Design, optimization, and evaluation of a wet electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for aerosol collection

Mohammad Mahdi Badami; Ramin Tohidi; Mohammad Aldekheel; Vahid Jalali Farahani; Vishal Verma; Constantinos Sioutas

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2023.119858

Design, optimization, and evaluation of a wet electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for aerosol collection

Atmos Environ (1994). 2023 Sep 1:308:119858. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2023.119858. Epub 2023 May 29.

Authors

Mohammad Mahdi Badami¹, Ramin Tohidi¹, Mohammad Aldekheel^{1

2}, Vahid Jalali Farahani¹, Vishal Verma³, Constantinos Sioutas¹

Affiliations

¹ University of Southern California, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Los Angeles, California, USA.
² Kuwait University, Department of Civil Engineering, P.O Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.

PMID: 37305446
PMCID: PMC10249774 (available on 2024-09-01)
DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2023.119858

Abstract

In this study, we developed, optimized, and evaluated in lab and field experiments a wet electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for the collection of ambient PM_2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm) into ultrapure water by applying an electrostatic charge to the particles. We operated the wet ESP at different flow rates and voltages to identify the optimal operating conditions. According to our experimental measurements, a flow rate of 125 lpm and an applied positive voltage of 11 kV resulted in a lower ozone generation of 133 ppb and a particle collection efficiency exceeding 80-90% in all size ranges. For the field tests, the wet ESP was compared with the versatile aerosol concentration enrichment system (VACES) connected to a BioSampler, a PTFE filter sampler, and an OC/EC analyzer (Sunset Laboratory Inc., USA) as a reference. The chemical analysis results indicated the wet ESP concentrations of metal and trace elements were in very good agreement with those measured by the VACES/BioSampler and PTFE filter sampler. Moreover, our results showed comparable total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations measured by the wet ESP, BioSampler, and OC/EC analyzer, while somewhat lower TOC concentrations were measured by the PTFE filter sampler, possibly due to the limitations of extracting water-insoluble organic carbon (WIOC) from a dry substrate in the latter sampler. The comparable TOC content in the wet ESP and BioSampler samples differs from previous findings that showed higher TOC content in BioSampler samples compared to those collected by dry ESP. The results of the Dithiothreitol (DTT) assay showed comparable DTT activity in the VACES/BioSampler and wet ESP PM samples while slightly lower in the PTFE filter samples. Overall, our results suggest that the wet ESP could be a promising alternative to other conventional sampling methods.

Keywords: Corona discharge; DTT; Particle concentrators; Particulate matter; Total organic carbon; Wet electrostatic precipitator.

Abstract

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