used
in cigarette filters.

Carbon acts as a natural filtration mineral because of its ability to capture and hold
foreign particulates in its crevices.  For our carbon air filters, the activated carbon is super-heated
to open up the cracks in the carbon.  This gives the carbon an exponentially increased amount of
surface area which allows it to capture and hold more foreign substances in your indoor air
supply.  The carbon material is then ground down into a fine powder and applied across the filter
media. 

CARBON SEQUESTRATION
Carbon sequestrate on or carbon
dioxide removal (CDR) is the long-term
removal, capture or sequestration of carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere to slow or
reverse atmospheric CO2 pollution and
to mitigate or reverse global warming.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is naturally
captured from the atmosphere through
biological, chemical, and physical
processes. These changes can be
accelerated through changes in land use
and agricultural practices, such as converting crop and livestock grazing land into land for non-
crop fast growing plants. Artificial processes have been devised to produce similar
effects, including large-scale, artificial capture and sequestration of industrially
produced CO2 using subsurface saline aquifers, reservoirs, ocean water, aging oil fields, or
other carbon sinks, bio-energy with carbon capture and storage, biochar, ocean
fertilization, enhanced weathering, and direct air capture when combined with storage.

Biological Processes
 Ocean-related (Seaweed)
Seaweed grows very fast and can theoretically be
harvested and processed to generate biomethane,
via Anaerobic Digestion to generate electricity,
via Cogeneration/CHP or as a replacement for natural gas.
One study suggested that if seaweed farm s covered 9% of
the ocean they could produce enough biomethane to supply
Earth's equivalent demand for fossil fuel energy, remove
53 gigatonnes of CO2 per year from the atmosphere and
sustainably produce 200 kg per year of fish, per person, for
10 billion people. Ideal species for such farming and
conversion include Laminaria digitata, Fucus
serratus and Saccharina latissima
 Peatland
Peat bogs act as a sink for carbon due to the accumulation of partially decayed biomass
that would otherwise continue to decay completely. There is a variance on how much the
peatlands act as a carbon sink or carbon source that can be linked to varying climates in different
areas of the world and different times of the year. [13] By creating new bogs, or enhancing existing
ones, the amount of carbon that is sequestered by bogs would increase

Chemical Processes
 Mineral carbonation
Carbon, in the form of CO2 can be removed
from the atmosphere by chemical processes,
and stored in stable carbonate mineral forms.
This process is known as 'carbon sequestration
by mineral carbonation' or mineral
sequestration. Mineral carbonation is the
fixation of CO2 by the use of alkaline and
alkaline-earth oxides, such as magnesium oxide
(MgO) and calcium oxide (CaO), that are
present as naturally occurring silicate rocks
such as serpentine and olivine 
What is mineral carbonation?
- Mineral carbonation is the reaction of carbon dioxide (CO2) with basic minerals to form
harmless solid carbonates, similar to antacids or baking soda. Mineral carbonation occurs
in nature as the process of rock weathering by rainwater. Geologists believe that over
millions of years this process reduced the excessive CO2 in the prehistoric atmosphere to
 levels that enable life to survive today. Our aim is simply to mimic and accelerate this
natural process to reduce harmful industrial emissions of CO2.
How does the process work?
- Basic rock such as serpentinite is mined, crushed, heated and then mixed with water and
pressurised with CO2 to speed up the natural carbonation reaction which in turn forms
stable magnesium carbonate powder and sand.

How can mineral carbonation reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change?
- By binding CO2 up in a solid form, mineral carbonation can prevent it from
accumulating in the atmosphere. CO2 is the major greenhouse gas believed by most
scientists to be causing recent climate change. CO2 has rapidly built up in the atmosphere
over the last hundred years due to the burning of fossil fuels.

REFERENCES:

Beachler, David S.; Joseph, Jerry; Pompelia, Mick (1995). "Fabric Filter Operation
Overview" (PDF). North Carolina State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9
November 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.

Courtenay, John; Bryant, Michaek (July–August 2008). "Pleated cartridges provide increased

baghouse capacity and improved filter performance" (PDF). Aluminium Times. Archived
from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2013.

https://www.britannica.com/technology/air-pollution-control/Scrubbers

https://setxind.com/maintenance/in-depth-look-how-baghouses-work/