Investigation of the collection efficiency of a Wet Electrostatic Precipitator at a Municipal Solid Waste-Fuelled Combined Heat and Power Plant, using various measuring methods

This article reports results from measurements of mainly submicrometer particles at the inlet and outlet of a newly designed industrial wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP) in a combined heat and power plant fueled with municipal solid waste. The measurements were carried out with dual electric low-pressure impactors in parallel at the precipitator inlet and outlet. In addition, measurements were carried out with traditional total dust filters, low-pressure impactors, a scanning mobility particle sizer, and an aerodynamic particle sizer. The measurements aimed to characterize the aerosol particles and measure the efficiency of the WESP with special attention to fine and ultrafine particles. In general, the WESP performance and response to varying conditions was found to be in line with predictions made for the design. The WESP featured a cooled collector surface, but based on the limited results, no conclusion could be drawn regarding any possible improvement from collector cooling. The characterization of the aerosol particulate matter was challenging because of fast fluctuations in particle concentration. Methodological considerations are pointed out, mainly regarding the SMPS and ELPI measuring systems.