Monitoring the availability of electrostatic precipitators (ESP) in automated biomass combustion plants

The investigation reveals that ESPs in today's biomass plants can achieve availabilities of greater than 90%. Further, malfunctions and maintenance issues that are not immediately repaired are identified as main source for low availabilities, while availabilities of greater than 95% are considered achievable for new plants. To ensure optimum ESP operation with low particle emissions under real-life conditions, a reliable monitoring of the availability based on the presented method is recommended for automated biomass combustion plants.