CFD modeling of particle charging and collection in electrostatic precipitators

A CFD model was developed to describe the particle laden gas flow through an ESP, particle charging and collection. The corona discharge was modeled using the open source software OpenFOAM to solve the Poison and charge conservation equations, and results were entered using user-defined field functions in the commercial CFD software STAR-CCM+. The gas flow, EHD flow, particle charging and dynamics were modeled using STAR-CCM+. The developed CFD model allows for direct solution of the drift and diffusional flux of gas ions. The influence of the various ESP dimensions, operating parameters and ash properties on the collection efficiency are reported.