Modeling of wire corona electrode operation in electrostatic separation at small and large gaps

The aim of this paper is the modeling of wire corona electrode operation at non-standard inter-electrode discharge gaps (s⩽25mm and s⩾75mm), with the view of establishing if sufficient values of current density can be attained to produce effective separation effects. Two groups of experiments were done with a wire-type corona electrode, in order to measure the current-voltage characteristics and the distribution of corona current density at the surface of a plate electrode. A model of non-conducting particles charging process allows determining the corona current linear density, assuring adequate “pinning” effect at smaller or larger gaps.